Hey! It’s my first year breeding. I’m not sure of all of the signs I should be looking for. I’d like to know if this is nesting behavior? I’ve been pairing her every three weeks or so since January.
Thank you!
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Can’t say with any certainty, sorry. Some of the first signs you would notice is building. This is when the female starts coiling around her cool water bowl, hanging out on the cool end, sometimes up the side of the bin. Then if you noticed locks between male and female, she would usually still be hungry for a while, maybe more so then usual. Then you would start to see her laying inverted or on her side, you may or may not notice an ovulation, easy to miss as it only last like around a day. Then she will shortly refuse food, hopefully move into a pre lay shed then, becomes restless, really cruising around pushing stuff like that, then after a month maybe a few weeks longer after the pre lay shed she should lay hopefully. This is a quick summary, it isn’t always as straight forward or the same for different females, but a good starting point of what to look for. Hope she is gonna lay for you!
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Thank you, I appreciate it! I’ll definitely keep y’all updated 
I typically see females push bedding out of the way when they are nesting and getting ready to lay, so I’d say maybe — but everything @banereptiles said is pretty spot on otherwise.
Good luck!
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I see the same thing. I constantly go back to Markus Jayne’s pictorial when I need help or have a question about where I’m at in a process. I used it as my bible last season for my first season, ha-ha. I know it can be nerve wracking, but it kinda gets easier the longer you do it!
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Oh, I hope! Thanks!
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Thank you, I appreciate the link for Markus’s pictorial!
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