The WORST season in Golden Gate Geckos' history!

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Marcia, how many healthy hatchlings have you actually been able to produce this year?

I have about 130 'healthy' hatchlings so far, which is about 50% of what I usually have at this time of the year. Most are still under 20 grams, which IMO is too small to sell. I have about 10% with deformities, and those that are thriving well in spite of their problems will be put up for adoption to someone who will love them.

 

[paulnj]

Most are still under 20 grams, which IMO is too small to sell.

Right on girl:main_thumbsup:

 

[Baoh]

That's rough. I hope things work out for your business.

 

[david13]

I hope next yr u just get millions of geckos ..130 is only half, wow, i would be happy with one, i can only dream of 260

good luck

 

[NICOLE GUY C R R]

I just got to read this two nights ago. Most of my breeding season started late this year as I was waiting to buy some new breeders, I also incubated for female so my babies just started hatching in July. My snow het bells started laying in april many of their eggs molded up or I had a few that kinda hatched but were all strange looking and died in the egg full term. So from that time till today I have had, about 50 eggs total. 16 babies and 16 eggs in the incubator now . I was very excited to open the incubator but after a few babies being deformed I'm not so sure:main_no: 1 of my super snow babies looks like she has down syndrome and she got this almost like a blister on her belly. She hatched two weeks ago and could not open her eyes fully till yesterday She is also very small. I had two enigmas hatch out that their eyes are so badly deformed. One of the two hatchlings eye is swelling bad! Also I had two other tremper enigmas that the tip of their tails is short with a kink. A super snow that hatched out looked great and then a week later got a horrible kink :main_huh: I was border line going to give up on leos because I was begining to think this might be normal as last year I had far less breeding projects. Then I called kelli and showed her the pics and she gave me this thread. As I read my eyes began to tear thinking that someone might have known that our babies were possibly being poisoned! Then as I got to the 5th page I was pissed! I went to my leopard geckos cages and riped out their mealworm cups. My face felt like it was bright red I was so angry! I am local to this large distibuter and feed only mealworms to my leos. So now what? Supers are in the same bedding? What about crickets from them? I get them for $10 per 1000 because I am local and go in on them with a few people (bulk). The other people getting crickets from them are wondering what to do now as well. I am sorry everyone is having a bad year too.....if they knew what was going on with the mealworms sham on them!!!:main_angry:

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I am so very sorry so many of us are having such horrible issues with our geckos this season. At first I though it was just me, but after starting this thread, getting countless emails, PM's and calls from other breeders across the country... I know this isn't just a coincidence!

 

[rubym]

I haven't noticed any meal worm problems but I raise all my own. I have a friend that I buy my bedding from and it is all organic. So far knock on wood, I have only had problems with one female laying infertile eggs and I think that was due to her being severly underweight when she was bred ( she was gravid when we rescued her). She laid 11 eggs and only one was fertile. I hope that your season ends better then it seems to have begun Marcia. Best wishes.

 

[rubym]

Double Ly - I just read your post and this may sound like a strange question but do you have very many spiders in your home??? The reason that I ask is that we lost one of ours to a spider bite several months ago and another of our females ate ( I believe it was a spider, all I saw was the leg) a spider 4 days ago and she died yesterday. The vet is doing toxocology tests to determine if that was the cause of death. Both developed neurological issues hours prior to death.

 

[Lizard Lair]

Marcia, first let me say that I have alot of respect for you. Now I have even more respect for you coming forth with this as I think many would just take their loss and not mention it. I believe that alot of breeders do not want to admit they have problems. With that said.
My season this year started out like gangbusters. I was hatching everything that was laid, if you think back I was posting alot of enigma hatchlings.Then suddenly without reason I had females just shut down and stop laying, I have eggs that go bad for no reason. I had changed nothing in this time. I started second guessing myself and my methods. But nothing I did would correct it. I have to date only hatched three with defects, but I have just in the month of june lost 49 eggs for no reason. I had not even give thought to the feeders I was using. Now for feeders, I have been getting my feeders exclusively from Armstrong, they have not turned me down yet. Now twice I have placed orders with them and my mealies came to me from Sunshine not Armstrong. Now I would not of given alot of thought to this but in the last month my wife has started breeding our own roaches and crickets so I have had no need to order mealies. Thing is, I am already seeing a difference in the geckos and all eggs that have been laid lately have been good. I had several females that had begun losing weight and would not eat. Well now with the crickets and roaches guess what.....they are back to eating and picking up weight fast.
I will follow this thread and participate in this thread as much as possible. I think this is going to turn out to be very interesting.

What are you gut loading your crickets & roaches with? Because if it's a contaminated food issue with the mealworms, then it would also be possible to feed cricket & roach colonies contaminated gut load. Since your geckos improved, your gut load must be good

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Since your geckos improved, your gut load must be good

Shelly, for my crickets, I use 10-grain cereal from the bulk bins at Winco, and add 10% Vionate to it. For my mealies I use wheat bran, also from the bins at Winco. All are human-grade. I supplement the feeders with fresh sweet potatoes, carrots, and collards.

