Cycling (cooldown)

[Khrysty]

We'd like to start cycling our animals so that we've got hatchlings year round. The problem is that I can't find ANY information regarding ultimate temperature when cooling. Everything I've read advises you to stop feeding for a week and then slowly bring the temperature down a few degrees each day until the cooldown temperature is met. But NOTHING says exactly what the temperature should be.

Does anyone here cycle their leopards? What temperature do you cool to?

 

[roger]

We'd like to start cycling our animals so that we've got hatchlings year round. The problem is that I can't find ANY information regarding ultimate temperature when cooling. Everything I've read advises you to stop feeding for a week and then slowly bring the temperature down a few degrees each day until the cooldown temperature is met. But NOTHING says exactly what the temperature should be.

Does anyone here cycle their leopards? What temperature do you cool to?

sorry khrysty should be 64 degs

 

[Khrysty]

74 degs

Fahrenheit? That seems a bit warm to stimulate a healthy brumation. Does it work/do your animals lose weight during the cooldown? Does anyone else cool to just over 70 degrees?

 

[roger]

sorry khrysti it should be 64 deg I punched in the wrong number.i found an article for u.I think u can cool down any time.The article suggests November to Dec



Cooling is the term used to describe the process of simulating winter conditions. Some breeders routinely cool their leopard geckos prior to the breeding season, however it is not necessary, leopard geckos will breed normally without being cooled.

If you decide to cool your leopard geckos, you must first ensure that they are in a suitable condition to be cooled. Obviously, if you are intending to breed them, you should already be sure that they are in good condition (they should be at least 1 year old, fully grown, healthy with good fat reserves).

Cooling is most commonly started in November or December. To simulate winter, the temperature, the amount of light and the amount of food need to be reduced. It is important that all of these changes are made gradually to ensure that your gecko has time to prepare physiologically.

Normally the temperature of the substrate at the warm end of the tank should be around 88 F, during cooling this can be dropped by 2-3 F every 3-4 days to a final temperature of around 65 F. The temperature can remain at 65 F for around 3 weeks.

The day light cycle is best handled using a timer, and it is easiest to follow the natural day/night cycle, that is, set the timer to switch on at sun rise and switch off at sun set. This way, the light cycle will be changing very gradually throughout the year.

The amount of food offered and the frequency of feeding should also be reduced appropriately. This is difficult to quantify, as leopard geckos may behave differently. For this you should follow your instinct and only feed the leopard gecko when you see it out looking for food. At low temperatures leopard geckos are unable to digest their food properly and will often resort to regurgitating it instead.

During cooling, leopard geckos are very sluggish, and will sleep for days, even weeks in a dark hide. The term for this state is "brumation", it is the reptile equivalent of hibernation.

At the beginning of January, the temperature should be slowly increased again to 88 F and the frequency of feeding and amount of food should also be increased gradually.

Hope this helped u out.

 

[Jordan]

out of interest, when cylcing, when do you cool the second batch, the half of the leos to be breeding out of season? around june/ july ish?

 

[roger]

out of interest, when cylcing, when do you cool the second batch, the half of the leos to be breeding out of season? around june/ july ish?

U can cool in any months from what he tell me.That is why a huge breeder that i know has leos all yr round.he has a perpetual rotation of animals,