Do you separate Males & Females during winter?

[Izzy's Mom]

I just wanted to get a general consensus from everyone who has breeding pairs of geckos. Do you usually separate the males and females over the winter months, or do you keep them together and just cool the cages down to discourage egg laying?

I have a breeding pair who were just introduced in August and mated right away. The female is 3 yrs old and is around 53g and the male is just over a year and weighs 34g. She laid her first clutch of eggs on Sept. 17th (which hatched on Oct. 30th) and she laid a 2nd clutch on October 29th.

I can't tell yet if she is pregnant again. I have been keeping the cage temp at around 69 during the day and down to 63 at night. They get about 6-7 hours of daylight each day now. Will this be enough to 'cool' them down for a few months, or do I have to set up a new cage just for the male?

 

[Hannibal]

Cooling works on the females, but males will still try to mate with the female no matter what the temps are and this can stress her. I would seperate them for 2-3 months to give her some down time.

 

[rhachic]

In my experience cooling works fine and males loose interest, but that's just what i've seen with my animals. It doesn't hurt to separate them if you're worried, but she shouldn't keep laying fertile eggs through the whole cooling period. She may lay a dud clutch or two, but that's about it.

 

[Izzy's Mom]

I've been keeping the cage cool for a few weeks now and my male hasn't shown much interest in the female... but last night we turned on our gas fireplace and the room warmed up to around 75, and I heard some 'clucking' from her and sure enough he was trying to climb on her back :? She pecked at him and he gave up... but I guess I will try not to warm them up too much during this cooling period. Otherwise, she does seem to enjoy his company. I always find them curled up together sleeping during the day.

Anyway, I decided to look for another tank to set up for a few months, just in case she needs a break.

 

[Leif]

I just wanted to get a general consensus from everyone who has breeding pairs of geckos. Do you usually separate the males and females over the winter months, or do you keep them together and just cool the cages down to discourage egg laying?

I have a breeding pair who were just introduced in August and mated right away. The female is 3 yrs old and is around 53g and the male is just over a year and weighs 34g. She laid her first clutch of eggs on Sept. 17th (which hatched on Oct. 30th) and she laid a 2nd clutch on October 29th.

I can't tell yet if she is pregnant again. I have been keeping the cage temp at around 69 during the day and down to 63 at night. They get about 6-7 hours of daylight each day now. Will this be enough to 'cool' them down for a few months, or do I have to set up a new cage just for the male?

The lower temperatures not only stops egg production but the amount of food they eat during "brumation". I eliminate competition and unnecessary mating by removing the male from the enclosure for the winter months. Depending on the calcium sacks I may use a higher percent calcium supplement to prevent a crash.

They will definitely cool with those temperatures. Try not to let the temperature fall below 65F. Also, the temperature in your incubator seems high given the incubation period. Sounds like the eggs are hatchling too quickly and don't have enough time to absorb the entire yolk. Turn the temperature down to the mid 70s and shoot for a incubation period of 90+ days.

I always recommend planning your breeding season. Two Crested Geckos will breed even in the most dire environment and probably the reason they survived going extinct. I begin cooling the room in the last weeks of October gradually until the temps reach 68-70 in November and slowly warm the room in the last weeks of February for pairing come March. That's 8 months of egg production and 16 eggs a female.

Hope this helps some, good luck.

 

[Izzy's Mom]

Oops - I think I made a typo in my original post, which is probably why you were worried about such a quick incubation period for my first batch of eggs. They were actually laid on AUGUST 17th, not September 17th and they hatched on October 30th. I am incubating the second clutch at 75 degrees. They were laid on October 31st and I just candled them today and they look like they will be ready to hatch in about 3 weeks. Is that a decent incubation period?

 

[Leif]

Oops - I think I made a typo in my original post, which is probably why you were worried about such a quick incubation period for my first batch of eggs. They were actually laid on AUGUST 17th, not September 17th and they hatched on October 30th. I am incubating the second clutch at 75 degrees. They were laid on October 31st and I just candled them today and they look like they will be ready to hatch in about 3 weeks. Is that a decent incubation period?

That's getting better but you still want to shoot for a 90 day incubation period. 75 is not bad. Keep us updated on your incubation period at those temps. Do you have some pictures of the pair? I'm really picture hungry

 

[Izzy's Mom]

I have a few pics - the female is the blonde one with the dark olive body and the male is more reddish/orange with lots of dalmation spots and nice markings (I don't really know which morphs you would call them). The one pic of the male by himself is when he was a bit younger. So far, one of the first 2 hatchlings looks like his dad, and the other is a very pale yellow during the day and fires up to a dark reddish brown with yellow sides at night.

 

[Leif]

WOW the female has really good head structure. high five!