One of my females won't ovulate this season

[Herherpsnderps]

Last year I got this beautiful full eclipse eyed RAPTOR female for my sunglow project. http://i.imgur.com/M5a83hp.jpg This picture doesn't even do her justice she's such a vibrant orange. I got her at 34g she's now 71.6g. I have the sunglow raptor project, Mack snow jungles, Snow bells, Super snow albino patternless, and blazing blizzard projects. I take pretty good care of them, they're on a custom rack where the smallest enclosure is a 10gal for single geckos, a couple 20gal, 40gals that I switch them around ever half year so they each get some good space to roam, ect. Jan-Feb I dropped my gals temps and changed the lighting to send them into ovulation after beefing them up. I've had good luck with all my other females, I've never run into illness, stress, or even much weigh loss when breeding. However this gal will not ovulate for me what so ever. I'm panicking because I was really banking on her and to replace her will cost me not a small amount of $$..So if there's any of breeders that have any tips they've tried with difficult females. I'm fortunate enough to be able to keep her with a male in the larger enclosure who's incredibly docile with her. A breeder friend mentioned that hes kept male and female together due to the smell sometimes sending them into ovulation as well and with him it was possible to do.

I'm about to give up on her so I'd really take any safe advice. She's been checked out and she's completely healthy, eats like a damn horse and has an amazing temperament. I dropped the lighting on her again mid season when I noted she wouldn't ovulate but I haven't dropped the temps again.

Please don't lecture me on why not to breed them or anything..I put a lot of work/ time/ money into my research and animals even as far as college genetic courses as well as special racks so I wouldn't have to keep them in tubs..Thank you!

 

[indyana]

How old is she, and do you happen to know what temp she was incubated at? She might be a "hot female", and those mature later. Some can even have fertility issues.

 

[Herherpsnderps]

Sadly I do not know her exact hatch date, I only know the genetics and size I got her at but when I looked into their geckos previously they seem to grow slowly so I'd take a very bad guess at a couple months if she follows anything like the growth rate of the rest of their stock. I was told she was temp sexed for female so I can only assume 82-84F. I have a rescued hot female from someone who claimed it was temp sexed for male and that gecko is extremely aggressive towards other geckos where as this raptor isn't at all. She's actually quite docile, because that was originally my concern. I suppose she could just be a mild mannered hot female though. I've had her about a year now, however, this is just my first season breeding her because she was still quarantined last season and I didn't know her well. I'ver had females that have ovulated then taken awhile to accept a male but never one that just straight will not ovulate before.

 

[indyana]

Hmm, maybe some experienced breeders will chime in with tips to trigger ovulation, but you may just have to wait and see with her.

Is it possible she is obese? Not sure what the weight above looks like for her body type, but I know that some breeders have seen ovulation/laying issues when geckos are too fat.

 

[Herherpsnderps]

I actually had the opposite problem with her at first. Body wise shes a large gecko but when I got her she was a bit underweight. I held back on her in April to make sure she was at a good consistent weight. She's on a schedules diet since then and ha been stayin a pretty healthy weight( I've totally had girlies I've had to put on a diet before though because they didn't drop the weigh I was expecting when laying haha). That's a really good thing to keep in mind though for some of my chubbier girls but 71g she's just a large and long gecko.

 

[trinity]

I think she looks like a good weight.. If this line is a slow grower maybe they will be slow in other ways, the more "fancy" a animal is most of the time the less fertile it is unless that has been a breeding goal.

I don't have anything to add, but good luck and I will cross my fingers for you and your Pretty gal.

 

[Herherpsnderps]

Thank you, perhaps ill just hold out and try again next year(crying a bit inside). But oh well, the best things come to those who wait right? I appreciate your alls help!

 

[trinity]

Have you heard about the fertilely problems with the white and yellow lines?

 

[Herherpsnderps]

I haven't heard of any problems with them but I've also never looked into them a whole lot. I don't have any in my collection/projects but it seems to be coming back as a popular morph as of late.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

If you don't know an exact hatch date, then when did you get her? I've had a few females grow really fast and not ovulate or refuse to breed until their second "at weight" breeding season. I believe all of them were due to being too young. I find September babies and later aren't breeding well for me their first season but those from earlier in the year seem to mature and do okay.

 

[Herherpsnderps]

I got her october of 2013 at the 34g, but given the fact that she wasn't a super ferocious eater I was assuming she was at least a couple months old since even my really good eaters at 6 weeks only weigh about 12g. I kept a weight chart on her, Nov she went to 46g then jan-april topped out at 50/low 50's for a bit, then 62 in may, and rose to the 72g in july. I started her season a bit late for this reason as well because I like them more at the 60-65g range before I try to breed. I've had females their first season do great breeding but every gecko is different to, I may have just had some luck on my side til now.