Monday, March 19, 2012

First Hookups Of The Year

So tonight I put the male Martir in with one of my two Martir girls and almost immediately this hookup occurred. I also put the male Juarez boys in with the girls and noticed at least one hookup with them. I'll check for sperm plugs in the morning and hopefully put them under the microscope to check their fertility. Such an exciting time of year.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Excitement Is In The Air

It's been just about two weeks since I turned the heat on for all the adults. During that time each of the adults has eaten three times already. All the females are in the blue right now getting ready for their first shed after hibernation. Almost to a tee, as soon as this shed is done, the females are ready to mate. This is what has been the cycle for them that I have noticed over the years. I plan to rotate in males as soon as they shed. I have the microscope ready to see who is shooting blanks and who is shooting bullets(live sperm). Usually the males will leave a sperm plug/sample in some part of the sweater box. If no good sperm is seen, I will put in another male to breed the female and repeat this process for all pairings.

Did I mention I was excited about the Martirs breeding again this year? Hell yes. I hope the male is ready and fertile because he needs to service both Martir ladies. I'm gonna guess that the het lavendar lady will lay three eggs this year and the other female will lay six(she is a lot bigger than the het female).