housing in colonies?

[sunshinegeckofarm]

I am wanting to build a new leo rack but I am wondering if it would be best to house in colonies with 5 females in each tub with one male which would be seperate in non-breeding times. I would hope to have better success with breeding this way. I have had 5 females be successfully bred but only 3 eggs laid it seems they look like they are going to lay and i have their egg boxes in their tubs but they don't lay and then they look like they have no eggs at all after they looked like they were about to lay. i dust crickets and worms with pure calcium in every feeding which is every 2 days and its either about 10 crickets or about 4 to 5 worms depending on the size of the superworms the insects are gutloaded with veggies and chicken layer feed which has alot of calcium. I dont have calcium in the cages because it will mold out and i dont know why it does I do not mist the cage but i guess the rooms humidity is high and makes it have moisture or something. I currently have all 23 individually housed and i would put like-size groups together and watch for any fighting between them. a few years back I had no problems breeding but now I can barely get them to lay eggs and they are mostly 2-3 yr old virgins that weigh above 60 grams most quite well over 60 and i have some that are about 1 1/2 years old that are about 50 grams which I am debating to wait to breed or not. I haven't figured out what tubs i would use yet in the rack but it would be big enough for 5 adult females with one male in it. I am not new to breeding leos or keeping them. Also what is everyones best temp for them I have them set at 90 with the cool side probably about 75ish which is our room temp. i would really enjoy having more leo babies every year but it seems like it just aint happening. Thanks for any suggestions

Danielle

 

[GeckoRing]

Just my opinion, but you may be asking for problems putting that many together. If one becomes ill, you are also endangering a five other geckos. Also, it is difficult to tell if they are all eating and such, you may not catch problems early on. Sounds like you know what you are doing though. It doesn't seem that putting more together would increase your success with breeding.

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

Yeah I am just wondering I haven't had any leos become sick thank god *knocks on wood* I guess I will probably go with slightly better tubs than I have now and house individually. I just don't understand why my females will not lay eggs seems like this has been the case for a few years now I have only been getting 5-6 eggs tops from about 5 females on average. I dont know if its the girls whom are the problem or the boys. In the past I had 2 females only breeding and I had 10-12 eggs from each of them and i had them housed in a 10 gallon for each and they were fed superworms and crickets and they had human heating pads for heat. I do nothing differently other than I house in a rack now and they have heat tape well soon will have heat tape since we are having problems with our racks we have now with heat that just started recently so thats one main reason I want to build a new one and of course it had to happen when breeding season came. also i am buying a better thermostat at the show this weekend hopefully a helix or something similar. the ones i have now i feel they are not working too well either. I don't see what I am doing wrong they are fed well, they are healthy geckos, the right temps to my knowledge with the problems we been having with the heating i know that dont help but in the years past the heat was at the right temp, they have plenty of calcium given to them. I know they should be happier in a slightly bigger tub. also i house them on paper towels. Also i want to introduce them to roaches but need to find a supplier that knows what species are allowed to be shipped to florida and i hope maybe they might have some at the show but i doubt it i haven't seen any in the past or maybe i just wasnt looking who knows. Thanks michelle for the info.

Danielle

 

[GeckoRing]

No Problem Danielle, perhaps its just the heat problems you have been having. Hope things go better for you!

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

yeah hopefully it will get better. last year i had 3 hatch and the year before 5 which i had incubation problems with temps so some were born with defects. I didnt breed the year before that since all the girls i had were older and didn't want to breed anymore so i gave them away and the new girls I had were too small. the years before that i would have 15-20 hatch out. weird thats all i know and they are not petstore geckos I have gotten them from reptile shows from well known breeders and some off the internet from better known breeders. By the way you have some really nice geckos for sale I wouldn't mind some snows i have been wanting some snows i have 2 snow bells but thats it. I have lots of tangerines lol.