General Breeding Questions

[Greg'sGarters]

Yes, all of my babies are Easterns. My point was that if not brumating caused a 20X reduction in litter survival/size then Florida would not have the nice healthy garter population that it does. I'm not saying brumation is not conducive to mating; it certainly is. It's just that I have not heard anything about it causing drastically increased production of ova and sperm, nor have I heard of a 20X increase in litter productivity anywhere else.
If there is evidence for those things I would be interested to read it/hear the experiences. Because saying those things is very different from just saying that brumation increases the likelihood of successful mating.

That was a mistake, I meant that you would just have a greater chance if you did indeed brumate.

[d_virginiana]

Yeah, I'm not super concerned about having a litter this year. Like, if I did that would be nice, but if I didn't I wouldn't be upset about it. Maybe if I find a good looking male at a decent price I'll put them together and see what happens.

[ConcinusMan]

Well, I don't have anything conclusive, but when I get a mating of a non-brumated female she usually just has a few babies. Brumated, the litters seem to be much bigger. Not brumating the males does seem to result in more unfertilized eggs. That's just what I've experienced. It's nothing really conclusive.

[Invisible Snake]

Didn't want to start a new thread so I'm going to post my question here..

Do females in breeding mode wag their tails?

[guidofatherof5]

Yes. That means "Hello big boy"

I can't say I've ever seen any of that kind of behavior from any of my females.

[Invisible Snake]

Kool, thanks for the info Steve!

[d_virginiana]

My easily annoyed female sometimes thrashes her tail at Houdini when he won't leave her alone and she's done being social
But yeah, haven't noticed her doing it in a friendly way lol

[ConcinusMan]

Tail waving I've seen is usually annoyance. When the female is receptive to the male's advances, she lifts her tail as if she's pooping.