leopard gecko breeding questions
- Thread starter WolfTin
- Start date
phearamedusa
New member
you can house females together, provided they get along, some prefer to be housed by themselves. Males have to be housed as bachelors, or with a group of females, never as a group of males or war will break out...
can't really answer the other questions since I'm not a breeder, but I think they usually use rack systems and single gecko/box. One of the other members did post her setup for a rack system, I'll see if I can find the post for you.
Good Luck.
can't really answer the other questions since I'm not a breeder, but I think they usually use rack systems and single gecko/box. One of the other members did post her setup for a rack system, I'll see if I can find the post for you.
Good Luck.
DecoGeckos
New member
Like phearamedusa mentioned, most breeders use rack systems because of how many babies even a single pair can produce in one season. I built a rack system as I will be officially beginning to breed this season, and have about 5 or 6 pairings so will need PLENTY of room! Ideally, you want to house every baby separately to get them started out as best as possible - monitoring their food intake, bowel movements, etc.
As far as keeping a male and female together in a tank, the smallest I would suggest using is a 20gal...a 30gal is much more preferable. Also, something to think about is that if the female is not ovulating she will not be receptive to the male, and can get very nasty. The male will keep advancing, and the female will continue to turn him down, therefore completely stressing the male out. Personally, I do not recommend housing opposite sexes together year round at all.
As far as keeping a male and female together in a tank, the smallest I would suggest using is a 20gal...a 30gal is much more preferable. Also, something to think about is that if the female is not ovulating she will not be receptive to the male, and can get very nasty. The male will keep advancing, and the female will continue to turn him down, therefore completely stressing the male out. Personally, I do not recommend housing opposite sexes together year round at all.
Other people have mentioned a rack, but I use cages, so my answers are based on that:
1. How big of a cage, do you need? Minimum 20 gallon long for a male and a female, if you're going to keep them together throughout the season. I guess if you're going to just put the male in with the female for mating and then remove him you could consider a 10 gallon for 1 gecko, but the nesting box can take up a bit of room. I keep 3-4 geckos together in a 20 long with a 12x12 "upstairs" heated level for the entire breeding season
2. do you have to have a few cages?
You need a cage for each breeding group and some kind of enclosure for the babies. You can try to keep clutchmates together but if one begins to outgrow the other, you'll have to separate them. I use 30" long front-opening glass cages divided into 3 sections, which means I can keep a max of 6 hatchlings in each cage
3. Can you keep the leopard geckos in the same cage with eachother?
I think the above info answers this question.
You can also google "gecko breeding care" to find some good breeding care sheets.
ALiza
1. How big of a cage, do you need? Minimum 20 gallon long for a male and a female, if you're going to keep them together throughout the season. I guess if you're going to just put the male in with the female for mating and then remove him you could consider a 10 gallon for 1 gecko, but the nesting box can take up a bit of room. I keep 3-4 geckos together in a 20 long with a 12x12 "upstairs" heated level for the entire breeding season
2. do you have to have a few cages?
You need a cage for each breeding group and some kind of enclosure for the babies. You can try to keep clutchmates together but if one begins to outgrow the other, you'll have to separate them. I use 30" long front-opening glass cages divided into 3 sections, which means I can keep a max of 6 hatchlings in each cage
3. Can you keep the leopard geckos in the same cage with eachother?
I think the above info answers this question.
You can also google "gecko breeding care" to find some good breeding care sheets.
ALiza
lifeshighways
New member
Hi there, this is my first official year breeding - so I do appreciate your asking those questions. I've had leos for well over a year now, but so far have had no luck with breeding - the first year everyone was still too young. I hope you dont mind I'd like to add a few questions to your list of breeding questions.
1 - what is the minium weight for a female leo to mate successfully (yes I can google it but I dont trust just any website they are all different and I'd like to know what my friends here have to say)
2 - Do the male and female only have to be introduced once for the whole season? Or should they be re-introduced after every clutch is laid?
