when to mate, when to do what? new to this:D

[henward]

Ok hi guys
im new to this
my lep hatched 27 january 2009, so its still a baby but its hard 3 sheds!! alraeady

anyways, i have a pair. well, i dont know yet, because they are not old enough to confirm but breeder says that they were incubated one male one female and stuff.

now, if i do have a pair, here is my boggle.

I now if big enough they breed from one year 45 grams above.

but what do i do? when 12 months old - it would be next jan 2010. How do i induce mating, when do i do it? do i follow season or do i just throwthe male in there and they will do the deed?
when shall i put the male and what should be done?
i hear that the natural cooing and warming of the months is enough to trigger it. but when should i put the male wit the female?
should i put them just before winter starts? or as soon as they are 12 months old and the right weight?

 

[henward]

Also
cycling, what do you mean?
you mean after a few clutches, you take the male out and give the female a rest?

Will they just keep mating and laying all year al months?
i doubt this happens but hey, im a newbie!

i want to know all

 

[acpart]

I've typed this before but it's easier to type it again than to find it:

--google "leopard gecko breeding" and read several care sheets
--get "the leopard gecko manual" or "the herpetoculture of leopard geckos" or "the leopard gecko in captivity" and read the breeding section
--read through the whole breeding section of the forum
--after you do all this, see what questions you have left and ask them here.

At the same time, think through these points:

--can you afford incubator, food for babies, possible vet visits for sick breeders
--can you house a bunch of babies and either keep them long term or find good homes for them
--can you deal with the heartbreak of having a baby die just after hatching or be born with defects
--are you at the point in your life when things are going to change within the next few years (going off to school, having a baby, moving to a new state) and you're going to end up trying to sell/give away a whole bunch of geckos and breeding equipment

If after all that, you still want to go ahead, go for it.

Aliza

 

[henward]

definately will be worth my while, trust me


i will google
but i have googled already heaps ofarticles
problem is that i havent read one that specified how to trigger breeding properly, i rather hvae experience tell me than articles that are generic

 

[whkrazyk]

the reason you let your fem. rest is because giving birth is stressful, and they will come out of it a lil lighter than they went ito it, so if you let them rest for a few weeks, you will have one healthy gecko ready to produce some healthy eggs

 

[Alliemac]

There are tons of useful threads here in the breeding forum. I second having a good read through alot of them. I've also found tons of info in books I checked out from the library.

 

[acpart]

I didn't realize from your first post that you had a specific question. The best method is to start at the beginning of the usual breeding season (in the Northern hemisphere, that's Jan. or so) and put the male and female(s) together. Some people introduce one male to one female and leave them together for a day or until they see mating occur. This is more likely if the female is definitely ovulating when you put them together. I put my males in with the females at the beginning of the season and leave them there for the duration. In my case, I put the males in mid-Jan. Only one female had ovulated by the end of Jan. and she laid eggs 2 weeks ago. At this point, it seems that all of my 7 females breeding this season have ovulated and I believe that 4-6 of them are gravid. If the males are too aggressive with a female who's refusing or if the female gets too stressed out, you will need to separate them. I think it's possible that the presence of the male will trigger ovulation in the female, but I'm not sure. I hope this is helpful.

Aliza

 

[henward]

yes it does more question ACPART.
ok, so you say northerm hemisphere you start the breeding season off in jan, is that your summer or winter?

im from new zealand, down under! so jan is our hottest month.

 

[henward]

ACPART, also, you say that your female laid eggs 2 weeks ago? so after they mate mid jan - shes alreayd laid eggs 3 weeks after mating?
wow thats fast or am i interpreting that wrong?

after one lay, how long do you wait to rest the female and put the male for breeding again?

 

[acpart]

If you're in NZ, just add 6 months. The breeding season seems to start as early as just after the days begin to get longer. There are geckos that ovulate at a different time and there are people who are able to manipulate temperatures and lights to encourage ovulation to happen at different times, but I don't know anything about that.

It may have been closer to 4 or 5 weeks from introduction to egg laying, since I don't remember exactly when I introduced the male and females, but it can happen as little as 2-3 weeks after mating.

I actually don't separate the male from the females; I leave them together the whole time so there's no "rest period". Some people feel very strongly about keeping their geckos individually but this works for me.

Where in NZ are you? I spent my honeymoon in NZ in 1983 with my bicycle (and my husband).

Aliza

 

[henward]

Aliza: Auckland. where did you visit here? alot has change since 83 i think, i came into the country in 1992 and that was a huge change to now.

ok, so basically, the mating season starts as daylight savings starts just after winter. here in nz, days get longer just after winter.

so should really put them togethre just before winter ends perhps/
how do you know a gecko is ovulating?