Breeding while not eating

[Phoenix1115]

So, I know that geckos, and reptiles in general, can go off feed during breeding season. I brought home an adult female in January, and she has only eaten 2 crickets and 2 mealworms since. I figured at first it was because she's stressed in new surroundings, but it's been a while, and now I'm thinking it's because she's ovulating. I bought her for breeding and intended to try this season, but my hesitation is that, what if she's not eating for a different reason other than breeding season? She is of healthy weight and could definitely carry a clutch, but I don't want her to get pregnant if she won't eat due to something else.

What do you think, is she off feed because of the season, or because she's stressed from moving homes?

Little info: The breeder said she ate mealworms from a dish her whole life, and lived in a tub. I now have her in a 10gal quarantine tank (getting a 20L this week). She has all three appropriate hides, and always has 2 worms in her dish in case she gets hungry. I have only handled her twice since bringing her home in hopes that she'll settle in. She sleeps all day in her darkest hide (on the warm side over a UTH at 91 degrees) and climbs around at night, climbing on her hides and trying to scale the glass.

 

[SC Geckos]

When you say she is a healthy weight, do you keep track of her weight to see if she has lost any weight since January or does she just look like a healthy weight still. If not, this is a good idea especially an animals you plan on breeding. If she is loosing weight a vet check up may be a good idea.
Keep in mind that she may be a good weight to "carry a clutch" now but with one pairing she will lay several clutches over a few months which will drop her weight quite a bit. Most of my females loose about 8 -12 grams when they lay a single clutch, then they eat and and gain back between 6 - 10 grams before the next clutch is laid. If she has not eaten (at least very little) since January, My concern would be that she will not be able to gain any weight back between clutches. it may be in the geckos best interest to hold off on breeding for now until she starts to eat normally.
Can you see any ovulations in her belly?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

One of the reasons I quarantine is to make sure new geckos are healthy. Not eating would be a red flag for me. Not only would I not breed her, I wouldn't put her near any of my other geckos until I was sure she didn't have something else going on.

 

[katie_]

Id wait until she started eating. You wouldnt want to lose her.

 

[Phoenix1115]

Yeah she's quarantined right now ans has been since I got her. The only reason illness wasn't my first thought was because everything else she's doing is normal. Also, I contacted the breeder when I first started thinking she was going too long without eating, and he said that she had been eating twice a week every week for her entire life, up until the day I bought her. He wasn't even actively trying to sell her, and was going to keep her as a hold back, but we managed a deal. He thought that it was stress related, not only from the move and new location, but also from the shock of moving from a breeders tub with little interaction, to a ten gallon tank in my living room where she is in the center of the action.

Okay so you know the trick where you rub the side of their mouth and they open it? Well the last time I did that with Charm i put a mealworm in her mouth and she spit them out. I just tried it again and she took 3 for me! Next step is to see if she'll take it on her own haha. I can see white on both sides of her lower belly, where you'd see developing eggs. I know with my pregnant females they are very obviously eggs, but I'm not so good at telling on non gravid females. Does that sound like ovulation?

 

[katie_]

It sounds like maybe all the attention and handling is why shes not eating. I never hand feed geckos unless theyre on deaths door. It often makes the situation worse.

 

[Phoenix1115]

This is only the 3rd time I've handled her.

 

[acpart]

It's a tricky situation in my opinion that involves judgement calls that could go either way. I have a number of female breeders that hardly eat at all in the winter. Ovulation follows with more "fasting". Sometimes they don't eat until they've laid 1 or more clutches. However, they're all 65-80 grams with nice fat tails. Then there are a few prospective breeders that are just about at breeding weight. But they're ovulating and not eating. I have to decide between not breeding them and having them continue to not eat because of ovulation, or breeding them and having them get hungry after they lay the first clutch and start eating.

In general, most people would advise to hold off on breeding if there are any concerns about the gecko's behavior, even if they're minor. I think this is especially important for someone who's new to breeding (or any other kind of venture they're trying for the first time). I also feel that there's a tendency to get very rigid about these things, partly because it's important to stress to beginners that they should "follow the rules" until they've gained more experience, and partly because some people are more concrete and rule-bound.

Off the top of my head, my suggestion to you (I'm assuming from what you've written that you've had experience breeding geckos) would be to weigh her every few days for a month, to offer a variety of food (many of my geckos who I buy as mealworm eaters, not to mention my holdbacks who are brought up as babies on mealworms, turn out to be avid cricket or superworm eaters given half a chance), to hand feed sparingly if she's not eating and will take food by hand without freaking out, and to monitor her weight during the month. If she's of breeding weight and either maintains or gains and your common sense is telling you she's OK, I'd go for it.

Ovulation, by the way, would be seen as two or more small pink spheres more towards the middle of the abdomen than eggs.

Aliza

 

[Phoenix1115]

That was really helpful Aliza, thank you! I'll definitely start weighing her regularly and writing down her weights. And I'll have the chance to get Superworms tomorrow (which is the only thing I haven't tried yet) and she what she thinks of them.

And yes, I've been breeding on a small scale for a few years now (just one or two pairs a season) but this is the first time I've had a female so finicky.