3 - I have 2 75gallon tanks - each tank has 1 male and no less than 4 females there are about 10 hides in each tank... some warm, some cool, some with moss, some with tile, some are just rock formations beneath a black light for added stomach heat. What is the maximum number of females you would put with 1 male.
4 - (and finally) who wants to buy some eggs I have the "POTENTIAL" for 150 to 180 eggs this season HAHAHAHAHAHA
1 - what is the minium weight for a female leo to mate successfully (yes I can google it but I dont trust just any website they are all different and I'd like to know what my friends here have to say)
2 - Do the male and female only have to be introduced once for the whole season? Or should they be re-introduced after every clutch is laid?
3 - I have 2 75gallon tanks - each tank has 1 male and no less than 4 females there are about 10 hides in each tank... some warm, some cool, some with moss, some with tile, some are just rock formations beneath a black light for added stomach heat. What is the maximum number of females you would put with 1 male.
4 - (and finally) who wants to buy some eggs I have the "POTENTIAL" for 150 to 180 eggs this season HAHAHAHAHAHA
1 - what is the minium weight for a female leo to mate successfully (yes I can google it but I dont trust just any website they are all different and I'd like to know what my friends here have to say)
These days I would say at least 50 grams since leos seem to be getting bigger than they did 10 years ago.
2 - Do the male and female only have to be introduced once for the whole season? Or should they be re-introduced after every clutch is laid?
Female leos store sperm and it's hard to say exacty how many clutches that would be good for, but from what I've read, 3 clutches is about the norm, so you could re-introduce every 3 clutches. I keep my males and females together for the whole season (Jan-Oct)
3 - I have 2 75gallon tanks - each tank has 1 male and no less than 4 females there are about 10 hides in each tank... some warm, some cool, some with moss, some with tile, some are just rock formations beneath a black light for added stomach heat. What is the maximum number of females you would put with 1 male.
I have heard of males "servicing" a large number of females. Due to my population and tank size, my max has been 1.3 and the male has done very well with them. You should be fine with 1.4
4 - (and finally) who wants to buy some eggs I have the "POTENTIAL" for 150 to 180 eggs this season HAHAHAHAHAHA
I'm assuming from your numbers that you have about 2 males and 8 females. Last summer I bred 3 males and 7 females. I generated about 70 eggs, of which 39 hatched and survived. It's good to plan for the max, but it may not happen. If you feel you will produce more babies than you can house and sell/keep/give away, you should consider breeding fewer females.
Good luck,
Aliza
These days I would say at least 50 grams since leos seem to be getting bigger than they did 10 years ago.
2 - Do the male and female only have to be introduced once for the whole season? Or should they be re-introduced after every clutch is laid?
Female leos store sperm and it's hard to say exacty how many clutches that would be good for, but from what I've read, 3 clutches is about the norm, so you could re-introduce every 3 clutches. I keep my males and females together for the whole season (Jan-Oct)
3 - I have 2 75gallon tanks - each tank has 1 male and no less than 4 females there are about 10 hides in each tank... some warm, some cool, some with moss, some with tile, some are just rock formations beneath a black light for added stomach heat. What is the maximum number of females you would put with 1 male.
I have heard of males "servicing" a large number of females. Due to my population and tank size, my max has been 1.3 and the male has done very well with them. You should be fine with 1.4
4 - (and finally) who wants to buy some eggs I have the "POTENTIAL" for 150 to 180 eggs this season HAHAHAHAHAHA
I'm assuming from your numbers that you have about 2 males and 8 females. Last summer I bred 3 males and 7 females. I generated about 70 eggs, of which 39 hatched and survived. It's good to plan for the max, but it may not happen. If you feel you will produce more babies than you can house and sell/keep/give away, you should consider breeding fewer females.
Good luck,
Aliza
lifeshighways
New member
I actually have 4 males and 14 females - several are too small for this year and 1 male is not breedable...and notice i said who wants to buy EGGS (i was trying to be funny) sorry :-(