can you sex 4 week old leopards?

[BalloonzForU]

I can sex at about 15 grams, I go more by weight in sexing then age. Once they get to that size they are much easier to loupe. Anything smaller can look like the opposite sex. I got a female at Daytona that was about 7grams at the time. In the lighting it looked female, but when I got home and louped it again I swear I saw pores, eventually the pores ended up just being dimples.

Then you get the ones that are in the 30+/- range who still mess with you, bulgy females with deep dimpled pre-anal scales, males that take longer to drop with shallow pores. ggrrrrr

 

[MichaelJ]

it really isn't dead accurate by my account with Temp Sexing and the idea of being able to visually tell is ridiculous.

 

[trizzypballr]

I have not hatched any geckos yet, but I have talked to alot of people, asked alot of questions, and done a good bit of research. Frank is correct, I started my collection in Mid 2006. I do not have my own personal experiences yet, but I do try to share the knowledge shared with me as much as possible. I have eggs in the incubator right now and hope to hatch my first egg any day now

 

[robin]

Robin,
According to his website, he started his collection in mid 2006. Therefore, although it is possible to have hatched geckos at this point, I would be very surprised if he has hatched any Leopard Geckos yet. He has purchased some nice ones though.

That being said, I agree that visual sexing at 4 weeks is a crapshoot and anyone who claims to be able to do so had better give the buyer a 100% money back guarantee in writing. If they won't do that, than I suggest that one should buy elsewhere. If someone sells a Leo as Temp Sexed For whatever, than at least there can be an understanding that there is no guarantee that a temp sexed female won't turn out to be a male.

In my 5 years (admittedly, not a ton) of personal experience breeding Leos I have found that temperatures that are "generally" stated to produce males or females, while often a decent indicator of probability that one sex will be produced over the other, are not foolproof. This is especially true when you consider that some people may not use the most accurate means of measuring temperature when they calibrate their incubators in the first place. For example, in the past, with my hovabators, I had used a digital thermometer without a proportional controller and saw variances from 78 min to 86 max degrees over the course of a week due to fluctuations in room temperature. Certainly, I could not determine how long the eggs were at each specific temp, but had I used a proprtional controller (Helix) like I used on my racks, I would have been more confident that they would stay at 80 if I had it set to maintain that temp.

If I cannot visually sex a hatchling, it will be sold as Unsexed and it will be mentioned that it was Temp Sexed for whatever. I don't blame anyone for not buying unsexed hatchlings (even from me..lol) although they are generally cheaper for that reason alone.

As far as Macks go, I sold all of my Mack hatchlings from last season before they were 100% visually sexable (they were all 5-8 weeks old) and I would have to consult with the gentleman who bought them to see if they all turned out to be female. They were all incubated for female. I am curious to find out.

eh, i never made it to his website

 

[Franks_Geckos]

eh, i never made it to his website

I felt compelled to after you asked if he had ever hatched any..... I had to satisfy my curiosity. Then, I had to go on and ramble......See what you made me do? :devil:

 

[robin]

frank, i am evil like that

 

[Franks_Geckos]

frank, i am evil like that

:main_robin:

Don't we know it! ...lol But at least you still can make us laugh while you are being your evil self, and that's great. :main_evilgrin:

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

It is very difficult to accurately sex a 4-week old gecko, even for the the most experienced breeders. Temperature sexing is about 90% accurate, but every year I have a couple of 'surprizes' with genders.