How frequently do you pair females?

[Blue Apple Herps]

So seems to be twice a month (I'm assuming with locks) is a good place to aim. Thanks for the help everyone!

[Adam_Wysocki]

a female that is locking with males will get the male put back with her frequently.

Just for a different perspective, I do just the opposite in that case ... since it only takes a single lock for a female to become gravid, "good breeders" see the males less often ... that way I'm not (in my very humble and small opinion) burning the male out by breeding a girl that is very receptive and I can focus the males efforts on girls that are slower to come around.

It's also important to be able to recognize "courting" but not copulating vs. no interest at all. The difference between those behaviors help me key in to how often a female will see a male as well or whether I have to resort to "other means" to get the female to become receptive.

Lastly, being able to develop solid palpation skills (or investing in an ultra sound) is another great way of knowing how often a male should be paired with a given female (or more important, when he no longer needs to be paired with a given female).

The good news is that there are many many ways to breed these animals and be successful ... the way I do things is just what works for me, and it works very very well. Super kudos to everyone else out there figuring out what does and doesn't work for them ... that's 1/2 the fun of doing this stuff!!!

-adam

[DubsBalls]

I totally agee Adam! My male pastel was in with a female and he was locked up with her for the entire 3 days.

I took him out put him in his bin and ate no problem. Since he was locked up everytime I looked he'll go in with a different female.

He'll be back in with her but like Adam said no sense in tiring him out on a girl that may already be good to go!

[Gloryhound]

It's also important to be able to recognize "courting" but not copulating vs. no interest at all. The difference between those behaviors help me key in to how often a female will see a male as well or whether I have to resort to "other means" to get the female to become receptive.

-adam

Adam,

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what signs do you classify as courting and what signs do you believe is no interest at all?

Thanks!

[LadyOhh]

Well, I'm not Adam, but courting is the actions that lead up to lockup.

The tickling (Male runs his spurs up and down the female), the close call (Male is positioning himself close to the cloaca, but not locked) and snuggling are some of the big ones in my opinion...

Adam can come up with more, I'm sure

[jglass38]

Just for a different perspective, I do just the opposite in that case ... since it only takes a single lock for a female to become gravid, "good breeders" see the males less often ... that way I'm not (in my very humble and small opinion) burning the male out by breeding a girl that is very receptive and I can focus the males efforts on girls that are slower to come around.

It's also important to be able to recognize "courting" but not copulating vs. no interest at all. The difference between those behaviors help me key in to how often a female will see a male as well or whether I have to resort to "other means" to get the female to become receptive.

Lastly, being able to develop solid palpation skills (or investing in an ultra sound) is another great way of knowing how often a male should be paired with a given female (or more important, when he no longer needs to be paired with a given female).

The good news is that there are many many ways to breed these animals and be successful ... the way I do things is just what works for me, and it works very very well. Super kudos to everyone else out there figuring out what does and doesn't work for them ... that's 1/2 the fun of doing this stuff!!!

-adam

Great post Adam! I don't consider your opinion small. Always good to know what the pros are doing!

[Blue Apple Herps]

Just for a different perspective, I do just the opposite in that case ... since it only takes a single lock for a female to become gravid, "good breeders" see the males less often ... that way I'm not (in my very humble and small opinion) burning the male out by breeding a girl that is very receptive and I can focus the males efforts on girls that are slower to come around.

It's also important to be able to recognize "courting" but not copulating vs. no interest at all. The difference between those behaviors help me key in to how often a female will see a male as well or whether I have to resort to "other means" to get the female to become receptive.

Lastly, being able to develop solid palpation skills (or investing in an ultra sound) is another great way of knowing how often a male should be paired with a given female (or more important, when he no longer needs to be paired with a given female).

The good news is that there are many many ways to breed these animals and be successful ... the way I do things is just what works for me, and it works very very well. Super kudos to everyone else out there figuring out what does and doesn't work for them ... that's 1/2 the fun of doing this stuff!!!

-adam

Thanks for the advice! It's the first time they're breeding for me, so I'm not sure what kind of breeders they'll be. Does it hurt to keep pairing them even if there are regular locks?

[Adam_Wysocki]

Well, I'm not Adam

Awww foo-ey ... I'm so fugly that in order to help my self esteem I've been telling people that I'm secretly a hottie from the West Coast with killer animals ... thanks for blowing my cover!!!

Great post though!

-adam

[Adam_Wysocki]

Thanks for the advice! It's the first time they're breeding for me, so I'm not sure what kind of breeders they'll be. Does it hurt to keep pairing them even if there are regular locks?

Won't hurt a thing ... just watch your male ... make sure he stays healthy and eating well and you'll be fine!

-adam

[Pythonman]

What I did my first season was take like 3 good pictures of each snake that's breeding and keep them on my comp during the whole breeding season. That way I can refer to them throughout the season to see the effects of the breeding season (it's hard to notice by eye when your snake is losing weight very slowly over the 6 month long breeding season). That along with weighing them helps me see how much "fat" they're losing as opposed to growing or using the fat to build eggs...Anyone eating throughout the season in my house gets a 4 days on 4 days off schedule...if they stop eating they get something like 2 weeks off and if they still don't eat, but they haven't lost they're "plump"appearance or significant weight, I'll give them another shot at a lady...To me it's all about the snake's fat reserves...if they're dwindling..he's DONE...if he stays nice and fat he gets to breed...But the pics helped alot to see that my male mojave was losing alot of fat even though the scale said he had gained a little that first year and I pulled him...Still here today...and thats what's important! Not to mention the job was already done and I had 3 mojaves and 2 normals that spring..Good luck!