Female Leopard Gecko not eating as much

[Neon Aurora]

Wait to breed until you have a rack system. Don't cram your hatchlings into a single tank. It's just not a good idea.

Well I don't know anything about that other breeder, but I'm telling you it is not a good idea. Leopard geckos evolved to live in a desert. During the day, when it's hot, they hang out in humid crevasses. They come out during the night to hunt, when the air is cool and dry. From what I can see of the weather in your area, the humidity level rarely drops below 60% and gets in the high 80%. A desert species like leopard geckos could get respiratory infections in this high level of humidity. Florida is one of the most unnatural places you could ever keep them.

Letting them breed and seeing what happens is irresponsible. As a breeder, you need to have the proper equipment, knowledge, and space. Many of us have spent years saving up and learning before breeding. You should have your rack system with enough space for all the hatchlings you could produce set up before you have any hatchlings, an incubator ready, your adults should be housed properly. You have a female that has quit eating and is dropping weight. You should think about that right now instead of breeding.

I would be happy to advise you on some equipment and how to set things up, as well as provide you with some links to pages you should read to gain more knowledge about the subject. I would be happy to help you do it right, but what you're planning doesn't sound like a good idea and I have to advise against it.

 

[The Bearded Derek]

Wait to breed until you have a rack system. Don't cram your hatchlings into a single tank. It's just not a good idea.

(Don't they only lay 2 eggs a month? I don't think 2, 1.3 inch baby geckos in a tank that has about at least a foot to walk around in for only a couple days is too little. That's if I get the rack system which I will most likely get since it is more spacious and better for them)

Well I don't know anything about that other breeder, but I'm telling you it is not a good idea. Leopard geckos evolved to live in a desert. During the day, when it's hot, they hang out in humid crevasses. They come out during the night to hunt, when the air is cool and dry. From what I can see of the weather in your area, the humidity level rarely drops below 60% and gets in the high 80%. A desert species like leopard geckos could get respiratory infections in this high level of humidity. Florida is one of the most unnatural places you could ever keep them.

(I do have a room on the outside that has the birds in there that I can put them in that is well-ventilated and shaded. Pretty sure that should be sufficient. The birds aren't loud so I don't think any noise should stress them, at least not much)

Letting them breed and seeing what happens is irresponsible. As a breeder, you need to have the proper equipment, knowledge, and space. Many of us have spent years saving up and learning before breeding. You should have your rack system with enough space for all the hatchlings you could produce set up before you have any hatchlings, an incubator ready, your adults should be housed properly. You have a female that has quit eating and is dropping weight. You should think about that right now instead of breeding.

(I am thinking about the female not eating it's just that breeding was one of my previous goals in which I had on my mind but I'm still thinking about the female. Just 4 hours ago I put the female in a small tub without the male to see what would happen in at least 2-3 days. As for the equipment, I know a reptile store that has an incubator which I can give the eggs to them and they can take of them while it's there, I think they may even hold them for me if I don't have space or time.)

I would be happy to advise you on some equipment and how to set things up, as well as provide you with some links to pages you should read to gain more knowledge about the subject. I would be happy to help you do it right, but what you're planning doesn't sound like a good idea and I have to advise against it.

(Well I suppose I might as well read more, thank you)

 

[Neon Aurora]

They lay 2 eggs every two weeks. Each female can lay up to 20 eggs each season, from one pairing.

I'm a little confused by what you mean by a room outside. If it's a room, wouldn't it be inside?

Does the female's tub have proper heating a hides and whatnot? She won't start eating again if she isn't housed properly.

As for the links and stuff, I'll start to gather some good ones and some information on equipment. Give me a bit.

 

[JoulesBurn]

The reptile breeding community is fairly small and tries to inform one another through things like the faunaclassified BOI and other ways. If you're planning to sell your offspring to people locally for very little, this might not effect you, but if you're planning to breed and sell to other breeders and through online reptile boards then you need to think very carefully about what your image is going to be and your ethics because once you get a bad reputation, it can make things very difficult.

