Ovulation Questions

[Coils]

I want to know when exactly ovulation tends to start in female leopard geckos, including age and then how many times it occurs in a year/the breeding season?

Also how can you actually TELL she is ovulating, what are the visible symptoms of it?

[acpart]

Female geckos can start ovulating as early, possibly, as 5 months, though they should not be bred at that age. Usually, they ovulate for a period of a few months. Many ovulate roughly between Feb. and July, but there are geckos that naturally ovulate at other times. I think it's possible that the presence of a male could stimulate ovulation in a female. Last season I bred 6 females to 3 males, introducing them in Jan. Most of the females ovulated and became gravid by Feb. or so, but one, who was also late last year, didn't start ovulating till sometime after March (not sure exactly when). To see pictures of ovulation in leos, do a search on the forum for "ovulation" or else maybe someone will be good enough to post the picture on this thread.

Aliza

[Coils]

Originally Posted by acpart

Female geckos can start ovulating as early, possibly, as 5 months, though they should not be bred at that age. Usually, they ovulate for a period of a few months. Many ovulate roughly between Feb. and July, but there are geckos that naturally ovulate at other times. I think it's possible that the presence of a male could stimulate ovulation in a female. Last season I bred 6 females to 3 males, introducing them in Jan. Most of the females ovulated and became gravid by Feb. or so, but one, who was also late last year, didn't start ovulating till sometime after March (not sure exactly when). To see pictures of ovulation in leos, do a search on the forum for "ovulation" or else maybe someone will be good enough to post the picture on this thread.

Aliza

Thanks a bunch. I wanted to know for future breeding and then also my friend's female recently started getting a bit bloated in her stomach. She eats, poos fine, but we wondered if her getting a new male gecko and having it around(near her) could have triggered ovulation and if that was indeed what was going on there.