Breeding season and a few other things

Geckeleon · #1 08-07-2009, 12:34 PM

Hi everyone,
Haven't had much time to post in past few months so I'm making up for it this week.

Wondering how everyone's breeding season is going?
What did you breed this year (Cave Geckos)?
And, is anyone planning to go the Mid-Atlantic Reptile show in September?

My breeding season has been very good although it's a lot less then previous years. New babies are hatching daily, 3 incubators are still full, and still have several gravid cavys. Because of the economy I scaled back on Leopards, Uroplatus, Crested, and even some of my Cave Geckos. I travel to Canada a lot and have sold more there then here in the states. Concentrating on luii's more then anything since hardly anyone seems to have them, but I'm in need of new bloodlines. If anyone is selling please let me know. Once this economy gets better I plan to sell everything and work solely with Cave Geckos. As of now I plan to be at the show, maybe we can personally introduce ourselves. Looking forward to hearing about everyone's successes.

JimmyNightlizard · #2 08-08-2009, 11:22 PM

Hi,
I just wanted to share some of the current breeding I've been doing with my asian geckos. I baught a small group of G. hainanensis last year. One of my females layed a total of 4 good hard shelled eggs in the span of 8 months. I baught her in nov of 08 and she layed her first clutch on june 21st. She then double clutched and layed her second clutch on july 28th. That was a quicky! One of my Cyrtodactylus pulchellus females layed a few eggs this year aswell. I hatched out two babies in mid june. The 4 goni eggs are incubating around 75 degrees in damp vermiculite. I was told by someone on here that it should take about 65-75 days for them to hatch. The two from the first clutch are due to hatch around late aug/early sept. These will be my first goni babies. The second clutch are due in sometime in early to mid october. Now I have another female hainan cave gecko that only lays soft under-developed eggs. Have you ever had a female with this problem? I've tried giving her extra heavy dose of rep cal on her crickets each week. Nothing seems to work. Could it just be her age? She is wild caught, so I'm wondering if these geckos stop producing good hard shelled eggs at a certain point in their lives?
Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jim

Geckeleon · #3 08-10-2009, 12:33 AM

Congrats on your new offspring. Usually I keep mine at 70 - 75°F during breeding season. If Females are bred correctly they’ll usually lay 2 eggs every 6 weeks. Three clutches max. Sometimes females will cycle and begin to produce eggs without a male present if conditions are right. I would separate the female that’s laying the infertile eggs, place her in her own tank, make sure she goes through the cooling cycle, and introduce the male in her tank, after she’s been beefed up. Usually incubation is around 78.4 – 80.4°F, humidity 95 – 100%. Eggs hatch in 60-65 days. If you think the female is old don’t stress her out doing any of this just keep her as a pet. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

JimmyNightlizard · #4 08-10-2009, 04:37 PM

Thanks, for all your advice! This really helps shed some light on everything I need to take care of. I just figured since they were both in with the male last year that they were both becoming gravid, that they were both vertile? It is possible that she was laying infertle eggs, is that why they are soft? See that is what is confusing me. I'm not sure if its that, or her age? But I will experiment with her one more time, and introduce the male after she is beefed up alittle bit. She is always kept alone these days. I've keep them all in their own set ups since last fall...mainly to avoid competition for food. That way I know that everyone is eating

Thanks again!

Jim

Geckeleon · #5 08-20-2009, 09:06 PM

Usually soft eggs are a result of them being infertile. I've never had this problem with my cave geckos but it's happened at times with my leopard geckos. I kept my breeder cave geckos in groups of 4 (1.3) without any problems. If you keep them in groups make sure their enclosure maintains good humidity as well as good ventilation.

JimmyNightlizard · #6 08-21-2009, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geckeleon

Usually soft eggs are a result of them being infertile. I've never had this problem with my cave geckos but it's happened at times with my leopard geckos. I kept my breeder cave geckos in groups of 4 (1.3) without any problems. If you keep them in groups make sure their enclosure maintains good humidity as well as good ventilation.

Ok, thanks for all the info on that. My caves are doing great! The one that has been laying good eggs has triple clutched! And so has my pulchellus! But they stop after 3 right? One mating usually equals 2-3 clutches of fertle eggs? Speaking of leopards, a few months back this kid on my block brought me his young gravid female. It appears to be a yearling. She has been noticabally gravid with two eggs for several months. I tried the soaking method, with no such luck of getting her to drop the eggs. Would a trip the vet be in order? I remember having luck using calcium suspension fluid that last time I had a similar problem with a gecko. I was also told not to worry so much that it could always reabsorb the eggs if for some reason she could not pass them out. She is still eating and acting normal.