Breeding.

[brillobee]

Just wondering about breeding leopard geckos. Do you introduce the male and female, let them breed and then separate them. Or can you house them together and have them breed that way?

 

[indyana]

There are people who use either method. Each way has its pros and cons, and I'm certain some breeders will post about their experiences.

The way I see it, there are a lot of pros to using separate housing. You know exactly what female is producing what eggs, and you don't have to worry about injuries or bullying occurring, as you would in a group setting. The major con is that you will need more space and resources to set up an individual enclosure for each gecko.

The "colony" method, which is having one male with one or more females, has the benefit of allowing more geckos kept in a single enclosure. There are some drawbacks though, as you have to watch out for bad interactions between the geckos. Also, if you have multiple females, you cannot be certain which female laid which eggs.

I've read about some people who use a combination of the two methods. They keep a colony of females year round and introduce the male into the colony during the breeding season. At the end of the season, the male is removed to his own cage for the winter to give the females a rest.

A lot of this falls into the general debate of individual versus colony housing.

 

[LepoInc]

I don't think he was asking about the colony method.

I mean, it sort of answers the question that males can be left with females year round if they behave themselves but I find it too risky and lose sleep over whether they are getting along or not.

What I do is put the female in with the male and let them do their thing. I keep an eye on them to make sure everything is fine, and once the deed is done, I put the female back. If I feel its necessary, I'll put the female back in there a few days later just to be 100% sure fertilization will happen.

Females store the sperm for, usually, the entire season but some breeders reintroduce the male and female after every clutch or every other clutch to insure fertility.

Some males push females too much and try to mate too often when given the chance and females will fight them if its unwanted so housing them together is really dependant on the geckos

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[brillobee]

I was thinking of housing my male and female together during breeding season, then separating the in the off season.

 

[acpart]

In the interest of individual experiences:

My leos are kept together in 1.3 colonies most of the year. As soon as I have space (i.e. sell enough babies to free up cages) I separate the males and re-group the females. Some years they are only separated for 6 weeks or so. In general, my geckos do fine in groups. I watch them carefully. Occasionally I have to separate and am prepared to do that if necessary. This year I had to separate one new breeder female who was losing weight. I find, in general, that the males stop "bothering" the females by July or so.

Aliza

 

[brillobee]

When do you put your males in with your females?

 

[Gary Orner]

I move my males. They go cage to cage. I find it is easier to move a few males gecko around then move many many many females around

 

[stager]

I will keep young females together, but that's it I keep them all separate. Seem to do better and easier to keep tabs on there eating and pooping. They also seem to gain weight faster this way, atleast to me.

 

[beezy]

I put my males in and watch for a few mins. if he breeds on the spot I take him out after he licks his hemipenes back in if I don't visually see it I leave him in over night then take him out and reintroduce him every week for a night until I see the female is gravid.

 

[Gary Orner]

I should have put how I breed all together.

2 Females to a rack spot. Unless it is a special female I will then only put one. Then the males will travel.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I have a couple males that seem to be more aggressive breeders that I only put with females for mating. I have others that are calm and seem not to stress the females that I've left in. I have had a few instances where females laid eggs at the same time and I couldn't tell which was from whom. I separated them after the first incident but have decided that next season I'll be keeping them individually so this doesn't happen at all.

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