I'm Confused....

[Pepper]

Can someone give me a run down of ovulation and reproduction?!

I've been seeing all these posts about ovulating females too young...

Does this mean if my baby turns out to be a girl she is going to be ovulating and develop eggs?!

I'm soooooo confused!!!

 

[Lady_Kiya]

I will be watching this thread.
I am confused also.

 

[Lady_Kiya]

I believe ovulation is when their body starts producing eggs.

 

[Pepper]

Why would there body produce eggs, is it like just in case a male comes along, so if I don't have a male, she will just absorb them!?

eeep

 

[fOOlsgOld]

It's kinda like your menstrual cycle, you produce an egg, it doesn't get fertilized, you get your period.
From what I've read sometimes the egg is reabsorbed but I *THINK* some females may also lay infertile eggs. If she hasn't been with a male then throw them away.

This isn't from personal experience, just what I've read through my research. Anyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong :main_yes:

 

[Pepper]

ahh okay, so if they are the right weight to breed, ovulating and you introduce a male, fertile eggs may be laid, but without a male they can be reabsorbed or just infertile..

The only thing I'm worried about is I see people with posts saying there gecko's are ovulating too early, and we have no herp vets up here, so if my gecko turns out to be a girl, I have no clue what I would do if she needed surgery or anything like that..

 

[Lady_Kiya]

Yeah, I know what you mean Pep. We don't have a herp vet here either. Closest one is 4 hours away so if anything bad happens, than we have a problem, or two.

 

[Gregg M]

Ovulation is the process that results in the release of an egg from the ovaries and the formation of egg folicles... This represents the time where your female gecko will become gravid if introduced to a male...

Ovulation can be triggered by a number of things... Sometimes just the introduction of a male is enough to stimulate hormones and trigger ovulation... With leopard geckos I have noticed that there is no particular season in which a female will ovulate... Going back to what I always say, when your leopard geckos are kept hot year round (ambient air temps in the mid 80s and a hot spot of 95) they can be bred at any time of the year... Other things that can trigger ovulation and breeding behavior is are seasonal changes and in some specxies, barometric pressure changes wil trigger the breeding season...

So what happens when your female leo ovulates???
Well for one, you will see the egg folicles start to form... If you look under the belly, you will see 2 small masses forming... They can look white-ish to a pink-ish in coloration... Also the female leos appetite will increase... This is a very important time when the female needs to take in extra calcium and vitamins in order to produce strong eggs and healthy offspring...

Most of the time if a male is introduced to female that is not ovulating, the female will get defensive when appoached by the male... When this happens, the male should be removed and reintroduced a couple of days later...

When the female starts to ovulate, she will be more responsive to the males advances and will allow the male to coppulate...

Once gravid, the female leopard gecko will produce 2 fertile eggs every two week on average... The ovulation process will continue on untill the females seasonal repoduction runs its course... Usually 12 to 18 eggs later... Females will retain sperm to fertilize its eggs throught the season so the re-introduction of the male is not needed until the following season... During the egg laying process, she will test dig in the nest box to find the proper lay spot... She will go off feed a day or two before she lays... Usually the day after laying she will resume feeding and it will seem like she eats way more than usual... During the time she is laying eggs it is important to feed her a lot and up the calcium availability...

That is pretty much it in a nut shell...

 

[Pepper]

So what happens if there is no male near her and she starts ovulating?

 

[acpart]

So what happens if there is no male near her and she starts ovulating?

It's very likely that nothing will happen and she'll be just fine. Otherwise, she may reduce her eating for awhile. I think it's pretty unusual for her to lay infertile eggs, but it does happen, and in spite of all the posts about egg binding, I don't think that happens too often either. I have had both my day geckos lay infertile eggs (and eat them) but never had a leopard gecko lay without exposure to the male.

Aliza