Hot Female Characteristics?

[HylaCinerea]

While at a petstore today, I saw an adult leopard gecko for $60. The guy working said a breeder gave them the gecko for free because "she" was getting a little mean with the other females of the colony. I bought the leopard gecko and took it home. After looking at its underside, I noticed that it had a bulge and a very visible set of V-shaped pores. I'm thinking that "she" is actually a he.

I've heard that females are aggressive if they are incubated in the upper end of their temperature range (male incubation temp). Do "hot females" have male characteristics, such as the bulge and V-shape pores? I'm hoping that I have a male and not a hot female.

 

[HylaCinerea]

I just saw the gecko shake its tail really fast, which made a type of buzzing sound. Isn't this behavior exclusive to males?

 

[BG-Gecko]

jup thats what males do when wanting to breed a female.
Also with hot females they can sometimes have pores but they don't 'work' like with the male who can excrede his smell through the pores. If there's a gel like substance coming out of the pores (doesnt happen all the time) then it's a male. Also hot females don't have an actual bulge, all females can sometimes have a tiny bulge which arent actually hemipenises but only males can have a real bulge

 

[GoldenGateGeckos]

I've heard that females are aggressive if they are incubated in the upper end of their temperature range (male incubation temp). Do "hot females" have male characteristics, such as the bulge and V-shape pores?

Back in the 80's, Dr. David Crews did studies and came to the conclusion that females from higher incubation temperatures were more aggressive and sterile. Since then, more current studies by Dr. Viets and Tousignant have dispelled the 'myth' of hot females. It has since been found that these females were not sterile, they simply ovulated a year later than most females. Also, no real evidence was found that females inubated at higher temperatures are more agressive.

I have been a gecko breeder for 13 years, and I think that some geckos are just more aggressive than others, and many females are more dominant and territorial than others. When I used to house my geckos in breeding colonies, there was always one 'alpha' female that wanted to be the boss, and picked on the others.

The behavior you are describing may just be that... if it was a male, he would be trying to breed the females and probably not be fighting with them. I have also had many 'bulgy' females that appeared to have more male-like features, but I have not made any correlation to this and their behavior.

 

[GeckoSmoke]

I would try to get some kind of contact info on the original owner from the person at the petstore. And if they aren't willing to do that..try asking them to contact them so they won't be giving out that persons personal info. Stories tend to change from person to person and I bet you'd find a lot more out from the original owner.