Yesterday I was testing to see if my little Zuni was a male or a female, and he tried to mate with Dotz, my big proven female. She was not receptive, which sort of surprised me. The I got to thinking, she had been with her mate Mazar all of February after coming out of brumation, and even though I loaned Mazar out the end of February, they did have four weeks together. Now she is looking kind of full, and her skin is looking like she may be preparing to go blue soon, and she has declined eat recently. She may be gravid, which is why she was not receptive to Zuni's attempts yesterday.
This is sort of confusing as her half sister Zunchara was also with Mazar in the same cage at the same time, but she is very receptive to both my other males during this last week. Last year Zunchara never produced any eggs even though she mated. By the time she mated last year maybe the male had run out of viable sperm, having used it all up with Dotz first. I am hoping this year with two males she will catch one way or the other. Maybe she just comes on later than her half sister Dotz. I thought the females would both become receptive at the same time, but maybe they do vary.
One thing is certain, keeping and breeding these little critters sure blows any assumptions and preconceived notions right out of the water! LOL!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.
