[Sgvreptiles]

Ive been testing out temps with incubating eggs in hopes of creating equal male to female ratios among some of my eggs. Well see how it turns out.
Ive recorded egg laying spots in some of my tanks(borbonica and cepediana) and have noticed that with the borbonica the female laid 2 clutches in a spot that I recorded 91F of day time temps, with 2 other clutches being laid in spots reading 83F. Night time temps in my room drop to low 70s high 60s. It will be interesting to see what these eggs bring.
As for the cepediana, the female tends to lay them in lower spots reading 80F. And have heard from other breeders who have talked to people regarding Phelsuma in the wild and have seen one male to 5-10 females on one tree. Is it possible that they are laying eggs in spots hoping for females to grow there colony? Food for thought

[daggekko]

Sounds like a real awesome study!! I look forward to the results. I might start leaving eggs in the enclosures with my Phelsuma. I seem to be getting females out of the incubator. Then again I still need to wait longer to see more results!

[colinmelsom]

Unfortunately its not quite as easy as incubation temperature.there are other factors involved .Recently there has been some input that hormones play a part.This would make sense as one male can mate with numerous females.I have heard that in the wild there are equal numbers of males and females but I have never been lucky enough to go to Mauritius to see for myself.

I find it strange that it is mainly the Mascarene species that seem to be heavily female heavy in captivity.These tend to be the egg gluers but I suppose that is just a quirk.If you go to Europe you can see species such as cepediana and inexpectata being bred in increasing numbers but apart from a few breeders they seem to be produce way far more femles than males.This is borne out by the fact that you can pay 50 Euros for females of these species and 200 Euros for males.I dont think that breeders are artificially keeping prices high by only breeding females.

I tend to incubate the eggs that are laid in the vivariums as most of mine are glued to the side of the glass.The temperatures range between the high 60s and low 90s but that seems to produce females with me anyway.I have never thought as to whether the female chooses an egg laying site dependant on temperature,I wonder whether there is enough of a range in a vivarium anyway?I had always assumed that they laid in the most covered/convenient place.