Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What do you do if a Dry gets to agressive during breeding. Say for instance, one is actualy trying to kill and or eat the other. Or he's just plain to rough. And how rough is too rough?I ask this becuase everyone keeps saying how you really need to watch them during breeding. So what would you do in that case? How would you go about breaking it up? How do you know when it's time to break it up? Obviously you can't seperate them if the male is inserted. I'd like to know just in case.
T.
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"No tree would have branches foolish enough to argue amongst themseleves".

If they are copulating, you have nothing to worry about. The courtship is what can get rough, if the female is not immediately receptive. She needs to have an escape route....someplace where she can get away from him if she's not ready. And, you need to keep a fairly close eye on them. If she's running and bucking him off, she's not quite ready. In that case you need to separate them for another few days and try again. If she's ready, they will usually hook up within a few minutes of her being placed in the cage with him. I think the courtship is an important stimulant if she's not quite ready yet...it may help stimulate her to cycle and become receptive. Just keep trying every 3 or 4 days until they hook up.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks O.H. good info. as usual.
T.
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"No tree would have branches foolish enough to argue amongst themseleves".

I like to keep pair together, uninterrupted for 1 - 2 weeks. Sometimes I've observed mating immediately, other times not. I assume that in the wild a pair that meets up probably stays together for several days and possibly mates more than once during that time. After talking with Robert Bruce and others I can't recall since last spring I wouldn't depend on a male to be successful with too many females in a season. Maybe repeat visits with the same one or two females is more effective than pairing up male with several females one time each. I'd be curious to know what others think on this. I plan to start putting pairs together at Thanksgiving, when there's time to watch initial behavior.

O.K., lets take a survey and see how many people put the male in the female's cage, and how many put the female in the male's cage, and how many use a seperate, or neutral cage. In the wild I would have to speculate that the male does most of the searching, {ain't that the way it always is,LOL}, and therefore is more likely to find the female in her teritory, or even in her den. And what have field researchers of wild populations discovered?,...people like Rebeca Smith, I think her name was. Thanks,
T.
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"No tree would have branches foolish enough to argue amongst themseleves".

What I look for is receptivity with the female; if she is receptive, she will cooperate and allow the male to get into the proper position (basically, staying fairly motionless). If she isn't receptive, she will just cruise the cage and that is when the frustrated male will begin to get very rough. If my female isn't receptive w/in a half hour or so, under close observation, I take her out right away. If its too late and you feel that your female is in imminent danger, you will need to do whatever it takes to get her out. Rob