I'm new

[x Stacii x]

Hey everyone,

Me and my girlfriend are both pretty new to the gecko world and we were looking for any and all information about our Snow Leopard Geckos that we purchased at the Tulsa, OK reptile expo. We have juvie male and female Leopards, they're currently living in a 10 gal. aquarium with carpet, a water dish, a humid hide on one side and a coconut shell hide on the other side with the U.T.H.

I was wondering on when and if they will breed?
How do I know when they have or will?
How long will it take for the Gecko to lay the eggs?
If and how we should incubate them?
Etc. etc.

I am also willing to take constructive criticism on how I am keeping the Geckos.

Thanks in advance



-Trey

 

[acpart]

Congratulations on your new geckos. You have the set up pretty much correct. To make sure you have everything right, go to the top of the page here, click on "articles/caresheets" and read some caresheets.

Now for some constructive criticism: a male and a female gecko kept together will most likely breed. Since they are juvies, they may breed before the female is old or big enough (sort of like keeping 13 year olds in a room together). The female should be at least 50 grams and 9 months before breeding. If she breeds at too young an age, she may have trouble passing the eggs and may never reach her full size since she's being asked to use a lot of physical resources before she's full-grown.

Even if they wait until they're the right size, are you sure you want to breed? You will need an incubator for the eggs as well as caging and food for the babies, not to mention the possibility of vet visits or need to "cull" deformed babies. I have had first-time breeding females produce more than 20 babies in a season, though that isn't usual.

Another thing to consider is that 2 juvies in a 10 gallon is OK, but 2 adults will need a 20 gallon.

Here is my advice: get another 10 gallon set-up (or a 20 gallon set-up) and separate them (they are solitary animals and really don't need company). Enjoy them as they grow up and evaluate whether or not you want to breed. Read up on breeding and read about the experiences of people who are already breeding. If you decide you want to go for it, consider trying it late next spring or even the year after if your guys are really young.

Good luck and welcome to GF.

Aliza

 

[x Stacii x]

I do want to breed Leapord Geckos I just need to know where I can get or make all the stuff for incubation and all the preperation etc, etc.
Having the space, food and supplies will not be a problem I have so many animals, Im always buying feeders and new stuff so its no problem AT ALL.
I need some advice from someone who is more experienced to just tell me what to expect and stuff like that.

As for the geckos breeding to soon I dont think that will be much of a problem because theyll reach maturity during the time that its not mating season. So doesnt that pretty much mean that I dont need to worry too much about them breeding too soon? Isnt it pretty rare that Geckos breed out of season?

Thanks,



-Trey

 

[Reborn]

Not all geckos follow the "breeding season" some females are late some are early theres no garantee, ya know? and no its not completely uncommon anymore.Risking it isnt something that should be taken lightly. As mentioned females can have problems passing the eggs, if not fixed that will result in death D: Plus males are ALWAYS ready to breed. He's gonna be harassing her to mate weither she's ready or not and if she gets sick of it she will attack him. Or he could end up being very aggressive... neither is a good thing. I agree another set up definatly. I dont even house babies together till i know there personalities well enough and there sexes. Your male or female could end up a dominate gecko which will bully the other(bullying ie fighting, takng best heat spot, all the food, ext) which will stress the other out... ONLY time i house the females together is when i know no ones gonna have problems and even then i have back up tanks ready. I dont much care for 10 gallons but if you choose that that's fine. With 2 in a 10 there will definatly be compition for the best places and food. they wont be able to move away from one another or anything. Like Aliza mentioned there solitary animals and dont much care for company.

Other wise welcome to the gecko world you'll get addicited! Aliza answered your first questions so i didnt touch of them

Oh btw you can make a incubator but chances are there will be temp flucuation which can cause death or deformities. You can buy a 40 dollar incubator(i think thats how much it is) off lllreptile.com. As for the space remember a female can have 15+ eggs so just make sure your 100% ready for that many...You dont HAVE to incubate the eggs..you could freeze them then throw them out if you're not ready..

 

[Dog Shrink]

Welcome to the forum Trey, something else to remember is Do you have amarket for the babies you produce? Now-a-days the leo market isn't what it use to be so unless you're producing some incredibly rare morph or a real in demand morph it's likely your babies would not find homes right away, and placing them with pet shops, Well Khrysty can tell you about some of the leos that her rescue got that were pet shop babies, or some of the more experienced collectors who have seen the horrors of pet shop babies just languishing from the stress of being kept in inadaquate mutli leo enclosures. There is a LOT to consider before getting into breeding aside of just having space for the babies. Experience and educating yourself are curcial in producing healthy happy leos that the public would be proud to own and shouldn't be done on a whim. The most important thing is the health and well being of your female, waiting until she's of breeding age and size, and educating yourself to all the care needed to raise and hatch nice healthy babies.

