How many Males???...

[spykerherps]

..does everyone use for their various projects.
What is the max you keep or have kept?

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

I guess it depend on the projects you have but I always tried to have 1 male per 5 - 6 females.

 

[Gecko]

It depends on if you value lots of babies or genetic diversity. Lots of babies means you want more females. Higher genetic diversity usually means pairs.

1. If I'd just want to produce a lot of babies I use one male and a lot of females. Money isn't the only motive for doing this. I could produce a ton of females to pair with a bunch of unrelated males in the future (assuming I have some TSD info). The obvious trade off is everyones related to a degree in the worst case.

2. I could pair things off/or have extra males. I feed more mouths for less babies, but if I want I can keep things and have unrelated animals breeding past the F3 easily if I plan things.

3. Most people are probably served by doing something in between.

 

[acpart]

If you house your males separately from your females at any time it also depends on how much room you have. I am limited in room so I try to fit as much genetic diversity into as few males as I can. Right now I have 4 males and 9 females. I actually only breed 3 of the males since my normal is a rescue and at the moment will not enhance my stock.

Aliza