First Time!

[Mike Searson]

About a month ago I picked up 4 females and a male from "Dirty Stinky Stuff" to start 2 Leo Colonies this spring.

1 Female is still a baby and is in her own cage. The other 3 proven females:Rainwater Albino(Het for Blazing Blizzard), Patternless Rainwater Albino, and a Hypomelanistic female; went into a cage with a yearling Mack Snow male. The male had been trying to "court them" for a few days but seemed to lose interest, until today.

I heard some noise from that part of the room...looked over and thought I was going to have to break up a fight (a few weeks ago my Cuban Iguanas got into it!)...but no he was mounting up the Rainwater Albino! He did her on oneside and then the other! Not 10 minutes later he mounted the Hypo female! I did not see him with the patternless, but I guess its possible he might have.

Afterward he was licking his hemipenes like a dog...first time I've ever seen a lizard do that in almost 35 years of this hobby!

I put an extra moist hide in the cage. Any other advice? (This is my first attempt at breeding anything in 10 years and my first attempt with Leopard Geckoes!) Should I separate the females to individual boxes now?

 

[Michelle]

Congratulations, I wish you all the best! It is preferable for them to be on their own, its less stressful for them when they are trying to find a suitable nesting site. You should have eggs in about 3 weeks! Is your incubator ready?!

 

[Mike Searson]

I need to get an incubator...any reccomendations?

 

[Ipsl]

everyone like hovobrators that I've read or you can search and see how to make one yourself. Some dude did it with an extra 10 gal aquarium a couple threads back.

 

[Michelle]

Another option which I have found to be more effective ( i have tried the fishtank incubator) is to build a wooden box with a lid oe sliding glass doors and install a light bulb which is controlled by a thermostat. The temperature stays more constant and there is less likelyhood of fungi attacking perfectly good eggs! Put your egggs in tub with lids on and airholes in the lid. I cover the eggs entirely with the vermiculite. Hope that helps.

 

[Mike Searson]

I've built the fishtank ones before and when I was breeding pythons, etc actually had a hospital incubator that was refurbished. When I bred Standingii's years ago they hatched in the same cage as the parents!

I'm thinking of buying a dedicated one for the LEO's.