carol
Down with the sickness
This year I had two females that weren't on this years breeding plans because I had not decided what to do with them. I finally decided to conduct a mini experiment with them. I wanted to see just how fertility would be with a one time breeding. I used one male that this breeding was his first and only of the year, and another male that had been already been bred multiple times to four other females and was also a first timer male about 125 grams.
Female #1: Butter bred to my Lava Blood male. Lava Blood had already been bred at least 10 other times to 4 other females. I gave him a one time shot at this female Butter and 11 out of 12 eggs were fertile. Also FYI, 3 of the 4 females with multiple breedings had large clutches with 100% fertility. Female #4 is due to lay anytime, however, if her clutch has bad fertility I will probably blame the female since she was bred twice to this male BEFORE this last female was introduced to him. This male was not brumated.
Female #2: Bloodred bred to my Amel Cinder male. I gave my Amel Cinder male the year off because I have about all the project hets I want. However, I did loose one of my Amel het Cinder Blood 08's leaving me only with one male for the project, which is pretty dangerous. So I only wanted enough eggs to give me a male. I bred them one time, and this was his first and only breeding of the season. 17 out of 19 eggs were fertile. This male was brumated.
So fertility wasn't as good as my pairings that had bred multiple times, but was by no means bad either. I've had a great year with fertility. I think I got about 3 slugs total in 30+ breedings this year with the exception of a clutch that was almost all slugs from a female that I've been having problems with since 05. (Now officially retired)
I may consider switching to a system of only getting 2 breedings per pair instead of my usual 3. This will make things a lot less busy in the breeding season. I know two test breedings doesn't make enough to come to a conclusion, so I will probably try this again with a couple different animals next year. Also, if you have any data on similar experiences, please post! I know Chuck Pritzel had a fertile clutch result from an artificial insemination experiment, I'll have to go and check if she was inseminated more than once.
Female #1: Butter bred to my Lava Blood male. Lava Blood had already been bred at least 10 other times to 4 other females. I gave him a one time shot at this female Butter and 11 out of 12 eggs were fertile. Also FYI, 3 of the 4 females with multiple breedings had large clutches with 100% fertility. Female #4 is due to lay anytime, however, if her clutch has bad fertility I will probably blame the female since she was bred twice to this male BEFORE this last female was introduced to him. This male was not brumated.
Female #2: Bloodred bred to my Amel Cinder male. I gave my Amel Cinder male the year off because I have about all the project hets I want. However, I did loose one of my Amel het Cinder Blood 08's leaving me only with one male for the project, which is pretty dangerous. So I only wanted enough eggs to give me a male. I bred them one time, and this was his first and only breeding of the season. 17 out of 19 eggs were fertile. This male was brumated.
So fertility wasn't as good as my pairings that had bred multiple times, but was by no means bad either. I've had a great year with fertility. I think I got about 3 slugs total in 30+ breedings this year with the exception of a clutch that was almost all slugs from a female that I've been having problems with since 05. (Now officially retired)
I may consider switching to a system of only getting 2 breedings per pair instead of my usual 3. This will make things a lot less busy in the breeding season. I know two test breedings doesn't make enough to come to a conclusion, so I will probably try this again with a couple different animals next year. Also, if you have any data on similar experiences, please post! I know Chuck Pritzel had a fertile clutch result from an artificial insemination experiment, I'll have to go and check if she was inseminated more than once.
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