Shipping, Health, Ovulation, etc.

[Arconna]

Alright well I wasn't sure where exactly to post this because I'm going to just ask a bunch of different questions so I don't have to have 12 different posts out there.

First, I am getting 4 more leo's next tuesday (the 1st), starting up a little bit of breeding, and I want to know what exactly I need to do to minimize any additional stress from shipping and to make sure they are healthy and okay. Just things I need to look for etc.

Second, there was a thread a while back that talked about ovulating in Leo's and when comparing the pictures there to what my female high yellow I have a feeling she is experiencing this. I guess one of the symptoms is not eating and the bellow has noticeable pink underneath. I checked as best I could in the light to see if she was egg bound and she isn't as far as I can tell. In any case I just want to know what can be done if she is in fact ovulating and that is causing her not to eat. I'd take a picture but I don't have a digital camera. If anyone can suggest a cheap decent quality one that would be cool.

Third, one of the 4 geckos I am getting is barely still a subadult and the owner says that she is unaware of any health problems, she just isn't growing very much. I intend to breed her because she's a LV jungle, which would be neat, but if I can't get her up to the proper weight (50 grams minimum) I can't breed her, nor will I try to because I don't want to cause her any problems. So should, when she arrives, I try to feed her some supers, maybe wax worms, along with a regular diet of mealies or crix, or a mix of those two? If she doesn't show any weight gain should I be concerned or is it possibly she is a runt that just won't grow anymore?

Fourth, for those out there that use sterilite (or other plastic) tubs for breeding and housing breeders/hatchlings/etc. what do you use as belly heat? I've heard of heat tape being used, as well as heat cable. Any suggestions for uncomplicated setups for a dozen or so of said tubs w/ heat?

Anywho, thanks very much in advance for any advice given.

 

[gko reptiles]

Hello Arconna, I've got some answers for you!

First question - To minimize stress, keep them all seperate for a few days. Try not to "check on them" too much! It's hard to keep yourself from looking at your new babies, but the more time they have to themselves, they better they will be later!! Also, they probably will not eat for the first 3 - 7 days or so. Don't worry about them! When they get settled, they'll eat. Just make sure that they are pooping, and have fat healthy tails!

Second Question - I'll include a picture of what eggs look like inside the female. Gently bend her back over your finger like I'm doing in the picture. The large white masses inside her body are the eggs ready to be laid. The inner two small circles are new eggs that are forming (the next clutch). Most of the time you cannot see the new eggs until after the first clutch has been dropped. Also, at first the small eggs usually appear pink and are in two seperate corners of the body (example: one on the top rightsection of her belly, and the other is on the bottom left of her belly.) Bending her back like this won't hurt her, but she might squirm around a little (I would say that it's uncomfortable, but it won't hurt her, that I'm sure of.) Also, not eating is or eating very little is normal, especially if this is her first clutch. She should come around soon enough and start eating again. As long as she's pooping and moving around, she should be allright; (still keep an eye on her though to make sure). As far as a digital camera, do some shopping around and see what you want to get; then look around on eBay! We got the exact camera we wanted from eBay for $100 cheaper than in stores! (Just make sure that you check the credentials of the seller.)

Third Question - Crickets definately make them grow faster (or so it seems). Wax worms will put weight on her quickly. We hand feed whoever needs wax worms though because they can become obese; but if she is that small, I don't think giving her wax worms would throw her over to the obese category! Also, make sure that you keep her seperate in order to make sure she is getting the proper amount of food, not having competition for food and so forth. As far as mealies go, I would leave a bowl in there for her all the time anyway, it's an easy meal that she can eat whenever she gets hungry.

Fourth Question - Flexwatt heat tape is the best heat source that we've used. As far as a sterelite/rack system they're not hard to build, or if you don't want to build one, you can buy one, or you can use any shelving unit (equipped with heat tape) and sterelite boxes with lids if the boxes don't fit in there perfectly. (Of course, in my opinion, using the lids sort of defeats the purpose of a rack, but people do use this method and it works just as well!) I have included a picture of a rack that we built also; the whole thing cost about $130 with heattape and boxes, it took only a few hours to build.

Hope this is the kind of answer you were looking for! Best Wishes, and Good Luck!!

 

[leopardgecko95]

I really like that rack looks nice and simple nothing expensive!Now that is my kindof rack lol

 

[Arconna]

Well I didn't see anything that looked like eggs on her. In fact she has never been gravid (I've never had her with a male and has never laid infertile eggs or been eggbound as far as I can tell). She's a fat little thing though. I'm actually not going to breed her because I think she is too old. She was at least a few years old when I got her in 2002, so she could be anywhere from 6 to 10 years. Anyway I will recheck when I get home under some brighter light and see if there are any eggs in there. If so she'll be getting a laying thingy with vermiculite or moss or something in it.

This one female is not necessarily small. She's got weight on her, but she's short. Her tail is pretty fat for a subadult, and she's not obviously thin, she's just smaller than other geckos, which is what makes me think she is a runt or something like that. We'll see what happens when I get her next week I guess. Kinda want to breed her though, she's got a bizarre pattern on her back.

I'll pick up some heattape from LLL or someplace and give that a shot. I've got a lot of shopping to do over the weekend as it is to get all the stuff for these beauties coming in . As for a rack, the closet I'm using has all these cubbies that I guess are for shoes that the tubs fit into. I probably will have to use the lids on them because they don't fit as snug as in your picture and I don't want them getting out. Two of the females coming might be gravid too, so I have an uncubator coming and will be getting some smaller tubs for them lol.

Thanks very much for your response

 

[gko reptiles]

It sounds like you're all set then! As for breeding your new females though, I would wait a few weeks until you're completely satisfied that they are healthy/thecorrect weight/basically ready to breed and introduce to your male. As for the little one, I actually have one that seems to be similar... she's "small", not thin... I still don't know what were goin to do with her though. Good Luck with your girls!!

 

[brandy101010]

I highly recomend you quarintine any new animals for 90 days to make sure they show no signs of being sick before you begin to breed or house with any other geckos.

 

[Arconna]

Oh I know, I'm not breeding any of these guys until next season, but some of them have already started breeding this season and might pop some eggs out when I get them. I'm just simply getting a couple small breeding groups together and then I'll try my luck next season. As for quarantine, all of them are going to be separated from one another for a long period of time. I have to be able to watch them when I introduce females/males to make sure there are no fighting among females, etc. Plus gotta watch for signs of illness and such.

Anywho, thanks again guys for your help