Breeding Cresties

[rshiery88]

Hey, I have had my first crested Merlin for about 6/7 months and im interested in joining him with two other females, would there be any problems with putting them together?? I have already picked out the females who are almost the same size and im gonna get the pair for 100$ ive been surfing and i saw a thread that said you should wait at least a year before putting males with femalse, and now im confused. Heres some pics of my Mrelin too!

 

[WildEyeReptiles]

Are you sure Merlin is a he?

 

[rshiery88]

yes he has a huge bulge at the base of his tail

 

[castelnaui]

Yes, your right!! Wait til they are at least 1 year old!! Better 1 and half or at least 35 gramm or as well better more ...!!

If they don't really adult the could get problem with producing eggs and their growth and are therefore in danger to get rachitis or how it's called in english: mbd (metabolic bone disease) ...!!!
It's as well said they could stopp thus as well thier growth but I'm not sure about this ...


Buy two females in the age of your man and keep the female together but seperated from the male til next springtime ...

Or may be you're lucky and find a adult female ...

What's the weight of your guy ..., so you'll see that he isn't adult yet as well ...
(I guess he will have around 20 gramms)


By the way I decided to keep the males always seperated (except logically for fertilize the females)
Needs a enclosure more, but the females are not always stressed by copulations/male ...

@Jason
Why do you doubt that's a male?!? There's nothing on the pics to be a source of decision for one or the other side ... :roll: ? The age of 6 months should normally be enough to discover males ...


@rshiery88
Have patience!! The animal will thank you with health ...
Greets
Peter

 

[Brian]

That does look female . . .

YOu don't need to wait a year of the animals your getting are adults or subadults. Just quarentine or wait an appropriate period.

 

[JuJuBee]

In one of my threads on Pangea I was told to wait a year because the female we got was sick when we first got her, maybe that's the thread you saw, who knows! But I think the person who told me that was saying to wait that long just because she was sick and she needs to have that long to recover before breeding. Like the others said, as long as they are all adults and the same size you should be fine after a quarantine period of 30 to 60 days. Good luck!

 

[castelnaui]

Hi,

s long as they are all adults and the same size you should be fine after a quarantine period of 30 to 60 days

Yes, I didn't deny that!! But adult, not subadult! As long as they are not any more in growth!! That's the point!

To be all the time pregniant (as a result of keeping male and female together) and being in growth can cause mbd because of the stress and energie the female needs for both (growth & egg production) ... That's what is usually said ... And what for me makes great sense!!!! Doesn't matter what other are saying ..., I've heard enough of females with rachitis because butting them too early together ...

Finally it's a question of opinion, you have to decide ...; It's your responsibility ...

But Brains post were making me unsecure about the sex too ... ?!

I took a clear look once again, and I must say, although it's very dark there where one should guess the sex, but it could be a female ...
Try to make a pic more of the bulge ... :? ?!?

But, BTW: I forgot to say that he or she is really fantastic looking cresty, I like the big spots next to the partial pinestripe ..., really a beauty!

Greets
Peter

 

[rshiery88]

well. i got the females shortly after my post, and i kept the females in a kk for a few days inside the male's enclosure before i let them in, the male seemed interested but they played hard to get. I hope im not messin things up, since i joined them one of the females has exploded with color. They have all been eating well and have remained very active. I have read that keeping them at lower temps will inhibit breeding, could i try this untill they have grown? Should i seperate them now? I dont really have another place to house them besides an old ten gallon and i will be giong to college in september and i dont think i could have two terraruims. Any suggestions would be aswome, and btw heres some pics of the females, and Merlins bulge

this is Marley

and this is Nitro (shes crazy)

This is the vivarium

 

[Brian]

Ok well a buldge of that size is male. :mrgreen:

Nice Setup by the way.

 

[rshiery88]

hey, thanx itsa exo-terra 18x18 and i love it! I knew he was a male but i thought id end all doubt with evidence I dont have any way to weight them, ill hafto seek out a small scale at good-will or something. i guess im going to hafto look for a way to prevent thier breeding while they live together untill theyre mature, i am using gutload every feeding and dusting with calcium as well, is this ok? i know there are a lot fo suplementing strategies out there and this is what ive been doing, any suggestions are apreciated.

 

[castelnaui]

Sorry,

My opinion you should know ... :roll: :? ?! And I guess you don't like to hear it again ..., that's why I just say : Read my posts above!

Result of that: Hold them seperated (depends on the weigth of the females but when I look at the pics I guess their not so heavy, but pic could easily make doubts)! The male in a smaller enclosure and the females in a bigger ...

