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# Recording a breeding

Record a breeding to track its expected date, progress, and eventual birth or hatch together. Start from the dam, the mother or animal carrying the pregnancy.

## Start the record

1. Open the dam and choose **Add record**.
2. Choose **Breeding & Reproduction**. If it is not in the short menu, choose **Browse all** to find it.
3. Choose what happened under **Reproductive Category**, enter the actual event **Date**, and add a useful **Description**.

![Breeding record with its category, date, description, and tracking choice](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/79c/dd1/bb9/02b1e.png)

## Check who can see the record

For a public animal, a new reproductive record normally starts with **Make public** selected. Your account's privacy default may instead preselect it as private, and a private animal cannot have public records. Review this choice before saving rather than assuming the record is private.

![Review the Make public choice](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/b0d/0da/103/6accd.png)

Clear **Make public** if the record includes private planning or personal details. [Sharing selected progress with reserved buyers](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/sharing-pregnancy-updates-with-reserved-buyers-lhleit/) is a separate choice, not a way to make the breeding record public.

## Track the cycle

1. Turn on **Track as breeding cycle**.
2. Choose the **Service method** that matches what happened.
3. Under **Sire**, the father, search for a Creatures animal or type an off-platform name.
4. Enter **Service start**. Add **Service end** when the dam was exposed over several days.
5. Check the expected date preview, then choose **Save Record**.

![Complete the breeding-cycle fields](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/09f/1e0/3be/ae2ab.png)

Use a single date for a known mating, insemination, or transfer. Use a start and end date for an exposure period; Creatures widens the likely window to reflect that uncertainty. If you already know the expected date from your veterinarian, use **Projected date override** instead of changing the service date to make the dates fit.

For egg-laying animals, complete **Clutch size** and **Incubation start** when shown.

You can link a sire immediately when you have permission to manage its ownership, or when it is an unclaimed reference profile, a profile with no owner yet. Otherwise, its owner must approve the link. Permission to add records alone does not remove that approval step. An off-platform name is a note, not a linked profile.

After saving, open the record to check the sire. An available, linked sire appears as a profile link with its name and picture. A plain-text name does not, by itself, confirm a profile link.

![Saved breeding record with Magnus linked under Sire](https://cdn-test.creatures.com/df0/8be/9b7/29781.png)

After saving, the dam's **Breeding** tab shows the active cycle, likely window, milestones, and next actions. If you only want to save a reproductive note and do not want pregnancy tracking, leave **Track as breeding cycle** off.

Next: [Track pregnancy and progress](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/tracking-pregnancy-and-progress-kbmkix/) or [estimate dates first with the gestation calculator](https://help.creatures.com/en/article/using-the-gestation-calculator-3rextb/).