Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We bred a female hypo in April of 2013. She laid a clutch in the summer. This year we wanted to breed her again. It has been a year now and we planned to breed her after her next shed. Well, she shed yesterday. The odd part is that when she shed she also laid 6 slugs! 4 of them were hard as rocks and two were soft with no veins at all.

How did this happen? And is it safe to go ahead and breed her like we planned?

Thanks,

Brock and Jen

I would introduce a male and hope for a fertile second clutch. You missed the first one. Her body was in the spring cycle already. You might get lucky and get a fertile second though

The other part of the question, how can they do this. The female cycling(developing ovum) is what entices the male(she emits pheromones) Its not the other way around. The male copulating does nothing unless the female develops ovum then eggs. hogs appear to be a bit like crots(rattlesnakes), and the male will copulate at any time of the year. There is much debate over the timing of copulation. I hope others can talk about this. Good luck on her second clutch, feed her a bunch and she may cycle again.

So, you guys are saying that the females will lay eggs every year even if they are not bred? How can I tell when to introduce a male for my other females?

I am sure others can give better advice. With colubrids, females build up internal body fat, posterior third if the body, then drop ovum which forms the string of pearls. They become receptive upon the internal fat build up. This normally occurs a couple weeks after the first shed, or at the time of the second shed.
Hogs, are different and the same. Being stocky, and goofy, they are tough to palpate. And they do not form that string of pearls. Their ovum is so small its hard to palpate.
You can tell by mid body thickening.
That said, just put the male in every two weeks and right after a shed. Also, when a male is crawling like crazy, hes telling you the lady is ready. good luck

It is entirely possoble for females to lay eggs even if they were not introduced to a male. It happens in hogs and many pther reptile species. As mentioned, i would put a male on her right away to try and get a fertile second clutch.