Sperm plugs?

[imyourscar]

Good morning!

So, I have a quick question regarding the use of sperm plug presence in Northern BTS. My little Tkaa is a little over 4 months old and just weighed in at a grand 234 g four days ago, almost 100 g weight gain since she got here a little over a month ago!

(gratuitous picture, and yes I realize my aspen is the wrong type. I am switching it out next time I change tanks.)


She decided to show off her pooping prowess to my friend and me yesterday while she was in her roach bin, and when I was cleaning it out, I did not see any sperm plugs (nor did I see any hemipenes while "she" was pooping). It didn't surprise me too much because she is young and I very much doubt she's going to maintain this slight weight. Which leads me to my question: when (age or weight) can I expect to see sperm plugs in a male?

Assuming I did want little baby skinkies running around in the future, is there a breeding weight that should be attained in case of risk of breeding injury to the female? Similarly, is there a standard weight range for adult captive bred Northerns?

[Coomassie]

The problem with sperm plugs is some boys will drop them and others won't. You have the highest chance of seeing them in the spring after they have woken up from burmation and are looking for the ladies. Coomassie was about a year old or so when we first spotted hemipenis and sperm plugs but just because you don't see them, doesn't necessarily mean you have a female.

[Jeff]

In rare cases, skinks have dropped plugs at only a couple months old. On average I would say they would likely start around the first breeding season, meaning they would be around 9 months old. As Coomassie said, it does vary greatly from skink to skink. I have a male northern that has fathered babies the last 3 years, and I have never seen sperm plugs from him.

My personal recommendation about when they are "breeding size", is that a northern should be around 20" and healthy weight, OR in at least its second breeding season. That means approx. 21 months old or more. A healthy weight will vary because individual skinks are built differently. This would be the absolute minimum for me. Ideally, I think it is best to wait until the third year. By then most skinks will be more or less "full-size".

Northerns are physically able to breed before they reach this size and age, but I don't think it is the best idea to breed them this early.