Mating Attempt Number One = Fail

[Dragontears]

I put Sprout and Kei Kei together tonight. I'm still at a loss as to Kei Kei's gender. I put them in a 40 gallon breeder (since the keis like to wander and run) hoping that they would take an interest in each other. They stayed on opposite sides of the tank for several minutes with Sprout trying to figure out how to climb through the glass. Kei Kei eventually wandered over to Sprout and dug her head under his chin. They stayed like that for a bit and then Sprout wandered away. Kei Kei followed him and started nudging him a bit. This caused Sprout to huff quite a lot for a while but he never flared or bit. He eventually calmed back down again. This cycle of Sprout wandering off and Kei Kei following and trying to get under Sprout continued for about 5-10 minutes. Finally Sprout lunged at Kei Kei and nipped the side of her neck. She freaked out and ran to the other side of the tank and they ignored each other for a few minutes. Then Kei Kei comes over to Sprout and bites his side. I separated them at that point.
I'm 100% sure that Sprout is male. Kei Kei has never shown any signs of being a boy, but from her behavior tonight, I'm not sure of her gender. Any thoughts?



I also put Mamma and Styx together tonight. Styx slowly walked up behind Mamma and then grabbed her neck. He rode around on her for a little while until she calmed down enough to get into position. He lifted her tail enough to satisfy him and popped out his hemipenes, but then Mamma moved and Styx is just sitting there with his hemipenes in the air. Mamma waited until he was done and he released her. He wandered away after that and I took Mamma away to inspect the damage to her scales. Styx didn't hurt her too badly and maybe when I put them together next time he'll figure out that the hemipenes are supposed to go INSIDE the female.

[Fatal_S]

I'm rooting for you!! I want babies if you have any! Good luck!

[Blotch]

Sprout and kei kei could just not be interested in each other. Sounds like what happens when i put a couple of my male blotchies with a definite female eastern. poo happens - keep trying - never know they just may not be ready, however they could both be guys. Just keep trying with them anyway!

Good luck!

[Hockeyrulz48]

When I put my pair together I did notice that my male was trying to escape the cage. This went on for two weeks and then out of no where they breed. When species is kei kei?

[Dragontears]

They are both Kei Island BTS

[Fatal_S]

Have you tried Zach's method for sexing females? Could tell you if Kei Kei is a female.

[Zach]

Have you tried Zach's method for sexing females? Could tell you if Kei Kei is a female.

Yeah, I was going to ask if you saw that thread? Give it a try....

That's SUPER that Styx went for it! He did nothing with Sunny I remember....

And that's encouraging about Sprout too.

[Tattoo]

Good luck DT. Hope your critters warm to each other and you have babies galore!

[aggiegirl]

Good luck and keep trying. I would love to see baby kei pictures! It would be great to have keis available here! We'll be cheering you on!

[PICJESS]

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you this breeding season! I'm gonna give it a go too, starting next week I think...

[Zach]

With Chunka??

[PICJESS]

yep! Chunka and Booger!

[Jenn]

I was thinking of not trying to breed this year because I've been so overwelmed with school, life and cats. But after chatting with Zach, I'm going to at least try. Baylee is about to shed so I'm going to wait until after that. I let you know what signs I see from them when I do.

[Fatal_S]

Breed them!! I want keis!

[Leigh]

You all need to get the Leopard print throwovers out, remember Zach's stage setting last year hahahah.

[Jenn]

Any more attempts?

[Dragontears]

Jen and I put Nona and Bianca together tonight. Bianca was aggressive enough to put Nona in a full threat display! I didn't know Nona even knew how to flare. It was kind of funny to watch. After they got over their aggressiveness, things got down to business and Nona took her like a man. I'm not sure how successful he was as there was a lot of sperm gunk that was wiped off on the floor after they detached themselves. Jenn took Nona home for the week to keep trying the pairings. Fingers crossed!

I also put Mamma and Styx together again tonight...nothing to speak of happened. Styx grabbed Mamma's foot once and played around trying to get a good hold on her neck, but nothing ever came of it. He did give her lots of kisses though, which I thought was kind of odd and cute. He'd sidle up to her face and put his nose at the corner of her mouth and then stick his tongue out just far enough to touch her. Weird.

I'll try again tomorrow. The problem at the moment is that I work most of the day and their lights are only on until 7pm at the moment. That doesn't leave a lot of time to spend with them after work. The weekends are my best bet with allowing them lots of time to get to know each other.

[Zach]

HA! Nona is used to Moe the pushover....

Turn their lights ahead 30 minutes a day! That will give you a little more time although I've found it can be more difficult to get them to breed later in the day.

Maybe I'll bring Sunny on the weekend and we can try with Styx again since at least he's showing some signs of being interested....

Try the Kei's again? DO IT! Let them get physical! If they bite, GOOD! This often sparks interest of the male. Somtimes it will scare the WIMPY male...especially if your name is EUGENE.

*sigh* I have to go yell at Eugene now; he needs something, god knows what it is.

[Jenn]

I'm only able to get my guys together once a day as well. Luckly I get out of work on the early side.

I definetly want to hear more about more attempts with the Keis.

[Dragontears]

hmm...maybe I should wait until the weekend? I really can't start pairing them until 5:30pm at the earliest...if morning is better, maybe I should minimize the aggression until I can get them together in the morning? Also, should I be pairing them on a full or an empty stomach? Say it's feeding day...should I feed first and then breed, or breed first and then feed? I'm leaning towards the latter, but wanted other input.