new lowlands males shedding,vic alpines off and running

[Richard.C]

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a pr of the new group lowlands,the dominant male underneath has finally started his post brumation shed,only 2 lowlands at the folks place have recently shed to,so still 5 or 6 males to go ,was hoping theu were going to start oct mating again but weather inconsistencies,more to the point still lowish average ambient temps are making them hold out,plus mine seem to go last,lol,but yeah,any time now should finally start seeing some action

the female in pic was scrawny when i first got this group,so i kept them active indoors to fatten her especially and a bigger female up,both bad babies last season late so really needed to be brought indoors to fatten up,i shut them down indoors late in winter,and for wake up just popped them in outside cage for a slow warm up,intrrestinglu they seem to be following what the other outdoors blotchies are doing in regards to eating again and shed cycles,will be interesting to see what happens

my favourite time of the year is blotchie breeding time,last few seasons they have made me wait them out,probably with northerns dropping at the moment it keeps me sane,march baby time is still sooooooo far away,and sometines they make me wait till april,inconsiderate buggers these blotchies,lol

[Richard.C]

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checked on vic alpines at folks before heading to work and woolaah,dominant male and one of his oldest babies were in hot pursuit

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and bang,vic alpines ard off and running,dominant male as usual for the win

[Richard.C]

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a few of the other girls trying to gather warmth,the high black female was getting serious looks over so will probably go next,big old girls hogging the pic

a while back i mentioned a bloating ive noticed females do prior to mating period,these girls all did it to,i tool a pic of this cycling female a week or so back with dominant male hanging with her prior to her shedding,another thing i sometimes see is males hanging around females for a while before tgey are showing any interest

[Richard.C]

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her just prior to shedding and in bloat,under her chin the dominant male

[Richard.C]

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day 2,another drop in before work sees one of the old boys and an older cross female fooling around,big old lass is now shedding and being folloeed by a couple of males but no attempts just yet,girl from yesterday was also being persued by old male

interesting observation made with male bickering,the one holding the cross in pic above is persuing his brother and a younger male,big old boy keeps intervening and telling him off,keeping them in check if they try and be a dominant one

hr tries having a bite at old boy,but cops it quickly then runs,big male persues but when catches up just sits on him,younger male tail wags and just sits there till big old fella moves off again

sitting here watching them the big old lass is now being persued and grabbed by the male that was with the cross, and put in place by the old fella,these guys are nuts

[Richard.C]

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day 3 and this pr were at it again,female is the cross from old girls first litter way back when i only had her indoors with lowlands,19 in march

the 3rd old male has also started,he covered the female dominant male covered on the first day,only got a little time to watch this arvo and couldnt see two of the other big girls so they possablu have been pestered to

[Scotts1au]

Good luck Richard, looks like some good action over there.

[Richard.C]

thinking of maybe seperating a couple of females with prettier younger males

[Richard.C]

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thought id give the vic alpines a bit of a feed today,this female was very impatient trying to get to food before i even cracked the can,lol

its been ten days since they started mating,first lass is pretty scuffed up and appears to have closed her window,last few dayshavnt seen alot of activity,but weathers been average,today its 26 degrees and there out and about,the boys have been tussling abit,scuffy heads and backs on a couple

in the pic above theres a male mating the lowlands vic alpine cross,they are in rocks behind the can,so her windows still well and trully open,the males are starting to hang around a couple of other females whom recently went through the bloating thing,so i expect there windows will open pretty shortly

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here they are in gap between rocks behind the can,i will have to seperate this lass from group after mating season so i dont confuse her babies for pure vic alpines,as they can look similar going off her previous litter with the dominant male

[JoshChimera]

They can smell food right through cans no problem. Nice pic!

[Richard.C]

haha,i think its more a case of here comes the bringer of food,that looks like it could be yum,my mums dog ,a ball crazy red heeler cinstantly throws its ball into cage when im in there,the blotchies usually try to bite the ball but can never grip it and they end up pushing it all over the place

[JoshChimera]

They push the ball?! Bts have so much personality!

[Richard.C]

they push it around because they are trying to bite it thinking it may be food,especially if theres 4 or 5 of them trying to eat it.actually comes in handy when digging for water dragon eggs as its less blueys trying to bite my dirty fingers,lol

[Richard.C]

speaking of which the waterdragons have turned loelands cage into what looks like a world war two battle ground,test digging everywhere for egglaying,my old male passed away a couple of seasons back so just infertile eggs,must get another male

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[Scotts1au]

Seems mating has already finished up here, so looking at January babies. Fingers crossed. About 36C here today.

[Richard.C]

will be march mid to late here and into april again,which is norm for here,though high black female sometimes goes in mid to late feb,which is odd as shes usually one of the latest to be mated but generally first to drop,perhaps extra bkack allows her to thermoregulate better

all lowlands male at parents have now shed,the second male at home shed yesterday,still no sign of mating with them,but often they start later than the vic alpines

[Richard.C]

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hoping this lass got covered,havnt seen alot of action since last report so may have possably missed a bit of action,the males seem to have calmed down a bit so good chance they are done and dusted

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big old lass and a few others having a feed again today,the males still arent overly interested i tucker and still hanging aroundfmales so may not be done just yet either

still no sign of mating with the lowlands group

[freeloader]

Are the lowlands late this year Richard?

[Richard.C]

Maybe,yeah,still havnt seen any tom foolery,but rhey often go later than the vic alpines and have gone as late as first and second week of dec for me in the past,but doing split shifts lately so often awau from home all day so could also be missing action

[Richard.C]

Some updates on some of the vic alpine lasses that are looking quite promising already,puffing up and slight heavy breathing already from early november matings

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Big old lass looking good again

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This lass always seems to be first cab off the rank and gets knocked around a bit

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High black female in comparison barely gets a mark on her

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Nice light female like the dark one barely scuffed as well