Well here we are, mid February already - time has strangely flown by, whilst at the same time, been relatively uneventful, in terms of breeding season at least. Back when I wrote Part 1 of The Waiting Game I was waiting for just about anything to happen. Since then, and as I wrote last, locks have been plentiful and like clockwork on each introduction, but the season is still early, and there is much to look forward to yet.
I happen to stumble across this a few days ago:
I happen to stumble across this a few days ago:
This is a very good diagram of the cycle of events - with time frames - of the biological processes of the full breeding season, and gives a good visual idea as to the full duration of the lengthy process. I'll end up referring back to this diagram multiple times through this series of blogs to pin point at what stage my female is at.
Right now, I'm over to the very left of the chart. Since her last lock, Monty has been spending much longer periods of time over at the cool end of her vivarium, which could be an indication of follicles beginning to mature ready for fertilisation. I've attempted to palpate her to feel for the development of follicles, but it's not as easy as it looks. Signs that I'm keeping a keen eye out for are waterbowl hugging, and laying on her side or back - these are very good indications that she is trying to cool her body and position herself for the release of developing mature follicles.
She began her shed cycle over the last couple of days - now whilst I might be rubbish at palpating, I'm pretty sure I haven't missed the signs of ovulation and this is not the pre-lay shed, so I'll continue my pairings as normal once she's finished shedding and had another feed. This period also gives Ifrit some time off, and who knows, maybe he'll even have something to eat too, but I'm not holding my breath - he'll eat when he's good and ready. Hopefully in the coming months I'll begin to get some definite signs of progression along the cycle and be able to document some of the latter stages, begin crossing fingers and toes for eggs, and fire the incubator up!
But for now, I wait (some more).
Right now, I'm over to the very left of the chart. Since her last lock, Monty has been spending much longer periods of time over at the cool end of her vivarium, which could be an indication of follicles beginning to mature ready for fertilisation. I've attempted to palpate her to feel for the development of follicles, but it's not as easy as it looks. Signs that I'm keeping a keen eye out for are waterbowl hugging, and laying on her side or back - these are very good indications that she is trying to cool her body and position herself for the release of developing mature follicles.
She began her shed cycle over the last couple of days - now whilst I might be rubbish at palpating, I'm pretty sure I haven't missed the signs of ovulation and this is not the pre-lay shed, so I'll continue my pairings as normal once she's finished shedding and had another feed. This period also gives Ifrit some time off, and who knows, maybe he'll even have something to eat too, but I'm not holding my breath - he'll eat when he's good and ready. Hopefully in the coming months I'll begin to get some definite signs of progression along the cycle and be able to document some of the latter stages, begin crossing fingers and toes for eggs, and fire the incubator up!
But for now, I wait (some more).