Reptile & Amphibian Forums

has anyone noticed any significant changes in the behavior of their milks after coming out of brumation? Also I have a lot of females that are shedding right now. Is there any observations suggesting that females have a pre-ovulation shed? My males are acting very restless. My guess would be searching for females. None of my females seem receptive yet. Try were brumated for 3 months at 55 degrees and came out almost 3 weeks ago. They have all fed a few times now and everyone seems to be doing great and had good weight retention during the cooling cycle. How long does it take female hondurans to start their ovulation cycles? Any help would be great.
Thanks in advance,
-JT

My hondurans generally bred after their second shed. A few after the first, especially if it was along-delayed shed. Some waited til after their third shed.
Post-brumation changes? You bet: Honduran females eat like pigs. Females weighing 400 grams out of brumation were often 700 grams by the time they laid, for example. It's amazing. I think males can be interested before females are ready. There's NO point trying to force the females. Our animals are on cycles we can influence a little, but not really shape to our wishes. The smart keeper meets the animals' needs, not his own. In this case that means trying a female with a male occasionally, but if she runs, and thrashes her tail, don't press it: That's her way of telling you she's not ready. Try again in 3-4 days (or with another male), but don't leave them together for long periods where they just exhaust themselves, that accomplishes nothing. I'd often separate a pair 10 minutes after putting them together, based on the behavior I saw. Believe me, when the females are ready, there'll be no doubt about it. (And then I'd leave them together for for an hour or so until their copulation ended, and then separate them, repeating that 2-3 more times at 4-5 day intervals). A male can fertilize a lot of females if managed in that way: six females x an average of 3.5 cops per female = 21 inseminations. You could very easily have a male breed that many times with just one or two females if left with them for days or weeks at a time, yet--experience proves this--only a couple good inseminations is perfectly adequate for full or near full fertility, which is all you can ever hope for.
Good luck!