Male to Female Ratio

[EnchantmentGecko]

Next year I'm retiring my two females since they are 7 or 8 by my best guess. They only bred this year because I didn't think they would but I'll be moving my male out of the tank. I'd like to get me a few super snow females to start since I think they're pretty and probably easier to sell extra babies in my area.

My questions are:

1. What's an ideal male to female ratio?

2. How many of each sex would I need to have a stable (more or less) breeding population that I wouldn't have add new blood to every year? I don't mind exchanging new females and an occasional new male every couple of years.

It'll be several years before I can build up to having a small colony but I'd like opinions and ideas from people who have done it since I can't find any real answers on Google.

 

[ghiigh33]

I have a one to five ratio of male to females. That should give good enough egg production. And also provide a stable colony with minimal stress to the females if you wish to keep them together. I think you only need one male for your colony, unless you want different types of morphs produced. but make sure not to keep the males together orthey will fight and likely hurt each other. Good luck.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

My ratios are 1:4-1:5 (as long as the male is good weight and remains on food throughout the season. If a male stops eating I will drop down the female count. As far as how many of each sex...any breeder who is working on something unique or cutting edge has most likely line bred animals for 3-4 seasons. At some point out crossing does need to occur...but in my situation there are no other animals that exists that I can cross into without setting my project back a few years. All a mater or duration of line breeding, desire to out cross, and availability to out cross projects.

 

[acpart]

I am going with four groups of 1.2. Usually 4-6 of the 8 females actually breeds and produces successfully (this year I have 6 of 8 producing eggs and 5 of the 6 have already had eggs hatch --a very successful season for me). My groups are set up so I can rotate the females to different males each season and get different interesting outcomes. I usually end up retiring and replacing 1-3 females each season either because they were unsuccessful as breeders or their production has fallen off. I either sell them as retired breeders or keep them as pets (I currently have 2.4 in that category). Whatever else I think about "breeding on a small scale" I have said here:

http://www.geckotime.com/breeding-leopard-geckos-on-a-small-scale/
http://www.geckotime.com/breeding-on-a-small-scale-revisited/

Aliza

 

[EnchantmentGecko]

Thank you. I've read those several times. I just found what I think is a blizzard at petco and couldn't leave her behind so that's one of my new females for next year if I was right about her sex. I'd like to build up to two groups of 1.4. I already have a normal male but i'd like to look around and see what else I like. Thanks for your advice.