 

[Double LY]

Double Ly - I just read your post and this may sound like a strange question but do you have very many spiders in your home??? The reason that I ask is that we lost one of ours to a spider bite several months ago and another of our females ate ( I believe it was a spider, all I saw was the leg) a spider 4 days ago and she died yesterday. The vet is doing toxocology tests to determine if that was the cause of death. Both developed neurological issues hours prior to death.

The only spiders I ever see are Daddy Longlegs and only in the lower level of the house. That is something I'll definitely keep a close watch on, though. Thanks for the head's up.

 

[Lizard Lair]

Ahhhh, 10 grain cereal - good idea Marcia!

 

[giantkeeper]

under 20 grams, which IMO is too small to sell.

Out of curiosity, is there a specific reason for this? I don't mind if you post here, or you can PM me or shoot me an e-mail. Thanks

 

[paulnj]

I like to sell animals that are well started so they can cope with the stress of shipping and a new home with extra stored fat and wieght. That's just me and I would never tell anyone not to ship smaller if they chose to.

 

[giantkeeper]

With all the big shows coming up (and just passed ;O) this thread has dropped a ways down. Anyone have any updates?

 

[Halley]

Well I have found large amounts of un-hatched eggs have blood vessels to 75% developed fetus found in them. And I can promise my incubation methods are not off.

 

[ALGeckos]

Marcia,

I just came on for the first time today in months and just read about your breeding season! I'm sorry to hear about your losses. I hope things pick up soon and that you end up with more healthy leos.

I've been so out of the loop that it reminded me.... was there a mealworm problem? I know there was a really bad shortage at all the pet stores in my area a month or so ago....

- Aimee

 

[acpart]

Update on my season:
When I first replied to this thread I was having a lot of the same problems other people were having: deformed hatchlings, single egg clutches, eggs going bad, females not laying.

Ironically, this will probably be the season where I have the most hatchlings I"ve ever had. I don't have percentages of eggs laid and successful outcomes so I can't compare this year and last year. I had a large number of eggs go bad in the middle of the season last year. In July last year I had 24 hatchlings and at the same time this year I had only 15. However, after that I only had another 8 hatchlings last year and this year I'm up to a total of 29 with a projected 44.

I still don't know why I've had so many egg losses each season and the deformities this season are more numerous and severe than last year.

Aliza

 

[Ian S.]

Sorry I missed this post. This all sounds so familiar to my 06 season it's scary.
I also believe it could be from whatever is wrong with the mealies. Here are some of my results.

My 04/05 season aside from starting really late, I had a 98% hatch rate of 49 eggs from my red stripe bell project. No deformities at all. Feeding waxies and crickets dusted with herptivite and repcal w/ and w/out d3. In my 06/ season I did two things different. I started feeding mostly mealies and occasional waxies as well as using mineral 1 instead of the repcal w/d3. I bred the exact same male to three of the same females in 06. I only got 7 eggs from the trio (all ovulating) and 12 eggs from a male /3 female double het breeding. Of the 19 eggs three hatched out normal and the rest all with eyelid deformities, premature hatchlings severely disfigured, two from different pairings that had "the spins" which some are blaming on enigmas. I have seen the spins in several different species including beardies,moniters,clown agamas, spiney crevices, and collard lizards. So I think it's more than a trait associated with enigmas or even leos for that matter. Anywho back on topic.... I also had a serious test breeding group going on between my bell male and three tremper females. These were actually the only breedings I conducted last season. The females were all on crickets and the bell male on mealies and crickets & occasional waxies. 28 perfect normal offspring 94% hatch rate. Also in the 06 season I had several deformities in new unrelating pairings as well.
I had a phone conversation with Kelli hopefully she can recant, asking her about the deformities and if she was having the same issues or not and she wasn't at the time. Kelli's first questions was "are your incubation temps fluctuating?" I replied No not at all. Her next question she asked if I changed any dietary or suplimentations or routines, which I did. Her theory was that maybe the drastic change had affected the absorbtion of supplementation. She herself at the time was trying to get away from cricket eaters I believe. Her best advice was "if it isn't broken don't fix it" ha ha... and I do maintenance for a living. I started back feeding crickets as the main food source for all my adult breeders w/ occasional waxies. Strictly mealies and waxies for all the babies. My intentions were to fix what ever the problem was and hoping that the babies as adults wouldn't have to deal with any dietary changes what so ever.
Since the mealie deficit I have been strictly feeding crickets to all the geckos and what a difference in the geckos over all. Thicker tails and hella weight gain, and drastic elevation in overall energy in the last three months. Heck my breeding females havn't even lost much weight at all. (Visualy) unfortunately my scale crapped out and I need a new one. My breedings this year are back on track. I've lost three eggs that of which were from first time breeders and so far have hatched 22 perfect babies with 26 eggs left to hatch. I will post pictures of the breeding females and how many eggs they have laid.

 

[Ian S.]

Another thing I thought I'ld add after reading through the thread a little bit in regaurds to gutloading. My gutloading hasn't changed at all. I use crushed cereal for bedding with herptivite mixed in, a small dish of canned cat food, kale,collards and mustard greens, as well as a packaged mixed field greens w/ frisee, radicho,carrots, red/greenleaf, and romain lettuce. I used this for both the mealies and cricks.