Rough Sex

[UKFatties]

Breeding behaviour in Fat Tails!

Just wondered if I could get some advice on AFT behaviour ...

One of our females has been in with our male since we cooled them but recently we have noticed a lot of bite marks on her tail and one on her nose. We separated her to let them heal obviously concerned about her health but wanted the opinion of you guys on whether this is normal before we reintroduce as these have now healed? I know mating can be rough and can at times almost seem like fighting but would it usually involve tail biting or biting on other parts of the body?

When a different female was introduced earlier in the season (prior to us noticing the marks on the female above) the same male almost immediately grabbed her tail and practically shook her side to side by it- a bit like a rattle... Is this normal? Just seemed a little odd as there was nothing stopping him from biting her head to pin her then mating? Again we removed her as she was obviously shaken and at the end of the day health comes first. The AFTs we have introduced are mature females.

Have you guys found any ways of introducing the male and female better than others?

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there on AFT breeding behaviour and so hopefully people on here will be able to share their experiences or websites with information on behaviour.

Thanks in advance

 

[KTyne]

Did you clean the Males tub/enclosure and everything in it before putting the female in? He may have been acting territorial but I'm also not experienced in AFT mating behavior as of yet.

 

[acpart]

My AFT's live together year-round. Occasionally I find a scratch or bite mark on the female, but nothing really serious. The AFT males don't seem to be as aggressive as some of my leo and garg males. Often the male grabs wherever he can on the female and works his way into position. I feel that actual gouges are a problem worth separating them for, but scratches are an occupational hazard of mating.

Aliza

 

[UKFatties]

With the second female that I talked about (ghost) that was thrown around a bit like a rattle my other half introduced her while I was away. As far as I am aware the female was added to the male enclosure. Usually we add the male into the female enclosure and realise this could have been a mistake hence him being territorial. I'm still wondering if the violent shaking is normal though as surely he would have realised it was a female? I didn't witness it but was told about it by my OH. That level of "aggression" seems a little OTT right?

With the first female (patty) she has pretty much always lived with the male (and a different female) she was separated for cooling and had been living with him (and the other female) for a while before we noticed the marks. In the previous breeding season we had never noticed any marks on her tail or anything......do you think we are just being over protective? It wasn't like there were chunks out of her tail but there were definitely the shape of jaws.

Thanks for all the replies so far!