Head is bobbin but no biting?

[greathouseFarm]

I was wondering if anyone has experience in this department. We have a new male that we have placed in the enclosure with 3 females. His beard is jet black! He is bobbin up and down like crazy and slapping his arms on the rocks. But it seems to stop there. I haven't seen him bite the back of the neck or anything beyond that. These girls are all extremely receptive - tails in the air waving even coming to him and turning around! He just doesn't seem to know what to do next? It's been about 2 days of this now. I did try taking two of the girls out to see if he could focus on one but he did the same thing. Any ideas? Can I feed him some magic mojo juice!

 

[spyder79]

Has he ever bred before? He could be slightly overwhelmed. Remove all females from his presence and reintroduce (one at a time) in a few days and see if it takes.

 

[ROMMELLAG]

I have the same problem with a male i picked up. First he was with all the normal male antics, Bobbing,arm stamping, black bearding. Now he wants to do nothing but normal dragon stuff. " He is appropriate breeding age and size, and so is the female. I tried other females and even reintroducing them to each other but nothing works. I was told he was housed with other dragons, being females for the entire time they had him. Has anyone got an answer???

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Some dragons are picky and will only breed certain females. Even Dozer is selective.
Could be inexperience.

 

[greathouseFarm]

I tried again today bringing one girl to him... the one I would imagine is his favorite. He got as far as neck biting this time... but then stopped. I guess it's progress. We decided to sell our last boy in favor of working on red translucents. So we dropped our whole budget on a Bloodbank breeder! He is gorgeous tho... I hope he figures it out soon before the seasons over!

 

[greathouseFarm]

This is a weird thought but is it possible that the male doesn't want to mate with them if they have been with a different male this season? One of my girls laid another clutch last night although I thought she was done from our previous males time with her. Maybe the new male knew this? Just on a side note, is it possible for a female to have fertile eggs in a single clutch from more than one male?

 

[spyder79]

This is a weird thought but is it possible that the male doesn't want to mate with them if they have been with a different male this season? One of my girls laid another clutch last night although I thought she was done from our previous males time with her. Maybe the new male knew this? Just on a side note, is it possible for a female to have fertile eggs in a single clutch from more than one male?

It is extremely unhealthy to breed a female more than once for a season. You breed her to the same male to produce her clutch cycle of 1-8 clutches and thats it for her season. You dont start breeding her again until the next season giving her down time for her body to recouperate. its extremely hard on a female to be bred and is very taxing on their systems. Breeding a female multiple times in a year is a easy way to kill a female.

Also, with the female carrying eggs she would be non-receptive to the male so thats possibly an issue of yours.

Do you have any females that were not bred this season already? If not you will have to wait until next year to prove this boy out, for the sake of your animals.

 

[greathouseFarm]

Ah I was under the impression that the each encounter would result in a few clutches but not after 30 days from the last day they were together. I assumed the down time they spent in winter was their recouping time. I do have one female that I have not bred this year. They are all very healthy and have good weight on them. They are eating well on their superworms, dubias, mustard greens squash etc... I will usually get them a nice juicy hornworm or something after they lay. (no pinkies) So am I to assume they may have more eggs to lay this season? Our boy had been gone for over 30 days now.

 

[fresnowitte]

Ah I was under the impression that the each encounter would result in a few clutches but not after 30 days from the last day they were together.

No not true...a female can hold back for longer than 30 days. My breeding pet dragon Ms. Tiggs only gets one encounter with her male mate she lays eggs every 21 to 30 days an I get 3 to 5 clutches from one breeding.

I assumed the down time they spent in winter was their recouping time.

No no! Your female needs recouping time inbetween her clutches if she lays to many to close it's harder on her and harder for her to recoupe. She needs several weeks after laying her last clutch of the season before brumation for recouping as well. She should be at maxium health and weight before entering brumation. This means she should also have a fecal test run as well before ever going into brumation. How could she recoupe during brumation if she's asleep not eating and not getting and supplements? She can't!

So am I to assume they may have more eggs to lay this season?

Very possible some females will lay up to 7 to 8 clutches per breeding. Speaking of which I have to agree with Brian only one breeding encounter per season.(PERIOD!) If you are allowing more than that you are actually doing harm to your female. They should first of all be pets that you adore and care for they are not breeding machines...beardies that have multiple breeding sessions per year will not live long. And will not produce the healthiest of babies because they need that recoupe time.

 

[greathouseFarm]

Well I take offense to your implying that I am treating my pets as breeding machines. I am a mom helping my son with his breeding project that is just with our pets. We have 3 females and one male. We handle them & love them all the time. I have spent more than a year before we began, with my son, reading and researching everything we could get our hands on. How the fact that a female should only have one mating session per season got past us I'm not sure. When I said that I assumed brumation was the resting period I did not mean that I am naive enough to allow them to enter brumation without a substantial period of nutritional enrichment and fat reserves. After one of our female lays we do make sure they are getting all the food they want and are healthy, well hydrated and not stressed in any way. My only misunderstanding was that I understood one mating session would produce clutches for the 30 days following that session. Well I am clear now.

 

[fresnowitte]

I'm sorry I wasn't actually directing that statement straight at you...that was more of a general statement. :wink: Meaning that when we allow several encounters then we are endangering our beloved pet. I never said you didn't love your pets. The more clutches per year a female lays and the more years in a row the shorter her life span will be is probably what I should have said. Think about it this way what does it do to our bodies if we were to have a bunch of kid one right after the other without springing back before we become pregnant again?

Again didn't mean to offend you in any way.

 

[greathouseFarm]

Yes of course that makes sense... but of course us humans can't get pregnant once and than keep having more kids either! imagine that. Well I am very conscious of our beardies and all of our pets health. We have actually rescued two of our beardies and nursed one back from MBD and the other from severe dehydration, mites, & fungus! I have been raising animals since I was young so long lives are very important to me. I had just misunderstood in a way and thought that last encounters' fertilization was well expired so we will await and see how many actual clutches she may have left to lay.

As for the original topic I suppose that may be the answer... so we will try him again with a virgin female and see if he completes the task. ROMMELLAG could this have also been why your male was doing the same thing?

 

[spyder79]

Ah I was under the impression that the each encounter would result in a few clutches but not after 30 days from the last day they were together. I assumed the down time they spent in winter was their recouping time. I do have one female that I have not bred this year. They are all very healthy and have good weight on them. They are eating well on their superworms, dubias, mustard greens squash etc... I will usually get them a nice juicy hornworm or something after they lay. (no pinkies) So am I to assume they may have more eggs to lay this season? Our boy had been gone for over 30 days now.

Its all good everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. One pairing per season per female is what should be done. A female should never be bred more than once in a season. Im glad you listened though too many people feel the need to argue just for arguments sake. Those are the ones I normally encounter (thus the reason I have a reputation on here as being extremely mean lol). Breed your new male to a female you have not bred this year and you should see some better results. Good luck.