Quote Originally Posted by ClarkT View Post
Happy Easter!
Just because she's up to size doesn't mean she's ready. She has to start growing her follicles. I still haven't found anything that will cause a female to start growing follicles. It seems to happen when she's ready. If she refuses to breed when you pair the male, you may be trying at the wrong time of year for her. You may be missing when she's growing follicles and getting them ready for breeding.

We ultrasound our females. I know everyone doesn't have that opportunity. It has shown, though, that there is nothing I can do to get them to start that development. I've not seen evidence that shows temperature changes, size changes, male introduction changes, or any other "change" in her environment gets her to start that development. I theorize that it has to do with a bunch of factors. Some of them may include fat reserves; what time of year she hatched; pheromones; hormones; barometric pressures; temperature; finding the right male....etc.

Anyway, I hope she starts building them soon. Best to watch for the signs that she's building follicles. Then worry about pairing the male. It's not just weight and age...
Happy Herping, and good luck!
I hear where you're coming from. I also have an ultrasound and been using it for a few years now. I'm talking about a female with 17 mm follicles and a male pied who's around 1000 grams. he's not fat, has some good length to him. I'm trying all the tricks on him also. hopefully he catches on before she absorbs them. still time. one nice thing about the ultrasound is that not all females will grow their follicle durning nov - april and those that go different times of the year, you don't miss. I breed all year long and with doing that, the ultrasound is priceless.