 

[T-ReXx]

Aliza pretty much covered everything but I'm just going to second her point about seperation. Leopard geckos will breed as early as 20-25 grams in weight, and that is way too small for a female to handle it. If you keep them together, they are going to breed before they are ready and that will endanger the female's(and possibly the male's, if he goes off food as many do) life. Seperate them and do more research. I also highly recommend getting the book "The Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos" by Ron Tremper, it covers most of the basics of breeding and will answer a lot of your questions.

 

[x Stacii x]

Oh btw you can make a incubator but chances are there will be temp flucuation which can cause death or deformities. You can buy a 40 dollar incubator(i think thats how much it is) off lllreptile.com. As for the space remember a female can have 15+ eggs so just make sure your 100% ready for that many...You dont HAVE to incubate the eggs..you could freeze them then throw them out if you're not ready..

When you mention the temperature fluxuation what exactly do you mean? I am curious because I keep 15 tarantulas at this time with a space permanatley on in that room and its around 80-85 degrees in there. So if they need to be in that temp. without fluxuation I am good. =)

thanks,



-Trey

 

[x Stacii x]

Welcome to the forum Trey, something else to remember is Do you have amarket for the babies you produce? Now-a-days the leo market isn't what it use to be so unless you're producing some incredibly rare morph or a real in demand morph it's likely your babies would not find homes right away, and placing them with pet shops, Well Khrysty can tell you about some of the leos that her rescue got that were pet shop babies, or some of the more experienced collectors who have seen the horrors of pet shop babies just languishing from the stress of being kept in inadaquate mutli leo enclosures. There is a LOT to consider before getting into breeding aside of just having space for the babies. Experience and educating yourself are curcial in producing healthy happy leos that the public would be proud to own and shouldn't be done on a whim. The most important thing is the health and well being of your female, waiting until she's of breeding age and size, and educating yourself to all the care needed to raise and hatch nice healthy babies.

Nothing is set in stone yet, its just something I would like to do. I'm going to try and pre-arrange homes for some of them friends, respectable pet stores, people on Arachnoboards, etc. etc.

As far as learning about the Geckos goes, I've been on this forum at least once a day trying to learn as much as I can everyday so I can learn as much as I possibly can about our new pets.

Thanks for the reply and the information,



-Trey

 

[x Stacii x]

Aliza pretty much covered everything but I'm just going to second her point about seperation. Leopard geckos will breed as early as 20-25 grams in weight, and that is way too small for a female to handle it. If you keep them together, they are going to breed before they are ready and that will endanger the female's(and possibly the male's, if he goes off food as many do) life. Seperate them and do more research. I also highly recommend getting the book "The Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos" by Ron Tremper, it covers most of the basics of breeding and will answer a lot of your questions.

I notice that everyone refers to Geckos in grams, where would I find a scale that weights in grams and where are they availible? Thank you for the book idea T-ReXx I was wondering if there was a good book for Leopard Geckos as there is "The Tarantula Keepers Guide" for tarantulas, just a good all around book that covers the basics of everything.

Another thing, I have seen that name before "T-ReXx" are you on Arachnoboards or Xbox Live or somewhere..... It seems so familiar.

Thanks,



Trey

 

[Reborn]

Temp flucuation. Can you keep the temps at a constant temp like 85 continiously? It can drop a degree or to but if it drops to much then goes back up it'll cause problems. Most people when they hatch out babies with defects/defomities they "cull" them...I have one that the breeder was kind enough to adopt to a pet home only(which he is only). When temps flucuate there can be organ problems, eye, eye lids, tails and legs being to small and such. With them you never know for sure if its JUST from the temps changing it could be genetic which is why their "Culled" at birth, to prevent the gene pool to be taineted(any farther) ya know? If you can garantee the temps wont drop much then it would be fine.

Just be careful with rehoming to strangers. I took in 2 rescues from someone and one has terrbile MBD who was dropped before and both her jaw and front legs where broken. She was from a breeder in the area who sold her and her buddy to the pet store because they became overwhelmed with the babies.. the other one had a eye infection that spread to both eyes. I got them off craigslist...they flat out said we felt them outside to die...

