not accepting mating

[capnursre04]

We have had 2 female geckos that are 7years old and have lived together for a long time, we recently purchesed a male to mate. When we first put him in the cage, they didnt do to much then after about 3 days when they got used to each other, the male tried to mate and got a hold of one of the females eyes. It was bloody but has done ok. Yesterday we got a bigger cage. We went from a 10 gallon to a 39 gallon to house the 3 gecko'd better. When we woke up this morning one of the females had a chunk of her tail gone closer to her butt. Is this normal? Is the females not accepting the male? Is 7 years old to old? I have no idea if either of my females have mated before. Thanks

 

[fl_orchidslave]

They are too old to start mating or even living with a new male. Now they are all too stressed from being in a much too small cage. Leave the male alone in the 10 and give the girls the bigger tank- they should have been in a 20 long minimum before this.

So much is wrong with this entire situation, so I'll just stop here and hopefully other members will post.

 

[Wowoklol]

Why did you want to breed them to begin with?

 

[ElapidSVT]

leopard geckos often receive wounds during mating in my experience. they usually heal quite well. i don't see anything inherently wrong with breeding a 7 year old animal that's healthy and still ovulating... why not??

i would bet both females are gravid by now, too. if you check their bellies look for pink spots which may develop into eggs.

good luck!

 

[capnursre04]

Why did you want to breed them to begin with?

well my son who is 6 was given the 2 females from an owner who no longer wanted them anymore. They gave us everything..home and all. We have had them for awhile and enjoyed them.My son wanted to mate them and watch the baby's hatch. I have done alot of educating myself and on cross-breeding and grew interest. We went to a reptile exhibit and got a decent tangerine raptor. We were excited to mate them so my kids could see nature in action, however it has been quite alarming to them to see the girls get hurt.

 

[capnursre04]

SORRY, for I am not a "professional" breeder. I have done alot of research and there is plenty of info on when to start breeding but nothing on how long to breed them. I did find one website that said they are productive till 10 years. One thing I have found by researching is there is tons of discrepancy on care of gecko's. One being that 2 geckos is fine in a 10 gallon tank. We took them from a previous owner who had them for a long time. It must not be that bad for they are healthy,eat well and are very tame or were until we put them in the bigger tank.

 

[ElapidSVT]

two is fine, 3 is a bit snug
when i see one of my females all beaten up i'm actually kind of happy because it's a pretty good indication that a mating has occurred. usually they bite the female on the ear rather than the eye though. reptile mating tends to be brutal, prolly not the greatest part of the process for the kiddies.

by the way, welcome to the site!
and i hope you have an incubator, lol.

 

[Wowoklol]

well my son who is 6 was given the 2 females from an owner who no longer wanted them anymore. They gave us everything..home and all. We have had them for awhile and enjoyed them.My son wanted to mate them and watch the baby's hatch. I have done alot of educating myself and on cross-breeding and grew interest. We went to a reptile exhibit and got a decent tangerine raptor. We were excited to mate them so my kids could see nature in action, however it has been quite alarming to them to see the girls get hurt.

I started with an ant farm. Or was is sea monkeys.. Hmm. Well I hope everything works out for you, they are wonderful creatures.

 

[roger]

We have had 2 female geckos that are 7years old and have lived together for a long time, we recently purchesed a male to mate. When we first put him in the cage, they didnt do to much then after about 3 days when they got used to each other, the male tried to mate and got a hold of one of the females eyes. It was bloody but has done ok. Yesterday we got a bigger cage. We went from a 10 gallon to a 39 gallon to house the 3 gecko'd better. When we woke up this morning one of the females had a chunk of her tail gone closer to her butt. Is this normal? Is the females not accepting the male? Is 7 years old to old? I have no idea if either of my females have mated before. Thanks

If there was a chunk of tail missing,that tells me the female was not ovulating and ready to accept the male.It tells me that the male tried mating and wouldnt let go as the female was trying to escape.A female that will accept will have very small and superficial bite marks or bruising.if you are seeing blood or chunks missing that tells me she was not receptive