Losing a hemipene...

[midnightline]

Last year, my aztec lavender male, Galvatron, had a run-in with some aspen shavings during breeding season, and unfortunately lost one of his hemipenes. I was a bit apprehensive about breeding him this year, as I didn't know whether or not he could make the remaining one work... (supposedly male snakes have "handedness" in this regard, preferring one side over the other).

I put him in with the female, and for the longest time he didn't want anything to do with her. Finally, she went into breeding mode, and he started courting her. I watched him repeatedly try to mate with her, and he seemed to struggle with getting hooked up, almost like he was learning how to do it all over again. I left them alone after that.

The female showed obvious signs of gravidness, but after pre-lay shed she took forever and a day to get down to the business of laying. (We're talking around 3 weeks...) This had me worried, as slugs are generally harder to pass than good eggs. Well, the final count was present this morning: 14/22 good eggs. Not too shabby for a first time female and a male with half his snakehood. (I suspect the reduced fertility has more to do with snake room conditions, since I've been having to cover everything up for showings, and that holds in the heat.)

Anyway, for anyone out there wondering if males with only one hemipene can still do the job... yes they sure can.