Breeding Conditioning?

KDesautels08 · Oct 13, 2015

Hey guys,

I was reading one of Ron Tremper's books the other day, and there was a section that was talking about pre breeding condition, to artificially stimulate a breeding season, by turning off the heat for 4-6 weeks. My animals stopped breeding in late June last year, and unfortunately because last year was my first season I didn't have very positive results. I started to get good results toward the end of the season, and am looking forward to next season. What are your guys' feelings about breeding in this way?

Thanks,

Neon Aurora · Oct 13, 2015

I wouldn't. It's pretty unnecessary and I could see it screwing up their natural rhythm. January is only 3 months away. 4-6 weeks is already a month to a month and a half. Why not just use the time for prep? I'm super excited for next season (2015 was my first as well), so I am using the time remaining until the season starts to improve my facilities, fatten up my females, etc. I struggled with my first season also, so I am taking this time to find all of the things I did wrong and correct them. Also worth mentioning, you should definitely give your females this time to recover from being bred recently. Think of how taxing it is on their bodies.

My first season taught me the most important thing to have in this hobby; patience. =) So much of leopard gecko breeding is waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for geckos to grow up to breeding age, waiting for breeding season to come around, waiting for females to ovulate, waiting for eggs to be laid, waiting for eggs to hatch. Once you have done all that waiting, you repeat the cycle! You'll torture yourself if you aren't patient with all of this waiting.

KDesautels08 · Oct 13, 2015

Neon Aurora said:
I wouldn't. It's pretty unnecessary and I could see it screwing up their natural rhythm. January is only 3 months away. 4-6 weeks is already a month to a month and a half. Why not just use the time for prep? I'm super excited for next season (2015 was my first as well), so I am using the time remaining until the season starts to improve my facilities, fatten up my females, etc. I struggled with my first season also, so I am taking this time to find all of the things I did wrong and correct them. Also worth mentioning, you should definitely give your females this time to recover from being bred recently. Think of how taxing it is on their bodies.

My first season taught me the most important thing to have in this hobby; patience. =) So much of leopard gecko breeding is waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for geckos to grow up to breeding age, waiting for breeding season to come around, waiting for females to ovulate, waiting for eggs to be laid, waiting for eggs to hatch. Once you have done all that waiting, you repeat the cycle! You'll torture yourself if you aren't patient with all of this waiting.

Thank you,

You made a lot of good points in what you just said. I think I will also use the time to prep. A couple more questions for you though.

1) Would it be beneficial at all to cool my rack systems around breeding season? Or will they naturally start to ovulate when the time comes?

2) Suppose if I were to breed a female in January, would I be able to breed her again later on in the season if her weight is back up?

Thanks,

Neon Aurora · Oct 13, 2015

1) Not really. I like to keep my geckos toasty all year around. The general consensus is that leopard geckos enter breeding season based on photoperiod, not temperature. The daylight hours getting longer marks the beginning of breeding season. I suppose temperature must also have something to do with it, but leopard geckos will start ovulating just fine without a cooling period.

2) Well that would depend. Some leopard geckos don't start ovulating right in January. I only bred one female last season to test the waters, and she began ovulating in March. Also, most geckos will regulate themselves. Once they are done laying, they may stop ovulating. As my female approached her last clutches of the season, she laid two clutches of duds (All 5 previous clutches were fertile, even the first one). I could tell she was done for the season. But regardless, here is something to keep in mind; Leopard geckos are typically only productive for a few seasons. This does not seem to be related to age (although age does play a role), but more to how many eggs were produced.

Since to an extent it seems that the decline in production of a gecko is due more to the total number of eggs laid rather than to the gecko’s age, theoretically a gecko who is bred every other year could have a breeding “lifespan” twice that of a gecko who is bred every year.

Breeding on a Small Scale Revisited - Gecko Time - Gecko Time
Guide to Breeding Leopard Geckos on a Small Scale - Gecko Time - Gecko Time

So the more eggs you push out of your female in one season, the shorter the time she will be productive for will be (in theory). So I would recommend just taking it easy on her. Breeding her fast all at once will only make her less productive in future seasons.

Those two articles were written by Aliza (acpart). I very much enjoyed reading them, I highly recommend you do as well.

KDesautels08 · Oct 13, 2015

Neon Aurora said:
1) Not really. I like to keep my geckos toasty all year around. The general consensus is that leopard geckos enter breeding season based on photoperiod, not temperature. The daylight hours getting longer marks the beginning of breeding season. I suppose temperature must also have something to do with it, but leopard geckos will start ovulating just fine without a cooling period.

2) Well that would depend. Some leopard geckos don't start ovulating right in January. I only bred one female last season to test the waters, and she began ovulating in March. Also, most geckos will regulate themselves. Once they are done laying, they may stop ovulating. As my female approached her last clutches of the season, she laid two clutches of duds (All 5 previous clutches were fertile, even the first one). I could tell she was done for the season. But regardless, here is something to keep in mind; Leopard geckos are typically only productive for a few seasons. This does not seem to be related to age (although age does play a role), but more to how many eggs were produced.

Breeding on a Small Scale Revisited - Gecko Time - Gecko Time
Guide to Breeding Leopard Geckos on a Small Scale - Gecko Time - Gecko Time

So the more eggs you push out of your female in one season, the shorter the time she will be productive for will be (in theory). So I would recommend just taking it easy on her. Breeding her fast all at once will only make her less productive in future seasons.

Those two articles were written by Aliza (acpart). I very much enjoyed reading them, I highly recommend you do as well.

Thank you for the information, I look forward to this season, and will definately take a look at those articles.

Thanks

Breeding Conditioning?

KDesautels08

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Neon Aurora

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KDesautels08

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Neon Aurora

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KDesautels08

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