New to panther breeding--egg questions

[flatsassasin]

i've started to collect some panther's and have some clutches going. my question is how long should i typically wait after the female lays before i breed her again? i had one so far that was only 7 weeks out of mating/laying (32 eggs) and i was rejuvenating her and she started wandering around the bottom, so i gave her a nest and she laid another 20 eggs that are apparently fertile as it's now 6 weeks later and they still look great. the same thing seems to be happening again---she's fattening up, going off of her food and looking around the bottom. she is NOT receptive to a male (actually quite aggressive), so i haven't mated her again either. my other female is 2 1/2 months out from laying 28 eggs, has not been re-mated, and is going through the same motions. but she acts very receptive.

i'm aware of sperm retention and all, but should i not nutritionally "build them back" as hard as i have been doing so they are not laying so frequently, or is it going to happen anyway so i should just keep introducing males so at least i'm more likely to get a fertile clutch? i've always just owned males as pets---are the females just egg machines and i take what i can get before it overwhelms their bodies and they die?

and where is the point in oogenesis where i may have missed the fertilization window, so even if she is accepting of a male, it might be too late to fertilize the eggs that are already developing inside of her? i can palpate some soft eggs in the one that seems receptive now, but dunno when the window of opportunity closes. does she just know instinctively and that's part of her reaction to the male?

thanks for your help!!

 

[kinyonga]

They can lay two or three fertile clutches from one mating....and they can even continue to lay eggs that are infertile after that.

If you show her to the male and she shows that she is non-receptive, then you have no choice in the mating....you can't/shouldn't mate her if she is behaving in a non-receptive manner (showing dark background colors, hissing, rocking back and forth, gaping, etc.).

There really isn't any way to tell by looking at her or feeling her when its too late to mate her in her cycle.

You said..."should i not nutritionally "build them back" as hard as i have been doing so they are not laying so frequently"...if they are already started on another clutch of fertile eggs then you want to make sure they are healthy and getting enough nutrients to make them good healthy eggs....and since you can't tell if the eggs will be fertile or not at this point, you need to treat them as though the eggs are fertile IMHO.

 

[flatsassasin]

so what do you do? 4-8 weeks after a clutch is laid start showing the male to her to gauge her reaction? i had thought it would take about 3 months to build her back up again for another clutch, but if sh'e s going to cycle regardless, do i just show her the males and let her mate if she wants to, even if only 6 weeks or so have gone by?

 

[flatsassasin]

also, i now that 1 year is the standad age for breeding females. at one age do males become ready and able to breed?

 

[Dr O]

also, i now that 1 year is the standad age for breeding females. at one age do males become ready and able to breed?

Bump the last two posts/questions. (they're my wife's).

 

[flatsassasin]

Bump the last two posts/questions. (they're my wife's).

thanks honey! i got an email at work saying someone responded, and it was you!!

 

[coldbloodedAL]

Imo i would say no, dont show her the male or breed her again.
And males can become sexually mature as early as 7 months I believe.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I wait til my males are almost a yr. It doesnt take as much out of them as the girls but I still wouldnt breed a 6 or 7 mo male Imo....

 

[coldbloodedAL]

I wait til my males are almost a yr. It doesnt take as much out of them as the girls but I still wouldnt breed a 6 or 7 mo male Imo....

I would agree with you, since they all dont grow/ mature at the same rate. Thats only what i have heard. If I am wrong on that please correct me.

 

[flatsassasin]

Imo i would say no, dont show her the male or breed her again.
And males can become sexually mature as early as 7 months I believe.

so you're saying to not breed her/show her a male for receptivity for 3-4 months between breedings, and if she lays a clutch of fertile or infertile eggs anyway in the meantime, there's basically nothing that we can do to stop that so just incubate the eggs to see if they're infertile or not? my husband and i have been "arguing" over how to best do this, so i wanted to get some confirmation of what he was saying from this board.

and btw, for fun i was showing some new 6 month old youngsters to some of the older females, and the males had no clue at all, just wanted to climb some branches. the females did respond appropriately. the males didn't even color up when looking at each other. it was pretty cute; they were so clueless!

 

[coldbloodedAL]

so you're saying to not breed her/show her a male for receptivity for 3-4 months between breedings, and if she lays a clutch of fertile or infertile eggs anyway in the meantime, there's basically nothing that we can do to stop that so just incubate the eggs to see if they're infertile or not? my husband and i have been "arguing" over how to best do this, so i wanted to get some confirmation of what he was saying from this board.

and btw, for fun i was showing some new 6 month old youngsters to some of the older females, and the males had no clue at all, just wanted to climb some branches. the females did respond appropriately. the males didn't even color up when looking at each other. it was pretty cute; they were so clueless!

You can show her a male, I dont think that would be a good way to tell whether she has retained sperm or not. The amount of time she can retain sperm may vary by months. But If you breed her, then show her a male a month after she lays and she is receptive.. I wouldnt recommend breeding her. Breeding a female every time she is receptive could drastically shorten her life and is not good for health. Most of us recommend breeding a female only once a year.