Very nice Jason. The way I catch 99% of my pairings locked up, is I put the male in with the female, walk away, leave them undistracted, and then come back in an hour and 9 times out of ten if they are both mature and it is a first time of the season pairing they will be locked. The young males sometimes take awhile to figure out what they are supposed to do, they get excited and pace all over the tub but they are unsure what to do with all those hormones.
Jeff, I've seen what you described too (infrequently) but for me it seems like you've just had excellent timing and your snakes don't take their time.
My observations have been a little different from that. I've seen courtship go on for days, off and on, intense and mild. I just can't be there all day every day and sometimes the lockups are fairly short but they do the job. Then I think it's over based on their behavior and then it starts up again, I mean this can go on for a couple of weeks at least.
Well, this is only based on T. ordinoides and T.s.concinnus so my experience is rather limited, but those two snakes, even in the wild, have a mating window of many weeks and they sometimes feed and regain their strength for weeks before actually mating.
My big bertha mated with a male that was just recently brought out, because she was ready. I've also seen them take weeks or even a month or two out before they mate. It can happen right away, or courtship can go on for several weeks.
At any rate, it's really easy to miss it.
From now on, I'll treat others like they treat me. Some will be glad, others should be scared
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