Quote Originally Posted by sho220 View Post
My answers are in bold...
These answers are spot on.

I personally leave together for 48 hours, if I don't see a lock after 48 hours I separate and try again in a couple of weeks. I will also pair every 2 weeks, but sometimes will stretch that out depending on the male. I, too, only like to breed males once a week, so if he's breeding 3 females, then they'll get paired every three weeks, but if 1 or 2 females then every other week.

I also pair until they won't lock any more. I'm bad at catching ovulations, etc so I just let me tell them when they're done for the season and I either am about to get eggs or not.

My biggest advice is don't get obsessed with what is "normal" or "typical." I had a pair that locked once, didn't lock again, and I thought they wouldn't go. Well 4 months later I had eggs. I've had a girl lay during her "pre-lay" shed 30 days early, I had one lay after her second pre lay shed.

My point is, there are always going to be exceptions and its easy to start to get obsessed if everything doesn't go by the book. Every year there are a zillion threads of people posting "ZOMG!! She shed 31 days ago, I thought she was supposed to lay 30 days after her shed?!?!?!! So long as they're healthy, just let them do their thing. They've had plenty of time to perfect, you are just there to shepherd it through the process.