As for the gram scale i bought one off ebay for 20 bucks. Works perfectly. Not a fancy one but it does the job. If you do look on ebay, just make sure you check size. Some are for jewerly which are to small.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Just to give you an idea, here is a link to some gram scales: http://www.wholesale-scales.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=39

and some more reasonable priced scales: http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/pocket-mini-scale.aspx'

and more: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=gram+scale&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

 

[T-ReXx]

Go to walmart, check the kitchen section for food scale or the office section for postal scales. They're easily found there and cheap, I got mine for around 15 bucks.

I'm not active on Arachnoboards or X-Box Live, though I've been tempted lately to get some spiders, lol.

 

[Dog Shrink]

I don't know that you have any more room in your signature area for more species Ted

Thanks for the info on wal mart having scales, I was wanting to get one to keep track of Eros' growth.

 

[x Stacii x]

Go to walmart, check the kitchen section for food scale or the office section for postal scales. They're easily found there and cheap, I got mine for around 15 bucks.

I'm not active on Arachnoboards or X-Box Live, though I've been tempted lately to get some spiders, lol.

Thats some awesome information man, thanks so much.

Well I certainly know A LOT about tarantulas so if you need to know anything or were wanting to find some cool species just feel free to ask me.

Thanks,



-Trey

 

[x Stacii x]

Temp flucuation. Can you keep the temps at a constant temp like 85 continiously? It can drop a degree or to but if it drops to much then goes back up it'll cause problems. Most people when they hatch out babies with defects/defomities they "cull" them...I have one that the breeder was kind enough to adopt to a pet home only(which he is only). When temps flucuate there can be organ problems, eye, eye lids, tails and legs being to small and such. With them you never know for sure if its JUST from the temps changing it could be genetic which is why their "Culled" at birth, to prevent the gene pool to be taineted(any farther) ya know? If you can garantee the temps wont drop much then it would be fine.

Just be careful with rehoming to strangers. I took in 2 rescues from someone and one has terrbile MBD who was dropped before and both her jaw and front legs where broken. She was from a breeder in the area who sold her and her buddy to the pet store because they became overwhelmed with the babies.. the other one had a eye infection that spread to both eyes. I got them off craigslist...they flat out said we felt them outside to die...

As for the gram scale i bought one off ebay for 20 bucks. Works perfectly. Not a fancy one but it does the job. If you do look on ebay, just make sure you check size. Some are for jewerly which are to small.

Yeah, I can keep my temp. at 85. What exactly does "cull" mean? That just sounds terrible. Dude, thats a terrible story and I wouldnt rehouse them with anyone whom I thought to be a bad parent of the Geckos. Just because I'm curious is there anything else you can use aside from a glass aquarium/terrarium to house the Geckos? I assume that a large critter keeper or something like that wouldn't do to well with the U.T.H.?


Thanks,



-Trey

 

[Reborn]

Lol you're definatly new. "Cull" means kill/put down. Some do it humanilly some feed them to there larger reptiles(found this out the hard way=-= it is terrible but thats life. Nothing is certain. One second you can be ontop of the world the next laying in the gutters. Dude? I am a Dudette haha the name is deseving;D

google rack system or even search this forum. people show off there racks all the time. that's how most house multipule geckos. I dont but mine are more pets then "breeders"(haha 19 of them!) We have a custom build cage for them where they can live in bigger spaces.

rack systems use tubs which are heated by heat tape or flexitap(i think its called) Most house them in smaller spaces with only there "needs" met. Meaning: heat, food, hide. Nothing fancy but thats how people who are having lots of babies do it.

Only reason i didnt get one at walmart is coz mine didnt have ones that have the bowls that fit on the scale. Makes for weighing ALOT easier when there not walking off.

 

[T-ReXx]

Google "Leopard gecko rack systems." Lots of breeders and others with large collections keep leopard and other moderately sized geckos in rack systems with storage boxes as the primary housing. It's an efficient way to house multiple animals and there are advantages over tanks, like the fact that plastic containers hold heat better, are lighter, and usually shorter than tanks, since leopard geckos are terrestrial the height of most aquariums is wasted space.

 

[T-ReXx]

Only reason i didnt get one at walmart is coz mine didnt have ones that have the bowls that fit on the scale. Makes for weighing ALOT easier when there not walking off.

Just a heads up on this, get a deli container(or any small container, really) put it on the scale, tare it out to 0, then put the gecko in the container. Voila, gecko weight. No need to a fancy built in bowl.

 

[Reborn]

LOL mine tip them over! the cups. They dont like being put in anything the bowl allows me enough time to weigh them before they make there great escape. And yes they can get the tops offXD My bell albino, idk HOW, but she gets the covers off SECURE covers. But then my geckos are freaks

its not built in either the bowl just sits ontop and i can take if off to wash it ;D