Thoughts and Comments from my Normal Pairing

[Kotsay1414]

Hey guys!

As many of you know, I have two Normal females who are 10 1/2 years old. Both of them are laying fertile eggs and are first time breeders. I just wanted to point out a few observations I've made from the hatchlings thus far.

Firstly, my first female has given me 9 eggs, 7 which have been good and have all hatched. Of the seven hatchlings, 3 of the hatchlings have developed mild cases of MBD. I dust all of my hatchlings' mealworms with Rep-Cal Calcium with D3. The mealworms are also gutloaded with Cody's Pro Gutload. I guess my question is, can MBD be a result of lack of Calcium given from the mother to the eggs?

My next observation is from the last fertile clutch of eggs she laid. The last of the clutch hatched this morning. Both hatchlings still had their yolk attached. Both hatchlings are smaller than anything I've hatched before. The second one from the clutch only had four tail bands and the tail is about 2/3's the size of all her sisters'. Could all of this just be from the mother being very old, or is their something else going on which I should pay closer attention to?

Clutch Breakdown
Clutch1 (1 Hatchling) Normal
Clutch2 (2 Hatchlings) Both MBD
Clutch3 (2 Hatchlings) 1 MBD 1 Normal
Clutch4 (2 Hatchlings) Normal
Clutch5 (2 Hatchlings) Extreamly Small
Clutch6 (Infertile/2 Eggs)

I've attached pictures of the last two hatchlings...

 

[acpart]

I have not had any issues with MBD, but I have had hatchlings from the same pairings hatch ranging from 2 to 4 grams. There doesn't seem to be a significant difference in how long they took to hatch (I incubate all for female). It may just be luck of the draw.

Aliza

 

[Alusdra]

From what I understand 10 is at the end of the normal fertility for a gecko (congrats on having healthy females that old, BTW). So likely you will get increased chances of problems with the hatchlings like with any animal (including we humans). I would suggest lowering her breeding frequency. If all those clutches were in one year that seems like a lot for old girls. Keeping in mind that I've never bred... my suggestion would be to back them down to like 1 clutch a year or maybe 2 as that was where it looked like you started to have problems. Being as they are so old you don't want to stress them unduly. They might be more susceptible to egg binding, too, being older, or elderly gecko MBD/anorexia etc. from so many eggs. JMO, though.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Living creatures, especially females, have a peak fertility age where the quality of their ovum and physical health is optimum. Perhaps this 10 year old female is past that peak, and her calcium metabolism and egg quality has begun to diminish. If this is the case, there could be a possibility that her offspring could have similar congenital problems throughout their lives as a result.

It is a fact that breeding and over-production of eggs significantly reduces the lifespan of female leopard geckos. You may want to consider retiring her from breeding and letting her live her life as a spoiled rotten single gecko.

 

[Kotsay1414]

Living creatures, especially females, have a peak fertility age where the quality of their ovum and physical health is optimum. Perhaps this 10 year old female is past that peak, and her calcium metabolism and egg quality has begun to diminish. If this is the case, there could be a possibility that her offspring could have similar congenital problems throughout their lives as a result.

Thank you for the insight! I really appreciate it!

It is a fact that breeding and over-production of eggs significantly reduces the lifespan of female leopard geckos. You may want to consider retiring her from breeding and letting her live her life as a spoiled rotten single gecko.

That's was the game plan from the start of the season Her and her sister we my first two Leopard Geckos 10 1/2 years ago. I'm just happy I was able to get a few healthy Hatchlings from her to carry on the bloodline.

 

[Kotsay1414]

From what I understand 10 is at the end of the normal fertility for a gecko (congrats on having healthy females that old, BTW). So likely you will get increased chances of problems with the hatchlings like with any animal (including we humans). I would suggest lowering her breeding frequency. If all those clutches were in one year that seems like a lot for old girls. Keeping in mind that I've never bred... my suggestion would be to back them down to like 1 clutch a year or maybe 2 as that was where it looked like you started to have problems. Being as they are so old you don't want to stress them unduly. They might be more susceptible to egg binding, too, being older, or elderly gecko MBD/anorexia etc. from so many eggs. JMO, though.

Thank you for your response. I was just planning on using her for just this year. It basically sounds like she's running out of gas.