Gecko experts and NON Gecko experts please help

[your gecko guy]

Ok, I have ran across this a few times with others.

How long does the female leopard gecko retain the male specimen ?

1. a year ?
2. 3 clutches ?
3. all season ?
4. 5+ clutches ?
5. a year plus ?

I have my own opinion that I have made through test breeding. I have asked others so I was wondering what the over all opinion was thx

 

[Vision Geckos]

This might work better as a poll.

But to answer the question, in my experience, females can retain sperm for up to 5 clutches.

 

[acpart]

I would be confident of getting 3 fertile clutches from one mating, but wouldn't be surprised if there could be more.

Aliza

 

[Srt14292]

I have never recorded findings, however, I guess that she would retain it for up to the year out of my limited knowledge haha.

 

[robin]

i have noticed mine will rtain sperm for the entire season. however to make sure i will put the male in after a few clutches to make sure they thing is good

 

[robin]

also i have heard but this is just hearing no documentation of females retaining sperm for more than a year. honestly i think it is variable depending on the female

 

[JordanAng420]

Well, how come mine don't seem to retain sperm at all? I'll get a fertile clutch from one mating...then that's it.

 

[Kristi23]

I had one female last year retain sperm from one breeding for at least 8 clutches.

 

[robin]

Well, how come mine don't seem to retain sperm at all? I'll get a fertile clutch from one mating...then that's it.

every female is different. i know of some other females just like that.

 

[Neill]

I have a secondary question to the retaining of sperm. Will they hold sperm before ovulating? Or just after the fact.

 

[SFgeckos]

A great paper to read to better understand sperm storage (if you have full access to pubmed):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...med_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=2

As mentioned previously, each animal is different, but generally speaking female leopard geckos should be able to retain sperm. The length of sperm retention however can vary depending on a variety of factors- fertility of male's sperm (sperm count, sperm quality, etc), reproductive structure and hormonal cycles of the female, and environmental factors (nutrition, stress levels, husbandry etc). Each year is different, but the years I have spare time, for some species I'll check the male's sperm under a microscope which can help determine his fertility level (how many females I choose to put with him). Hope that information helps.

Jon

 

[mynewturtle]

I have had females I purchased as adults who lay eggs unexpectantly. So I guess these females retained it from the previous years breeding.

 

[robin]

fertile eggs? or just laying eggs?

 

[adam&nikki]

ive found that females will retain sperm for the year in the wild a female could go a very long time without seeing a male thus they will retain for the whole year thus providing eggs that are fertile

 

[your gecko guy]

Wow a year and they are fertile ?

 

[robin]

Fertile eggs.

sweet!

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

I would say its probably possible to retain sperm for a while (1+ years). This would be handy in the wild in case of unavailability or any other variables for male and female copulation. But I re-breed my females after their 3rd clutch, just to ensure I keep getting fertile eggs.

 

[SFgeckos]

Interesting statistics from the primary scientific literature:

Source: W.V. Holt, R. E. Lloyd. Theriogenology 2009

SPECIES STUDIED: DURATION OF SPERM STORAGE
Turtles and tortoises (6 species) 90 days to 4 years
Snakes (24 species) 90 days to 7 years
Lizards (11 species) 30 days to 1.5 years
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) 6-10 months
American alligator approximately 6 days

They didn't specifically say which lizard species were studied, but I haven't been able to find anything on geckos. Sorry, I can't be of more assistance!