BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I am after peoples opinions about when they consider their males ready to breed. Do you go on size, eg length of the animal, weight, or age. What makes the decision for you?

For me, just his ability to get the job done. If he's dropping plugs but is quite a bit smaller than the female, I take special care to not take my eyes off them for a second, to make sure he holds his own and to bail him out if he doesn't.

A way to look at this question Scott is if in nature,there's no stopping them if ready,if they can get the job done there obviously ready to go,ideally i prefer to use smaller males on smaller females,but some actually have the house to cover a sizable female

I usually use the same size and weight rule. This upcoming season I may have to break that rule. I am having to keep the heat on 24/7 for the male to eat regularly and put on weight. He was 340g when I got him on the 14th of march but lost weight. Today he is 413g. The female is 600g. Will see closer to July to see what happens. Male is top pic. Female bred last season with big northern male.

I'm not sure same size and weight is relevant. For instance, most male blotchies are smaller than females, particularly Alpines. Small ones just end up going for pony rides around the enclosure on unreceptive females :-) Generally however due to the size discrepancy and technique, that doesn't seem to develop properly until males are about 3 years old (for blotchies) it is rare for young ones to get the job done when there are other mature males around. 400 to 600 grams - I wouldn't consider a huge disparity, compared to 450 to 1000g which is closer to the norm in blotchies case.

Scott(freeloader)

Last season my dark kunnanurra lass that got bred weighed in at a whopping 310 gms ,the male,was roughly same length but solid,probably close to what your male is now,maybe marginally heavier

His hefty dad which makes him look tiny is 1.046 gms at moment,been off tucker for a while now and starting to drop plugs

I wouldn't be shy in trying him,nice looking hypo but the way

One of those things in life richard where you have to see if you can. Hoping I can get him to near the weight of the female before breeding time. Otherwise she gets to meet the big male again.