If you are already unaware of how often they lay eggs, then it's honestly a sign that you should be planning to do a lot of research, not planning to breed before you have things set up. The babies also should not be sold immediately after they're born as they need special care. Giving them away before they're big enough could set up a situation where your customer loses the baby since they're unaware of that increased need of care and that reflects badly on you and could make it harder for you to sell the next hatchlings. And if you cannot sell them immediately, then you will have the babies quickly begin to stack up in that 10 gallon. Since there would theoretically be two hatchlings hatching out every two weeks or so, you also shouldn't put them together with the older ones as the older hatchlings will be much more likely to injure or at least keep the new hatchlings from being able to rest, eat and gain strength.

You will have high mortality and injury with a set up like that. It's just a bad situation, and I'm not trying to be rude here, but your insistence that you require breeding experience more than your hatchlings will need proper care sounds extremely callous. I know your planning to get more equipment, but it's very easy to end up overwhelmed with animal numbers if you don't have it set up ahead of time.

Likewise, from one person in Florida to another, putting them outside here- even in the shade- will increase their mortality as well. The person in Ft Lauderdale might just accept that as part of their plans to keep more animals than they have space for- which is a high ethical question- or they have other equipment in place to help somehow. It's still too high and under stressful conditions can very well lead to respiratory infections in these geckos. I keep my roach bin outside in the shade away from the sun, and it is still in the 80's to 90's which will likewise be very stressful to the geckos since they will not be able to properly thermoregulate their body temperatures as they won't have a proper cool area. And I'm in North Florida. It's going to be even hotter further south and in the high summer even at night it won't be below 80 degrees.

 

[The Bearded Derek]

They lay 2 eggs every two weeks. Each female can lay up to 20 eggs each season, from one pairing.

I'm a little confused by what you mean by a room outside. If it's a room, wouldn't it be inside?

Does the female's tub have proper heating a hides and whatnot? She won't start eating again if she isn't housed properly.

As for the links and stuff, I'll start to gather some good ones and some information on equipment. Give me a bit.

The reptile shop I went to to buy the male told me they would only have 1-2 eggs in one month and sometimes only 8-10 eggs in one year and he has leopard geckos and breeds them also. He even told me about genetics they can have and how to breed them correctly to make a certain morph ,so I just went with what he said assuming he had experience with them.

Well technically it is outdoors, but it's just a closed area with a door and it's not really connected to any of the rooms "indoors"

Yea, I put her in a 16 qt tub with repti-mat and her old small heat-pad. Nothing really happened 2 days ago or yesterday so I put her back to see if anything would happen between her and male (Luckily so far she's eaten a worm and the male doesn't seem to mind)

I've read about 3 sites. All 3 of them said roughly the same things. At least 50 grams to breed, feed a lot of calcium, where to put the hatchlings, etc

The reptile breeding community is fairly small and tries to inform one another through things like the faunaclassified BOI and other ways. If you're planning to sell your offspring to people locally for very little, this might not effect you, but if you're planning to breed and sell to other breeders and through online reptile boards then you need to think very carefully about what your image is going to be and your ethics because once you get a bad reputation, it can make things very difficult.

If you are already unaware of how often they lay eggs, then it's honestly a sign that you should be planning to do a lot of research, not planning to breed before you have things set up. The babies also should not be sold immediately after they're born as they need special care. Giving them away before they're big enough could set up a situation where your customer loses the baby since they're unaware of that increased need of care and that reflects badly on you and could make it harder for you to sell the next hatchlings. And if you cannot sell them immediately, then you will have the babies quickly begin to stack up in that 10 gallon. Since there would theoretically be two hatchlings hatching out every two weeks or so, you also shouldn't put them together with the older ones as the older hatchlings will be much more likely to injure or at least keep the new hatchlings from being able to rest, eat and gain strength.

