Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone been really surprised at how long it took after you stopped actively pairing a male and female that you actually got a successful ovulation? Kevin's book says about a month is the longest sperm will stay productive in a female. Is that pretty much the norm? Not questioning his knowledge one bit, but there are always exceptions to every rule. My season is pretty much done. My temps are almost the whole way back to normal and my male is really calmed down. But I still have 4 females that I haven't physically witnessed an ovulation from. And I'm, of course, questioning if I did something wrong over the last 7 months. Thanks. Ryan.

I've had females go over 3 months without being bred having 100% fertility in a clutch. It's a fairly common occurance.

Corey

Thanks, Corey, good info. How many times do you generally try to breed each female? I try and get in a good 3 or 4 lock-ups per female, and was wondering what other people are doing.

Regards, Ryan

Ryan,

4-6 times is a good number to shoot for. I start throwing males and females together the end of October and try and have a female bred each month until the end of March. Sometimes males get picky at the end of the breeding season and some of my males stop breeding in January/Feb. If it's an important male I don't generally back up those females and almost always get close to 100% fertility when they ovulate in March-May.

Corey

That is great info to have. But I'm so busy right now I can't even read everyone's posts. Just wanted to say thanks real quick in case this thread gets long and it gets lost in all the posts. Gotta get back to work.

I think Ideally a female needs bred every 21-30 days to help keep viable sperm available, however I have had numerous situations where the female was bred last more like 2-3 months ago and produced viable eggs.. I think 30 days is what most of us shoot for, however it isn't set in stone either. I also think the temps the female are kept at before ovulation are important as well. If she is kept to warm (hot spot in the lower 90's)especially in a small tub without much temperature gradient for thermoregulation you may end up with a clutch that contains several slugs or infertile full sized eggs (appears to be a normal egg at first glance but when candled you'll notice the egg is lacking any vein network, these will NOT hatch as they weren't properly fertilized). The female pictured in your post appears to be very near ovulation based on her mid body "thickness".. I breed females all the way up to actual ovulations and find that often times they will copulate even during ovulation. It is debatable if mating this late in her cycle does any good , but I also believe they mate for a reason and that even a last minute breeding may make a difference, it can't hurt that's for sure.. If fertilization occurs after ovulation then why not try it?.. Some females won't let a male near them once the follicles are well formed , this varies with each female, again you won't know anything until you try.. In summary I think as long as it has been less than about 45 days from the last good "lockup" your odds of a good clutch are still pretty high as long as all the other variables (temps , male fertility , females weight, etc) remain ideal... That's how I see it anyway.. Hope I answered your question.. Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles..

The longest gap between last breeding and OVULATION I have experienced is about 2.5 months, but I have "heard" others say they have gone longer. Although some will do it, copulations after ovulation, or "probably" even close prior to ovulation are of no value. Eggs are fertilized as they pass into the oviduct. The sperm already has to already have been deposited by the male and then crawled their way half the length of the snake and be there waiting for the eggs. I think Anthony is right about high temps and hot spots increasing the likelihood of infertile eggs and slugs. My "theory" based on scientific evidence in animals other than snakes, is that the lifespan of sperm is shortened considerably by higher temps and as such, at higher temps and the longer the interval since last copulation, the greater the likelihood of infertile eggs. Slugs are a little different as they are follicles that were ovulated before they were fully mature. I suspect that some slugs may be the result of an evolutionary adaption by females to respond to higher environmental temps. When females sense the increased temps they "may" force ovulation early in an evolutionary response to try and ovulate before the sperm die. This is just a theory but forced ovulation would account for the apparent higher incidence of slugs seen higher temps/hotspots.
Cheers
Grant

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