i know there are several threads on the topic but my question is: do i have to brumate the female and the male in order to breed them in the spring? i had originally planned to do just that, but i just bought a 19inch male red-sided from reed and, when compared to the female, it's tiny. i know the males don't get nearly as big, but i thought i could use the wintertime to allow this guy to grow some more to increase the chances of having offspring . of course, if that means that he may not breed at all then i would have shot myself in the foot by not brumating him. does anyone have a solution to my dilemma? how about a shortened brumation time, maybe just a month? would that do the trick as far as stimmulating hormone production is concerned ?