You will have high mortality and injury with a set up like that. It's just a bad situation, and I'm not trying to be rude here, but your insistence that you require breeding experience more than your hatchlings will need proper care sounds extremely callous. I know your planning to get more equipment, but it's very easy to end up overwhelmed with animal numbers if you don't have it set up ahead of time.

Likewise, from one person in Florida to another, putting them outside here- even in the shade- will increase their mortality as well. The person in Ft Lauderdale might just accept that as part of their plans to keep more animals than they have space for- which is a high ethical question- or they have other equipment in place to help somehow. It's still too high and under stressful conditions can very well lead to respiratory infections in these geckos. I keep my roach bin outside in the shade away from the sun, and it is still in the 80's to 90's which will likewise be very stressful to the geckos since they will not be able to properly thermoregulate their body temperatures as they won't have a proper cool area. And I'm in North Florida. It's going to be even hotter further south and in the high summer even at night it won't be below 80 degrees.

I do plan to breed locally as I'm just afraid of shipping and a customer would receive it dead or nearly dead. Unless there's a way I can absolutely guarantee survival, then I wouldn't really mind the shipping.

Well, if I were to sell them at that age (Which I highly doubt I ever would) I would at least explain to the customer everything he needs to do to keep it alive and the consequences of keeping it at such age. And also, as I said above to neon aurora, the owner of the reptile store told me some (I didn't know at the time it was only "some" and not all) simple basics such as behaviors I would encounter from them, what to feed, what to expect, and what equipment I'd need. After that I didn't really google anything 'till about a month ago.

I'd get the equipment right now if I had the money, but I'm not really the one that buys everything (My sister buys just about everything, the food, the substrate, the cage, equipment, etc.) I'm trying to persuade her to get it now before it happens but she wants him to be at least 10 months (He's 8 currently) old.

Well, I'd have to ask the guy what he does that doesn't stress the animals and keeps them from dying of heat. His cages sort of look like this http://www.hectorshabitat.com/uploads/2/2/9/0/22903018/2100039_orig.jpg (Didn't let me post it as an image for some reason) Those aren't his cages, they just look similar. He keeps the geckos in ones about a quarter smaller depending how many are in like if it's just 1 gravid female or a whole colony of them. He usually places a large thin blanket on top of the cage to make it cooler but i highly doubt it makes much of a difference.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Well the reptile shop was wrong. They lay one clutch (2 eggs) every 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes up to 10 clutches (20 eggs). Just because a reptile shop told you something doesn't mean it's true. There are many reptile shops that don't know much.

three days is not long enough to see any changes when you change a leopard geckos enclosure. I would wait at least two weeks. You're just stressing her out further by moving her around all over the place.

It sounds like your sister is the one responsible for this project. Have you shown her this thread?

 

[The Bearded Derek]

Well the reptile shop was wrong. They lay one clutch (2 eggs) every 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes up to 10 clutches (20 eggs). Just because a reptile shop told you something doesn't mean it's true. There are many reptile shops that don't know much.

three days is not long enough to see any changes when you change a leopard geckos enclosure. I would wait at least two weeks. You're just stressing her out further by moving her around all over the place.

It sounds like your sister is the one responsible for this project. Have you shown her this thread?

Well, I guess for leopard gecko info I won't ask him any other things

I doubt she's too stressed knowing she climbs on my hand all by herself and as soon I put her back she ate a worm. She also ate one today surprisingly.

I'd say half responsible, I am the one doing just about everything for them. She's just the one that has the money. And not yet.

 

[Kristi23]

I moved this to the leopard gecko breeding section since that seems to be what this thread is about. I haven't had a chance to read everything and only skimmed through the info.

What I have to say is that you need to do a lot more basic research on leopard geckos. If you don't know the proper substrate, ovulation (not eating), or how many eggs they can lay, you are definitely not ready to breed. Breeding is much more than putting two geckos together. Once you have all the basics down, then you will need to learn about the genetics. After keeping them for awhile and learning as much as possible, then you can think about breeding. It's very obvious from your replies that you're not there yet. Keep learning and then try to breed.