Quote Originally Posted by hfritchy View Post
Hey!
So I bred a pair of balls together last year, but my uncle really helped me a ton with it. I'm doing it more on my own this year and I have a question about timing of putting them together. I found a great page ( http://ballpython.ca/breeding/ ) and he shows three locks at the beginning and then the shedding and everything starts. Once you see three locks and then start seeing developing behavior do you need to put the male back in at all, or by that point can you be pretty sure she took? I'm super excited about my pairings this year and I don't want to mess it up by keeping the male out at an important time. I honestly don't have a good grasp on how/when ovulation takes place so I don't know if he needs to be in there right after that or if she ovulates after. I just am confused.

Thanks for any help!
Yes you do need to put the male in when the female develops (follicle growth), however you obviously no longer need to be pairing once the female ovulates (at that point she is done and will lay)

If you have limited experience I will recommend that you pair until you witness an ovulation. Of course you also need to pay attention to your female as well and know when to stop (not all females will take and there is no need to persevere if you do not see any progress)

Now if you have an ultrasound machine you can determine when to stop pairing by the size of the follicle and concentrate on other females. You can also try to determine that by palpating but it's obvious a lot more difficult to gauge follicle size like that.

It can take as little as 1 lock and as many as 5 or 6 and sometimes you witness lock and nothing happens, so pay attention to your female.