To keep them together and to think you could be able to prevent their breeding start, I think this would be an illusion ...! (But may be you will have luck ...)

Hopefully some experienced crestybreeders will give here as well some statements

BTW: Yeah, really nice setup!! Gratulation!

 

[rshiery88]

ok, ill hafto start figurin a way to tweak some plexy-glass and divide this setup till theyre fully grown, the last thing i want is sick cresties. i think that maybe diong it corner to conrer would be neat like this;

its a shame i rushed this and now i hafto compromise them lol they seemed verry happy together :S neways tell me what you guys think and please direguard the paint drawing im on a laptop and its paint...

 

[rshiery88]

UPDATED!

Hey, so i think i have found a solution to my problem, and they can be together without actually BEEING together. i used my ideah from above and went out and bought a second water dish and a piece of plexi cut to my dimensions (17''x24'') and i divided the vivaruim, it took me a lil while to reconfigure all my plants and furniture but i got it all figured out and its finished now, heres some pics:

Anyways theres new development on my Female pairs history, i talked to the guy i bought them from today and aparently they are a year or so old, but theyre only a little bigger than Merlin, they were fed only gut loaded crickets, so im wondering if there is a way to check for the calcium dissease you mentioned earlier? My next step is to get a scale and findout how much they weigh, i feel like a moron cause when i bought them i assumed they were near the same age as my male who is just a little bit smaller. Well i guess thats what i get for being a noob...

 

[castelnaui]

Hi,

Measure their weight once! May be you have luck and they have already a good weight and you don't have to wait long for putting them together ...

It's good, that you found a way to keep them seperated and together ... , the pics are't already loaded when I'm writting this ...

If the crickets were always good dusted with vit./calc.- pouder it shouldn't be any problems about that ...

At the age of 1 Year I would say they should have at least 30 gramms or more ...

Anyway, ... Good Luck
& greets
Peter

 

[rshiery88]

hello, i have only been using reptical and green gutload cubes what do you advise for a vitamine dust??

 

[castelnaui]

Sorry, for this questions I'm the wrong person ... ! I'm living middle in europe, there's normally other kind of products, but as long as there is lot of Vit. D3 and some calcium joint-elements in it, I guess it will be allright ...

Open a new thread with the question about the best Vit./Calc. - Supplement products you could get in your country ....

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

heptivite, and repcal always work for me.

i would definitely wait till the male is closed to maxed out, because once you put him in with females, he is going to stop eating for a period, and probably not get any bigger. i would push for the females to be at least 40 grams. which i know its hard to wait, but its better to hold out then to breed early, making babies isnt more important then loosing your adults. i would wait till they are about as big as they are going to get. i have a female who is 56g, and produces beautiful eggs every time. she doesnt even get skinny after laying. i have a male, who i put in with the girls as soon as he hit 35g. he immeditely dropped 10g, and has been very reluctant to put the weight back on.

 

[castelnaui]

Hey Tamara!

Thanks for your support! I thought I would be lonely on a lonesome desert ...

And your advise about male who stop their growth I should have known before ... ... I always heard about the females and the probs about growth and producing eggs ..., but about males ...

But form nature logic ...: Why should they loose their weight or better, why should they stop eating ... Somehow like the spiders ... when they copulated they did for what they were made of ... and all sense of growth and living is deleted ... :? :roll: ?!?

Greets
Peter

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

in nature they have compeition though. the bigger, stronger adult males get to mate with the females, while the smaller males have to wait to get bigger. and theyre not in a confined space, where the females can run away. and like males of most species, they are so excited to coppulate, they become slightly obsessed, and so if theyre not asleep, theyre trying to coppulate, and eating doesnt really enter into their brains.

males loosing weight isnt neccisarily life-threatening the same way a crash brought on by early egg production is, however underweight animals can have problems in their own rights. that male is still having weight issues, i really kick myself for not waiting longer.

 

[rshiery88]

hey, i got a scale, and over the past few days thier weights have been as follows
Merlin (M)
26.6
27.3

Marley (f)
28.9
29.2
29.0

Nitro

27.8
28.3

these are all from the past few days, and they really fluctuate depending on wether or not theyve eaten. ill take your advice and keep them apart for a few more months. The females are chowin crikets like crazy but my male has had a strong prefrence for the Sandfire superfoods powdered mix, i was thinking i might dust a few crickets in the powdered fruit mix and see if he goes for it. He used to eat cricets like crazy but since ive been offering him the powder/water mix he has been backing off the crickets, and chowin the mix. :?