So I have had my male and female ambilobe for over a year. I have started dabbling in breeding, but am still inexperienced and have much to learn.
I waited till my female was around 65 grams to breed her. I had introduced the female to the male several times, he would head bob a bit, but I never really caught them breeding. Finally I introduced them and my male was very animated, turned bright and went strait to her. I saw them intertwined and afterword thOught maybe I saw some sperm plug on the males back end. At this point, I was pretty confident that they had mated.
Based on my research, I am under the impression that a female should start to show some gravid coloration within a week or two and lay her eggs within a month to a month and a half, ballpark?
It had been nearly 2.5 weeks and I had not necessarily noticed any dramatic coloration changes in my female. To be sure I reintroduced her to my male, she turned dark black, gaped, hissed and refused his advances. I have never seen her refuse him in this manner so I assumed that maybe she was gravid.
Again, I have not seen her display any dramatic or consistent gravid coloration when she's alone. But I have read that all females are different and some may not show dramatic gravid coloration, but still be gravid. To be safe I put a laying bin in her cage and covered her cage for privacy.
So it's been almost a month, yesterday I did not notice the female in her cage. I noticed a burrow hole on the surface of the laying bin. I peaked in all day and have not seen her re-emerge. Today is a new day meaning she stayed down there through the night.
My house gets pretty cold at night, though I know panthers can tolerate as low as the mid 50s at night. That being said, I'm wondering if her being down in the wet sand through the night may insulate her from the heat lamp in the morning. They usually need to heat up in the mornings to start moving around. I am also concerned that her tunnel may have collapsed, even though I feel I moistened the sand enough.
Finally, this particular female has always been really shy. Even with plenty of cover and foliage, I can always sense her discomfort when I look at her or access her cage. Is it possible that she's not gravid at all? Is she just really shy and dug the burrow as a new hiding place?
I guess I'm just seeking support and advice. Should I lower the level of my lamp to insure she has warm temps while she's in her bin? It's been a day and a half and I haven't seen her still. Should i dig her up and check on her? Again this is new territory, I love my chams and I put a lot of time into them so it is stressful anytime you think or feel something might be wrong.
I'm going to be patient and hope for the best. If all works out, I should be the proud owner of a new clutch of eggs. Hopefully.... Thanks for any input.
I waited till my female was around 65 grams to breed her. I had introduced the female to the male several times, he would head bob a bit, but I never really caught them breeding. Finally I introduced them and my male was very animated, turned bright and went strait to her. I saw them intertwined and afterword thOught maybe I saw some sperm plug on the males back end. At this point, I was pretty confident that they had mated.
Based on my research, I am under the impression that a female should start to show some gravid coloration within a week or two and lay her eggs within a month to a month and a half, ballpark?
It had been nearly 2.5 weeks and I had not necessarily noticed any dramatic coloration changes in my female. To be sure I reintroduced her to my male, she turned dark black, gaped, hissed and refused his advances. I have never seen her refuse him in this manner so I assumed that maybe she was gravid.
Again, I have not seen her display any dramatic or consistent gravid coloration when she's alone. But I have read that all females are different and some may not show dramatic gravid coloration, but still be gravid. To be safe I put a laying bin in her cage and covered her cage for privacy.
So it's been almost a month, yesterday I did not notice the female in her cage. I noticed a burrow hole on the surface of the laying bin. I peaked in all day and have not seen her re-emerge. Today is a new day meaning she stayed down there through the night.
My house gets pretty cold at night, though I know panthers can tolerate as low as the mid 50s at night. That being said, I'm wondering if her being down in the wet sand through the night may insulate her from the heat lamp in the morning. They usually need to heat up in the mornings to start moving around. I am also concerned that her tunnel may have collapsed, even though I feel I moistened the sand enough.
Finally, this particular female has always been really shy. Even with plenty of cover and foliage, I can always sense her discomfort when I look at her or access her cage. Is it possible that she's not gravid at all? Is she just really shy and dug the burrow as a new hiding place?
I guess I'm just seeking support and advice. Should I lower the level of my lamp to insure she has warm temps while she's in her bin? It's been a day and a half and I haven't seen her still. Should i dig her up and check on her? Again this is new territory, I love my chams and I put a lot of time into them so it is stressful anytime you think or feel something might be wrong.
I'm going to be patient and hope for the best. If all works out, I should be the proud owner of a new clutch of eggs. Hopefully.... Thanks for any input.
