Eastern Breeding Updated 3 pairs and 3 Northern pairs

[mark_w]

With this pair, they were ready to go right off the bat. So far im not hwving any luck with the other 35 skinks in the house. The rest seem to be responding better since I raised the temps, but the males still dont seem interested at all. Im not even seeing any chasing with most of the northern boys. Oh and its 7 lock ups with this pair now

I am having the same trouble. I have tried raising the temperature too...

Mark.

[Richard.C]

Last season i tried warming them up to soon,as in trying to get them warmer quicker than i normally would and got slugs or nothing,this season i went back to normal,woke them in july,but with the cool here they take a couple of months after wake up to show any interest,usually not mating until close to when outside ones do,i find i have alot more luck that way i stead of getting them to warm to quick

With northerns i dont do anything,just give day heat year round and its the natural cooling here that cycles them,all i have to do is put them together at right time,usually starting in june,but normally takes till middle of july for interest,smack bang middle of cold period

My thinking is i get bigger windows that way and especially with temperate species,slow warming is more natural,it getd pretty cold here in winter though so im half forced yo do slow warm ups in an uninsulated tin shed

They have access to decent basking temps from wake up,just ambients are still cold and over nites colder with no heat,some take 3 to 4 months before they start showing interest

Females cycle at a certain ambient temp,so rising above that to fast can have windows closing reasonably fast,males testes also start to shrink when certain ambients are reached,in nature,these guys often mate long before consistant warmth arrives

Oddly easterns mate before blotchies here,a month or 2 earlier,probably because of there need to find areas that hold more warmth than blotchies,just some thoughts,im a huge fan of not rushing to get them to warm to quick

[kl]

This is my first season trying to breed Easterns and out of about 20 attempts at pairing them I've only witnessed one hook up. At night the room was set at 66 degrees (for other species needs) and I was keeping low wattage night bulbs on the Easterns. During days they get to mid 80's. The male is good at grabbing on quickly but then he lets go before trying to mate. I've been questioning about whether I should be altering the temperatures differently. These are eye banded easterns which maybe have different requirements than the others.

It's great that your pair has had that many successful matings. The pair looks very nice.

KL

[Richard.C]

Kim,easterns in southern half of range occur in alot of areas where blotchies do,just not so high in alpine habitats,in victoria,they have long cold winters,but unlike blotchies seem to mate when weather is still sketchy,but i attribute that to easterns being more common in human disturbed areas,and using cover that makes heat,eg compost heaps ect where higher temps are retained compared to ambients

Easterns here are jan/feb droppers as apposed to blotchies which are march april droppers mostly,which is odd considering the cold hardiness of the 2 species

With my northerns,males are often grabby when females arent quite ready,grab and hold then give up being commonly seen in blotchies and stumpies early for me to,sounds similar to what your getting with your easterns

[Scincoides]

Just got the same male to lock up with a second female. Pics will be posted this evening. Going to run the third girl through his enclosure tomorrow.

[Richard.C]

Nice one

[Scincoides]

Feeling pretty relieved that I at least have more than one female locking up for me. Now I just need the Northerns to do something for me. The Irian Jayas seem to be pretty close

[Jeff]

Wow, that’s weird. An indiscriminate male willing to hook up with multiple females? Who would have thought there was such a thing!

[Richard.C]

They get kinkier than that jeff,ever seen a blotchy 3 some,lol

[Scincoides]

Heres the second female. Im really excited about this one. She was terribly feisty everytime he went for her, more so than the other girl at least. She got a few really good bites in before it happened.

[donkeybuff]

Very nice! I'm really excited for any babies that come out of that pairing.

[Richard.C]

Houston....we have penetration,lol

Things are looking up there austin,now to get those northerns cracking

[Teacup]

After the first pic, this struck me as her resigned "well, get on with it then" face.

[Scincoides]

I dimmed the lights, turned on some mood music, sprinkled rose petals all over the pairing tub, and tossed the hypo female in with the male. The last thirty times I tried this, she wanted nothing to do with him. It was very different this morning. She was chewed up and locked up within two minutes. Sadly my camera was charging so no pics this time, but ill make sure I have it this evening when I try them again. With any luck, ill get litters out of all three girls this year.

[StaceyLeigh]

That second girl is stunning! The feistiness reminds me of Ember. This season Ember actually tried to bite Thor's tail as he was finishing the deed, and would have succeeded if I hadn't grabbed her head with a gloved hand and restrained her, lol. Can't wait to see babies from that pair!

[donkeybuff]

That male paired with the hypo would be awesome!

[Scincoides]

The second female is my favorite Eastern. I have a male that looks very much like her that I have been trying to pair her with, but she is a terror and hes scared of her. So I had to go with this male. If you look closely at her mouth in the biting picture, youll see that there is blood on her gums. She isnt hurt.... that is either part of my index finger, or part of the males throat. Im not sure which because the bites were seconds apart. That should give you an example of how fiesty she is she is a wonderful skink most of the time, its just been the last few weeks that she turned into the spawn of satan. Probably due to a hormone surge or something having to do with breeding.

[Scincoides]

Yeah Donkeybuff, im really excited about that pair to. A whole litter of white and yellow babies.

[Scincoides]

Just got a second lock up with the second eastern female.

[donkeybuff]

Are you trying to breed your tannies?