Recording a breeding

To record a breeding, open the mother's Breeding tab and choose Record breeding. The panel opens with her ticked, dated today and set to track, so saving gives her a due date, window and reminders.

Start the record

You can also start from:

• Create on a phone, or your animals page: choose Record breeding, then tick her. If she's your only breeding female, she's already ticked.
• Her Records tab: choose Records menu, then Record breeding.
• Her profile: choose Add record, then Record breeding.
• The breeding dashboard: tap her name under Open cows, or choose Record breeding.
• The sire's Records tab: choose Records menu, then Record breeding. Once he has breeding records, it's on his Breeding tab too. He's filled in, and you tick the mother.

A species without due dates yet, or one that lays eggs, uses the regular record form instead: Records menu, then Log breeding / service.

Bred a group at the same time? See Record breedings for several animals at once.

Booked a stud service on Creatures? Don't record it again. Choose Confirm this service happened on the request, and Creatures adds a private breeding, with the sire, to her Breeding tab. If she already has an open breeding, the request asks What happened? first. If she isn't on Creatures yet, choose Add her privately.

Fill in the breeding

1. Check that she's ticked. Her row shows when she'd be due.
2. Check Date. It starts on today and can't be in the future.
3. Choose the Method: Natural service, Artificial insemination, Embryo transfer, Pen exposure, Colony exposure or Unknown.
4. Keep Record as on Track due date and reminders. Choose Record only for a plain note with no due date or reminders.

Add the sire and dates

The sire (the father) goes in the box named for your species, such as Bull for all. Pick a male you manage, or search for a saved reference animal or another member's bull. If he isn't on Creatures, type his name, then choose Add Dougal as a reference animal (a profile for an animal you don't own) or Just record the name Dougal. With Record only, the sire stays a name, even one you picked, so nothing links and no request goes out.

If she ran with the bull for several days, choose Add a date range. Enter the End date, plus the First mating or exposure date if it's different from Date.

Have a due date from your vet? Open More details and enter it in Due date override. Don't change the breeding date to make it fit. More details also has Notes, Time and Files.

If she already has an open breeding

Her row asks What happened?

• Replace it: she came back into heat, so the earlier breeding ends.
• Same heat: this service belongs with the earlier breeding.
• Keep both: both breedings and their reminders stay.

Nothing is picked for you, so choose one before you save. See When a breeding doesn't take.

Save and check the sire

Make public starts on for a public animal, unless your privacy settings start records as private or your last Breeding & Reproduction record was private. Select the button at the bottom, such as Record 1 breeding. Her row then shows what saved: her due date, how the sire linked, and Public or Private.

With Track due date and reminders, a sire you manage, or a reference profile nobody has claimed, links right away. Another member's bull links once his owner says OK.

What happens next

Described a breeding in your own words under Describe what happened? Creatures drafts it with a Review breeding button. After you save that draft, Creatures may ask if other open cows were bred too, such as Anyone else in with Dougal of Cedar Hollow? Tap them, then choose Log 2 more (it counts your picks). That opens Record breedings for several animals at once with them ticked and the same date and bull. Or choose Done.

Her Breeding tab shows the pregnancy with her due date, window and what to expect. Creatures also schedules a pregnancy check and a due-date reminder. See Breeding reminders.

The public page for the coming babies

Save a tracked breeding with Make public on, and Creatures usually starts a public page for the coming babies. You'll see a note such as "Kirsty's calf page will show on your profile and in search," with Keep private and See page.

Choose Keep private and the page comes down. Creatures remembers that choice, so your next tracked breeding starts private too.

Nothing goes public on its own if Make public is off, her profile is private, or your privacy settings start new animals or records as private. For more, see Share offspring updates on a public page.

Guinea pig pairing notices

For guinea pigs, Creatures flags pairings with a known genetic health risk:

• Roan or dalmatian: if both parents are recorded as roan or dalmatian, the notice explains the chance of lethal-white pups. If only one is and the other's color is all white, missing or unclear, it says the risk can't be ruled out. If both colors only mention roan or dalmatian, it asks you to check both animals' markings.
• Satin: it explains how many pups could be satin and, separately, the reported link between satin coats and a painful bone disease.

You can see a notice when you:

• Record a breeding, several breedings at once, a birth or a past birth.
• Enter an animal's parents, plan a litter, test a mating or use Pair Lab.
• Request a stud breeding, or approve your animal as a sire.
• Record a use of stored genetics, or add or edit a stored embryo or live juvenile.

Recorded breeding cycles show notices on the Breeding tab and the breeding dashboard. Owners also see them with an animal's parents on its profile, and managers on a stored embryo's or live juvenile's page. Notices use only what you're allowed to see, never change genetics and never stop you from saving. Each links to its guide: roan and dalmatian pairings or satin guinea pigs.

No notice doesn't mean a pairing is free of health risks.

If something looks wrong

• Only a mating can start a pregnancy to track. Choose Make this a mating.
• The breeding hasn't happened yet. Date can't be in the future. Add a to-do for that day, then record the breeding once it happens.
• She came to you already bred. Record a Pregnancy Check and choose Pregnant under Pregnancy result. Keep tracking on and enter your vet's estimate under How far along?
• The window has already passed. Her row says so and offers Record only, which keeps the breeding as history. To record the calving instead, see Recording a birth.

Hatching eggs instead? See Set a clutch of eggs and follow incubation.

Related information

• Tracking pregnancy and progress
• Using the gestation calculator
• Share offspring updates on a public page
• Reference animals: documenting lineage and inviting the owner

Updated on: 01/11/2026