can you breed a veiled anytimes.

[reptileguy]

How do you know when a female is ready to be bred. The veiled am going to inherit tonight or tomorrow is the right age, just wandering if there are tell signs of ready to breed. Or do I just wait until she noses around the bottom of the cage looking for a spot to expell her eggs like last time??

 

[kinyonga]

I hold the female outside of the male's cage so they can see each other.

If the female darkens her colors, hisses, gapes, rocks back and forth, etc. she is showing that she is non-receptive or gravid....so I put her back into her cage and try a few days later.

If she remains her normal colors, holds her body close to the branch I hold her on, does not inflate her body and moves slowly away from the male, then she is receptive and as long as the male is recognizing that she is a receptive female (by not hissing, gaping, coiling and uncoiling his tail, etc.) then I put the female into his cage.

I watch them without disturbing them to make sure things are going well for a few minutes after they have been put together...and check on them off and on later until the female darkens her background color and/or repels the male by her actions (hissing, gaping, etc.).

Sometimes the males will react inappropriately to a receptive female at first...either because they are reacting to your presence or because they don't realize at first that its a receptive female that is in their sight.

About 30 days later be ready for the egglaying...but please put an opaque container of washed sandbox sand in there as soon as she has been mated.

Prepare your incubation set-up before the 30 days are up too.

 

[reptileguy]

So there is not really any way to tell ie: every six months she should be ready or anything like that. just pretty much let her see him. That's kind of a problem because I do not have a male. I have access to a male just not one here, so is there anything else that could be done to tell??

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry...I thought you were interested in breeding her, not just in knowing when she might lay eggs.

I always put an opaque container of washed sandbox sand in the bottom of the cage so that the female has somewhere to dig to show you that she is ready to lay eggs. The container should be big enough for her to fit into with several inches on all sides of her (including above and below).

Signs that a female is getting ready to lay eggs include but are not limited to...roaming the cage, restless, may stop eating or slow down, drinks more than usual, is plump in the back half of her body.

Veileds generally can lay eggs three or four times a year. Mine don't lay any...I control their diet and temperature and it seems to stop them from producing.

 

[reptileguy]

no i do want to breed her, i just do not have a male here to hold her up to. Thats why i was curious to know if there is a particular time to telll when she is ready to breed....