Help me out with Breeding plan

[Maddumpling]

Hey guys so I'm in in a pickle. Had 2 het pieds that were breeding my male pied. But an unexpected event happened where my pied has stopped eating and is losing weight. So I have my blackhead pin poss red gene male that I've been breeding to my normal, but never even considered breeding to the hets until now. Should I buy another pied/pied combo for a backup or do a who's your daddy clutch. Give me your input you guys, in a pickle here because I got two het pieds and no male.

[rufretic]

I would focus on getting your pied male back on food and after he has a couple meals put him back in the rotation. Just because he stopped eating doesn't mean he's done for the season. The females only need to be paired once a month so that should give you time to get him to eat again before you pair him again.
If he has not eaten for a while already and you cant get him eating to the point where you are worried about his health, then at that point I would consider bringing in another pied male. I sure would not pair them with anything that is not visual pied because then you just threw your 100% het if not visual out the window.

[Godzilla78]

Agree, focus on your current male, as nothing is better for breeding her Pieds than a visual pied. There is really no sense in buying a ‘backup’ unless you just really want another pied combo or something. Pied combos will cost quite a bit generally.


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[Hannahshissyfix]

I third focusing on getting your pied male back on track. I dont put snakes together just for the sake of feeling like I need to have maximum production and always consider how much harder it is to sell anything thats just a het or normal.

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[cchardwick]

How much does your pied male weigh? I'm not sure you need him to eat to breed your females. If it were a female off of food that would be different, but the males really don't need to eat that much and they don't need to be that big. Most breeders keep their males under 1000 grams max. I have a male that went off of food for the last couple months and he breeds like crazy, I see him lock up almost every week.

[zina10]

What exactly do you mean with "un-expected event" ?

Do you mean that he stopped eating? Or did something actually happen, and subsequently he stopped eating and is loosing weight ?

Many males stop eating while they breed, and loose a bit of weight, that in itself is not concerning.

BUT if something happened that compromised your males health and well being, and subsequently got him to stop eating, that is a different story. Did he regurge any meals ? Was there a lost of heat ? Health issue ? Stress of some sort ? In any such event, I would concentrate on getting him well and 100% , before letting him continue to breed. No clutch of eggs is worth burning through your adult animals.

In that case I would seek out another visible pied. However, you will not be able to quarantine your new animal and you will expose your females to him. Mites and disease can be passed on...

If you get another male, I would choose the breeder carefully and only buy from someone with STELLAR reviews. Not just on "what" or "how much" they produce, but reviews on their integrity and selling of healthy animals.

Kudos on valuing your animals health and well being.