I have a Bumble Bee male. Put it with 2 females, but dont see a lock. Have no babies last year from him. Is it à general problem that bumble bee is a weak locker or must I just wait for the season and see what happen. I m in South Africa and still 3 months to go.
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I’ve never heard of people having issues breeding bumble bees. Some males are just better breeders than others. I have a male pied that I’ve never seen lock with a female, but my enchi pied gets the job done every time.
Are you certain your bumble bee is male? If you have any doubt, I’d check to make sure, and then just keep trying. If he doesn’t breed for you this season you can look into getting another male. It’s always good to have a backup.
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It’s not specific to any mutation for a male not to lock. Not all locks last for long periods of time so you may have just missed it and your females just didnt go.
I also have had males that certain females wont lock with, it happens. My Calico Pastave couldn’t get any action for a couple of years but he locks pretty consistently now. He’s 7-8 years old though so ‘waiting them out’ isn’t a great option if you only have one male.
If you have access to another male you can put both in the females tub together and that will get them working sometimes. If you can’t get another male but can get some feces/urate/hemipenal casts from another male you could try that. Pheromones play a big role in breeding behavior.
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