Keep them separated?

[Jonlee25]

I just bought a girl that I will hopefully breed with my boy. Should I introduce them to one another yet? If so how? If not when? The high yellow is the male, the one more hypo tang looking is the girl

 

[Phoenix1115]

The girl looks too small for breeding. You shouldn't even attempt breeding if she's under 50g, this includes letting the have contact to each other. Once she reaches that weight (preferably above) then you can introduce them.

To elaborate on why I say not to let them have contact: (this includes handling them at the same time)
I had my breeding pair from this year out together, letting them run around by bedroom. I had already separated them and she had already laid 5 clutches. I turned my back for a moment, and when I turned back around they were mating on the middle of my bedroom floor. Luckily she was still of good weight so it wasn't any harm, but imagine if she was too small, or if I had one of my 35g females out with him. Even though I was watching them for 98% of the time, that 2% was all they needed to start something.

Now on another note, if you just bought her she should be quarantined from you existing animals until you can prove she's 100% healthy. The rule of thumb normally is at least 30 days, even if she gets the OK from a vet, but to be safer, 60. I normally do 60, personally, just because I don't want to risk anything. What I mean by quarantine is in a different cage, in a different room, with all different instruments used (feeding tongs, bathing tubs, etc.) and hands thoroughly washed after contact.

 

[Jonlee25]

Thank you, I hadn't anticipated on breeding her until she got around that size, I was more concerned with whether or not to introduce them yet, thanks for letting me know though! I feel a lot better informed about when to introduce them.

 

[Dreamsong]

Are they petshop babies, or breeder babies? If they're shop babies, I'd be wary about breeding them anyways. Some shops do sell decent quality leos, but most wouldn't be considered breeding quality. You may know the morph, but the genetics are always unknown...If they're from the same shop, they may already be related. If they were breeder babies, interbreeding/linebreeding -may- be alright as long as you have a good system set up, but petshop babies being inter/linebred could easily produce deformed/unhealthy babies. (Granted, I would have bred at least my patternless boy with my nephew's sunglow at least once, they were both from different shops and in excellent health. It's likely though that I'd have only ended up with petshop quality babies, and without knowing what the parents exact genetics were, there's no telling what the babies would be het/possible het for.)

 

[Jonlee25]

The high yellow boy came from a reptile shop owner who brought him from a pet shop. The girl came from a person who was scared of her lol. I'm interested in breeding for myself and my love for the animal, my children and family have become very find of the leo