Another breeding topic..

[Dakota]

Hello!

It was on another topic about ovualation, which really interests me..

I know ovulation is where they start producing eggs, where the babies stay until she has them live.

I seen on the advance topic on gestation periods, and one member counted days from ovulation.. how does he know??

If I'm not mistaken, when pythons ovulate, you can feel, can you feel on blue-tongued skinks?

Do they breed before ovulating, or after?

If so how, how long do you wait before/after ovulating?

How long does the female take to ovulate after being woke up?

I'm definitely a newbie about breeding, sorry guys..

[Jeff]

They ovulate after they breed. As far as when they ovulate in relation to cooling and breeding, that is not established yet.

You can see ovulation in blueys. I'm just not sure how long you can see it for. I have seen it a number of times, but usually miss it completely. I watched as closely as I could this year, but still only saw it in two of my females.

Catching ovulation may be the key to predicting birth dates.

[Dakota]

How can you predict when you see ovulation occurring?

[Richard.C]

most folk that can predict when babies will come keep consistent temps year after year to,so patterns develop,when u keep in variable conditions,timing is skewiffed,cold seasons can prolong gestations,hot seasons can shorten them,similar to incubation temps with eggs and how many days till they hatch,though with blueys the eggs stay in them till they hatch,a living incubator so to speak

also cold winters that prolong into spring can delay when mating starts,varies for my blotchies a bit,for example last 3 seasons its been december the 2nd following year oct 3rd then this past season november the 2nd,a 3 month difference

whats been interesting with those 3 seasons is oct maters and then december maters had very close timings whrn babies were dropped,last seasons were november maters and babies came way earlier than ive had with blotchies in the past,,normally mid march is early for me,but first lot was in feb this season,hottest summer on record though so faster gestation

[Jeff]

The claim has been made that scincoides give birth exactly 100 days after ovulation. I can't confirm that mostly because I can rarely catch ovulation.

[Richard.C]

How can you predict when you see ovulation occurring?

you dont predict it,you either see it or you dont,some its hard to see it,others not so hard,usually an uncomfy time for them,i notice some swell and look balloony ,like they are bloated so to speak,alot i dont see any signs but not always watching 24/7 so probably miss it a bit to

jeff the 100 day thing was from animals kept in consistent temps year after year,like climate controlled room,so follow the recipe and a pattern is seen,take out that consistency and theres variables that change all that

[Dakota]

That's very interesting. Thanks a lot, Jeff!
I wondering if the ovulation of Scinciodes is the similar to the Gigas.

[Dakota]

jeff the 100 day thing was from animals kept in consistent temps year after year,like climate controlled room,so follow the recipe and a pattern is seen,take out that consistency and theres variables that change all that

So, if you keep the basking temperature the same night and day, they will pop out faster? Interesting.

Does this work for other species of BTS?

[Jeff]

I agree 100% with everything you are saying Richard. The thing is, most of us outside of Australia have to keep our blueys inside, so we have complete control over everything as far as temperatures go.

I understand that you guys who keep them outside are at the mercy of mother nature, but those of us who keep them inside should be able to control this stuff. I honestly believe that keeping them inside is a totally different thing than keeping them outside within their natural range.

[Dakota]

Would you guys recommend a 24/7 heat cycle?

[Richard.C]

no dakota,they need overnight drops,especially the temerate occuring ones but even tropical ones,there is the danger of keeping them warm constantly harming developing babies,weather causing deformed ones ,still borns ect ect

some if u keep them to warm it stuffs up there cycle,or at best making a very narrow window of when a female is ready

jeff i keep alot of mine indoors and being a cool area,it affects inside ones enough that they follow outside conditions,never kept stumpies,northerns,westerns or centralians outdoors,and even used to keep the easterns and blotchies indoors,indoors they mated slightly earlier and dropped babies similar to what happens outside,stumpies blotcheds in mid to late march,sometimes into april,northerns dec to feb with mating in middle of winter,july/august when background temps are down,my issue is keeping them warm enough,cooling them is easy here

id cool stumpies and blotchies and easterns at start of june,no heat at all,then turn baskinglights on in mid july,they would start eating but werent at there peak activity and mating wouldnt start till sep/oct when outside temps raised indoor temps background temps up,with the big temp gradient some would stay down cool end for periods ,kind of mimicking early spring i guess where theres still cold around

[Dakota]

One more question.. Is it recommended to tape the mouth of the female to prevent further damage to the male?
I would assume not, but I have seen it in some videos on YouTube.

[Susann]

There should be no damage to the male if you are supervising. I cannot imagine taping the mouth shut!

[Richard.C]

ive never taped a mouth shut,no need to,but people teying to breed something where female bites back do,to keep male interested in aggressive female,if super aggressive the males can give up

to me though,aggressive females are females not ready,if a females ready,there aggression doesnt affect a ready male from having a crack as the males are super persistant

thats just my observation though,i know breeders of morph blueys often tape mouths as they want morph babies i guess so do everything in thefe favour to acomplish that,apparently some eastern morphs get very aggressive