LOL. At the start of last breeding season we we're dealing with our new infant son, a psycho puppy, and a new house that presented me with my fair share of honey-dos. We decided to take the year off both to rest our females, get a few more up to size, and concentrate on the house and family. Then this season, with the wacky warm winter, breeding was fairly sluggish.
I finally got my first eggs laid (Or I guess being laid) this morning and as we speak. There were 4 long and fat eggs when I left the house this morning from my genetic reduced pattern female, and it looked like 1 or 2 more were forthcoming.
My genetic reduced patterns appear to be recessive, which is neat. Both parents show the reduced trait and are very similar in appearance. When bred to each other for the '05 hatching season, all 4 babies were reduced patterns as nice as the parents. When the same male was bred to a normal female, all of the babies were normal in appearance. Hopefully next year I can breed back one of the '05 normal looking "hets" and prove once and for all that it is in fact recessive (although with the breeding we've done so far it is hard to believe they could be anything but).
I also have a couple of other girls in various stages of their reproductive cycle...including my 4000 gram girl who routinely throws 9 to 11 viable eggs each clutch. She was with a pastel and my original reduced pattern male.
It was really sad not producing eggs last year, so I'm glad to be back at it. I'll try to post some pics tonight if I get the chance...
Joe Pociask
