I only have a few breeding pairs as I have chosen to just keep this as a small hobby/collection. This years pairings, (no more pictures yet as I hate messing with the rack when they are ‘busy’).
Albino (f) x het albino (m) and cinnamon (m)
Lesser pastel (f) x bumblebee (with an unknown that throws BEL) (m)
Pinstripe (f) x cinnamon (m)
Everything is fairly simple one and two gene morphs. I am starting to like the simple clean single gene and two gene pairings to just see how good I can make each one.
Nice selection you have there. I too love simple clean reduced animals. This year is a off year for me. I don’t breed my girls every year. They always get a year off after laying so depending on if my blackhead vanilla poss het clown boy can get up to size and actually breeds his first year he would be my only pairing this year.
M Blackhead vanilla poss het clown
F Bumblebee.
The female bumblebee is actually very special to me as she was the 1st morph I ever produced. She is definitely a lifer with me. Good luck with your pairings this year.
Here are my pairings for this season
Firefly x Pastel DG
HI OD Fire YB x Pastel DG
Sugar Spider x Banana Lesser pastel
Lesser x Mojave Leopard
DG x Pastel DG
Pied x Clown
Pastel GHI x Leopard Mojave
Leopard Mojave x Firebee
Mojave x Butter Pastel
I see people already starting their 2020 breedings. I thought the females had to take like a 4 month hiatus with cool temps to get them in the mood. Like, I thought you had the lower the temps at night for several months before breeding could begin.
Did I read it wrong (wherever I read that), or do breeders have different locations to place snakes during that time so they don’t mess with their current breeding pairs, or am I just dumb?
Some people cool the females and some people keep their temps up. They can breed anytime of the year.
I keeps my temps normal, also if you pair during a storm the chances they will lock up are better.
My big lesser girl is already refusing food, and seems to be ovulating. I pair my girls around the same time every year unless they laid late, then they get a month or 2 longer until I pair them or until the have the right body conditions/ weight to breed
I feel I get lucky with breeding, and I’m sure there is a more exact science, but as I’ve said before, a lot of times they are like farm animals. Give them the conditions and nature takes its course. I don’t ‘cool’, them but living in Oregon it gets colder in the fall and winter, so I start breeding in November, mainly so I will not have eggs hatch during hunting season in September. Haha. The room is an insulated heated room in the shop, so its much colder out there and the temps fluctuate from 90 in the summer in the room without heat, to 81 in the winter with heat, (I can go higher, but use heat strips to get the gradient. So I think that is enough of a ‘natural’ swing for them to breed. I bet depending on location and environment it can be easier or more difficult, but it works out fairly straight forward for my small collection. I bet if I tried to make my chickens breed it would not work out nearly as well as if I just put them together and let them live like chickens. Yeah, this takes some of the science out of it, but its just a hobby not a living, so if they don’t produce I’m not out anything at the end of the year.
We are raising a few babies to breed next year or the year after. There are so many possibilities it is so hard to stick to a plan right now! But here is the current plan.
Female Lesser x Male OD
Female pastel het pied x male banana het pied
Currently everyone is 6 months-1 year old, so we have a while to wait!
@annakirby, yes. I don’t need THAT many holdbacks anyway! LOL , I have a tough time letting any of them go. When everything works, its easy to get too many.
Thanks for all who shared. Its educational for me to see what others are pairing, before the clutch shows up and the pictures distract. I like seeing how people pair up the males with the females. Sometimes I think I pick the wrong morph combos, like instead of using a two or three gene male with a one gene female, using a 2 or 3 gene male with a one or normal female. Good stuff!
