I only wanted 2 clutches this year and apparently I'll be getting them. I bred a male mojave to one of my 2 females multiple times from early november through mid december. They locked up at least 6 or 7 times. I sold the mojave and took a chance on her retaining the sperm until she ovulated. Then when the other female I have going started ovulating last week, I threw my male cinny in with the female who was originally with the mojave. He was in with her for 2 days and it actually didn't seem like she wanted anything to do with him. I really don't even know for sure if they copulated. Closest I saw was his tail right next to hers, but it didn't look like they were obviously locked. That female is beginning to ovulate now. So basically my question is, will she probably have her eggs fertilized by the mojave from 2 months ago, or from the cinny that, if he even bred her, was deposited 1 week ago? Thanks for any info. I figure a good number of people out there probably have experience with breeding more than 1 male to a female, and timeframes for successful fertilization and all that.
As a sidenote, just to recap my little mini-season thus far, I'm hoping to prove whether or not my female black back is genetic or not. This is her third clutch in 4 years and she has ovulated in mid february 3 times in a row. She laid a clutch of 7 on March 23, 2005. And a clutch of 5 on March 25, 2007. Can't wait to see if she goes like clockwork again this year. She just completed her ovulation today. She was bred to her 9 month old Cinny son. Can't wait to see if she proves to be a simple recessive genetic black back. And she was also sold to me as het albino, but didn't prove to be in '05 when she was bred to a male het albino. 7 eggs, so chances are slim I just missed on the odds, but who knows. So best case scenario, her son is a double het albino black back and I hatch out a genetic black back albino Cinny. It's fun just conjuring up these pipe dreams, ain't it? Either way, it's gonna be a lot of fun waiting for these eggs to hatch.
And like I already explained, the other female was bred to a Mojave. I'm just hoping for some female Mojaves from her to add to the collection. She's one of those pretty much dime a dozen females that makes you question whether or not she could be an axanthic, but that's of course another high hope. But what the hell, if I get a male mojave, I'll breed him back to her just to see what happens. Another fun little project to dink around with.
I only wanted to shoot for 2 clutches this year (had 5 last year) because I so much prefer a small, easily manageable, collection. I only have 12 snakes total right now, and 8 of those are last year's offspring I'm raising up. Don't want to have to buy another rack until the next eggs hatch. And I only wanna have to buy ONE rack. I love it this way. They all get perfectly taken care of, and it's not a second full time job. It's a relief to know the breeding is already done, now I just have the eggs to look forward to. Good luck to everyone else. This is the most fun time of the year. The pics I'm attaching are my female black back I've posted more than a few times before, her son that I bred back to her, and the male Mojave. Sorry for the long post. I'm bored. And thanks again for any input on my fertilization question. Ryan.
