***Ultimate Breeding Questions Thread***

[Jusselin]

ok so I am not ready to breed yet myself, but I do have several questions for the future.

1. When is breeding season?

2. Is this the only time you can breed?

3. Should you house your male and female(s) separately, placing them together only to mate?

4. Can you house your "stud" (male) with multiple females, or will the females fght over the male?

5. what is ovulation exactly for the female and how can i determine when it is happening?

6. To some one breeding for the first time, what do's and dont's would you suggest?

 

[RampantReptiles]

1. Typical breeding season is January - October.

2. Some people have bred geckos outside of breeding season. I heard that if the gecko hatches late in the year that it may ovulate late in the year. Also there are ways in which breeders can stimulate ovulation by changing the light cycle...

3. I house my geckos separately. I find it is easier to keep track of what eggs came from what female. Only one gecko that could have laid them so no question! LoL

4. Yes you can house a male with females. This is called harem breeding. Some breeders do this, I dont.

5. Ovulation... hmm didnt we study this in health class?
Ovulation looks like a pink spot on the females belly. This is how you know that the female is producing egg follicles and is ready to produce eggs.

6. Get your incubator ready ahead of time.
I would not use the wafer/heating system in hovabators. Get a foot of 11" heat tape and a thermostat instead.
GEOs are awesome!

Keep a lid of calcium with D3 in the females enclosure at all times

Watch carefully for eggs.
Feed females after they lay, they are almost always ravenous so even if you have a female that is off food she will likely eat 1-3 days after laying.

I will keep thinking...

 

[JordanAng420]

Thank you for taking the time to research, ask questions, and realize that you are not quite yet ready to breed. This tells me that when you do decide to breed, you will probably be great at it.

1. Breeding season can vary from household to household. In my house, my females generally start ovulating January or February, and they continue until August or September. Other people start as early as October or November.

2. Females will only be responsive to a male when they ovulate. However, a female may not ovulate during the "regular" breeding season...this usually happens when a gecko is growing to be sexually mature...her body will ovulate when it's ready regardless of what time of season it is.

3. This can go both ways...I like to keep all my geckos separate, since I find it hard to keep track of what everybody is doing when they're placed together. Also, I have several "bullies". Some folks have sucess keeping 1 or 2 females in with a male year round, or during breeding season. Personally, when i'm breeding, I allow my breeding pairs for to be together each day and then separate them before I go to bed.

4. Females will not usually fight over the male, in my experience, but it can be hard to keep track of who's eggs are whose, who's eating what, who has diarrhea and who doesn't....etc. I think it's especially important to separate after the female is done laying and you're trying to put weight back on her.

5. Ovulation is when the female produces egg follicles that are ready to be fertilized. These follicles usually appear as pinkish-red circles on the gecko's underbelly.

6. First and foremost, breed for experience and fun, not for profit. Don't cross albino strains. Keep track of everything well, and keep everything sanitary. HAVE ENOUGH ROOM TO HOUSE EACH HATCHLING SEPARATE IF NEED BE! Most importantly, don't stop researching and asking questions.

 

[Imperial Geckos]

all other questions have been answered, so I will only show you what an ovulation looks like and how to check. Hope this helps!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsVQIWTjAP0

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I'm so glad to see you ask these questions BEFORE you start a breeding project!

 

[Jusselin]

Thanks for all the responses, and the video!

Yeah when i first jumped into this i was doing this SOOO wrong, not on purpose, I just didnt know. So several months (possibly a year) from now i would like to have a good education about how things work.

I know I have many more questions but when they pop up i will refer back to this thread.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Good to see your doing it the right way. If you have more questions down the road just ask. There is enough diversity and knowledge in this community that I am sure just about ANY question can be answered for you.

 

[Jusselin]

Good to see your doing it the right way. If you have more questions down the road just ask. There is enough diversity and knowledge in this community that I am sure just about ANY question can be answered for you.

Thanks Travis, I am actually the guy who called you a while back about my new enigma and why it was acting weird lol....you explained to me what enigma meant and helped to get my girl to eat =]

 

[ian 123]

once a female starts ovulating how long will it last for? does she ovulate for the season?

 

[RampantReptiles]

It depends on the female. Some females will only ovulate for a month or so. Others will ovulate for several months.

 

[Jusselin]

Would you guys say it would be ok to house 1 male and 1 female together? I am thinking of getting a mate in the future (probably months down the road) for the lady in my avatar and I wanted to know If once quaranteened (spelling???) It would be ok to house them together? I would not mind if they mated at all. I would actually be very happy but that is not the purpose. I just want her to have some one to play with mostly. She lives in a 40 gal all by herself.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Can you house 1 male and 1 female together? Yes. Should you? That's debatable. Some keep their male/females together year round, some find that males bother females too much, causing them too much stress.

Now on the subject of playing, leopard geckos don't play, they prefer to be alone. If you really want to add another gecko into the mix, I'd suggest a female instead unless you really really want to breed.

 

[Jusselin]

Yeah I would like to breed in the future... months down the road possibly.

 

[JeepFreak81]

Thanks for starting this thread it actually has answered a couple of questions that I had as well. I'm just getting into leopard geckos and the idea of breeding on a very small scale appeals to us. I would like to learn and get experience under my belt and perhaps try breeding next season. Sounds like we're looking to do the same thing as you...have 1 male and 1 female so as to produce just a small number of offspring. Good luck!!

I'm planning to find a book, e-book, or something that is a start to finish guide on breeding and one on genetics. In fact VMSherp.com has a great book on genetics that I'm thinking about grabbing. We are considering betting at least one gecko from him as well.

 

[Dimidiata]

Thanks for starting this thread it actually has answered a couple of questions that I had as well. I'm just getting into leopard geckos and the idea of breeding on a very small scale appeals to us. I would like to learn and get experience under my belt and perhaps try breeding next season. Sounds like we're looking to do the same thing as you...have 1 male and 1 female so as to produce just a small number of offspring. Good luck!!

I'm planning to find a book, e-book, or something that is a start to finish guide on breeding and one on genetics. In fact VMSherp.com has a great book on genetics that I'm thinking about grabbing. We are considering betting at least one gecko from him as well.

Ditto. I was starting to do some looking. Being that rango turned out so nice(is at 60% CT and counting) i thought it may be worth some looking into for future possobilities.

 

[Jusselin]

SAWEET!!! I helped some one lol. No but seriously the best advice ever given to me about breeding, was not to breed. You need an in depth understanding about the animals lives and health before jumping into something like that. My brother came to me one day and said " hey, lets breed leos, every one says its super easy!" I was like "cool bro lets do it" WRONG! I would not advise any one to jump into it until they had a eyar or more experience with the leos themselves.


This thread should be sticky'd so more people can add to it.

 

[JeepFreak81]

^^This