Merauke breeding

[Susann]

So. Even though I have a house full of skinks, I really want to see if I can keep my luck going. Been seeing sperm plugs from J.J. all the time, and he keeps clawing non-stop to get out, so I thought: What the heck, let's see what happens!

I really wanted to breed Xyla (my confirmed female who gave birth to 6 babies this year) with only Milo this time; last year I let both Milo and J.J. breed with her.
So far, both times I've put Milo with Xyla, he does not pursue her; he slowly moves closer, but stops about a foot away. Then he lifts his tail, and expels plugs!!! Both times. That's it. They both just stare at each other and eventually fall asleep!
Can any of you experienced people out there tell me what's going on?

Even though I only wanted to let Milo breed with Xyla, I thought that maybe Xyla isn't ovulating, and that's the reason Milo wasn't even trying. So, since J.J. seems to be rearing to go, I thought I'd try him with Xyla to see if he ignores her too.

This happened:

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But he never got in position, just grabbed her by the shoulder without trying to push underneath. This went on for about 5 minutes, and then he let go, didn't try to grab her again, and that was that.
Again, any thoughts by anybody? Is she maybe not ovulating?

So today I decided to use J.J. to try to see if I could find out from their behavior what the sex is of my two undetermined Meraukes. So I got J.J. out, put him down on the carpet in front of the tanks. Went to get Maddie out, and one of her back claws slashed my finger open so bad I'm dripping blood all over! So I close my hand to staunch the blood flow, grab J.J. off the floor, and run downstairs to the kitchen with both skinks. I put them down and keep my eye on them while I'm pouring alcohol into the gash in my finger; and while I'm wrapping a paper towel around it, this is what I see:

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Am I safe at this point to assume that Maddie doesn't need a name-change? Am I good to change my male/female count? Or is it still not 100%?
Next question:
Maddie is 2 years old, about 22 inches long, and weighs about 550 Grams. Do I dare try to breed her repeatedly after this first time? Is she big enough? What would you do?

[Spindown]

Looks fairly definitive to me

[Richard.C]

X2

Looks definate to me to ,lol

Beautiful skinks ,i keep saying that every time i see them,so will next time to no doubt,lol

Susann ive noticed males can hold back ,whilst others go straight in,perhaps they wait till females phermones are at peak levels,dropping plugs whilst showing interest but not trying tells me females very close to peak levels,older males,even some younger ones just hold back,they often hang around a female for a week or 2 keeping close before trying anything

Looks very promising for the coming season again for you,keep us posted,looks like there doing dry season type of cycle

[Richard.C]

Hope your fingers ok to by the way (:

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

J.J is perfect for Maddie!
Milo is perfect for Xyla!
Jazz... Forever alone?
She'd be good for J.J too

[Bird_Brain]

Woohoo. Go Susann!

[Karen]

Definitely looks definite! Hope some healthy babies come along.

[Susann]

My finger is OK. It's a 3/4 inch long gash, 1/2 of that is pretty deep. I'm not going to describe what's going on but I'm keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't start to look infected.
Maddie's nails are out of this world! SO much sharper than any of the others; these hooked little razors! I've always had to be more careful with her, but this is by far the worst she's ever got me --thank goodness for that!

So, I want to know what you guys think about Maddie's size. (2 years, 22", 550 g.) Is she too young/small, should I just call it good after this one mating to make sure she doesn't carry too many babies? Or would you keep going? I doubt she's ovulating anyways, she's born here and shouldn't be on a southern hemisphere schedule, but I don't want to risk it unnecessarily (should I be so lucky twice in a row!).
Or, am I worrying needlessly?

[Richard.C]

Susann being possable dry season breeders ,they may have cycled already with the weather cooling over there,they may not need much fluctuation either,but if there following from last seasons behaviour,good chance it will have same results again,size wise i think young lass will be fine to,so no harm in more intros

[Jos]

Definate mating.
And that on the kitchen floor!!
Good luck Susann and I hope this will result in offspring.