Try Breeding Again?

ljbacel

New member
Ok I had my male in with my females for a month earlier this year from mid February to mid March I removed him because I was concerned about his weight he started loosing and not eating much. However they never mated all the time they were together apparently. No eggs ever found. This past week he had to have surgery for an ear tumor. My question is after he has completely healed would it be safe to put him back in with my females and try to breed again? He does have a vet apt in two weeks and I intend to ask the vet but, just wondering what others think. Looking around thinking of buying another male for breeding just in case.

Lori
 

danscantle

New member
Ok I had my male in with my females for a month earlier this year from mid February to mid March I removed him because I was concerned about his weight he started loosing and not eating much. However they never mated all the time they were together apparently. No eggs ever found. This past week he had to have surgery for an ear tumor. My question is after he has completely healed would it be safe to put him back in with my females and try to breed again? He does have a vet apt in two weeks and I intend to ask the vet but, just wondering what others think. Looking around thinking of buying another male for breeding just in case.

Lori

Couple of questions:
1) What species of Anolis?
2) How are you keeping them? Temperatures, photoperiod (number of hours of daylight), and how frequently do you feed and spray them? Did you attempt to cycle them by either lowering the temperature and reducing the photoperiod (or both)?.
3) What kind of tumor is it? It seems odd to me to attempt to remove a presumably internal growth on an animal so small as most Anolis (unless your talking about a crown giant, but even then...). I've had a few A. carolinesis develop abscesses throughout their body (mostly on the limbs), and I have no clue what causes it. However, they are often accompanied by sudden weightless, anorexia, then death. I'm curious to know what your vet says. If you could PM or e-mail the report I would be very grateful.

Ok, so some feedback. I've found Anolis benefit from some degree of seasonal cycling, but, like most things, they will not breed if they are being kept too cool, too dry, or without sufficient access to food.

If you are keeping the commonly available species like A. carolinensis and sagrei, you should be keeping them in the mid 80s with a hot basking spot in the mid 90s. Furthermore, day length should be over 12 hours (between 14 and 16). If you get the animals in this range, breeding will almost certainly follow suite in a few weeks.

As far as you male goes. I'm doubtful he'll be able to breed immediately following treatment. I suspect most of his energy will be directed towards recovery and getting over the associated stress (minimal investment in gametes).

Before you think about making any changes to your husbandry, please confirm what species you are keeping.
 

ljbacel

New member
Ok I am sorry I should of been more specific they are leopard geckos. The tumor was glandular and he is bouncing back really fast. Surgery was on thurs. and on friday he started eating again. I went through the cooling process and then brought them back up to longer days and a warmer tank. It was the beginning of the mating season for them. So I think I just had him in with them to early or there is always the possibility that he was just a cool male. I am not sure you can see pics of my little group in my profile I have albums set up. They are all Tremper geckos and have been extremely healthy except for that small set back with Zeke. Yes I callit small because he is already bouncing back allot faster then I thought he would.

Lori
 

Phantasy

New member
Hey Lori. I had a similar problem with my geckos not breeding. From a pure observation standpoint, it seemed to me my female always had the upper hand in dominance situations, so my natural assumption was that either she was hot, or he was cold, or both. They did start breeding this season though, and I have her first ever egg cooking right now, which was only laid a couple days ago on Sunday. Even after her eggs were deposited, I was skeptical about copulation having actually taken place, but last night I observed it twice and separated the two as to not cause excessive stress on the girl (Josephine). Can I ask how long you've had your geckos? Do you move them around or changed their setups frequently? I might attribute this to be a stress based cause. Another thing with Leos is that they all run on different cycles. Even though you had them go through brumation, some females will begin ovulating later than others. Josephine for example was a late starter this season, and I imagine she will continue to be in years to come. It's not uncommon for some geckos to only ovulate on an off season. If I were you I'd just observe your girls, and try to figure out each of their cycles. If he is somewhat of a cool male, I'd introduce females into his enclosure individually based on when they are clearly ovulating. After Josephine's first clutch, Cloud (my male) went sex crazy and wanted to copulate constantly. Taking away the stress and confusion (especially if he's a first timer, or cool) of many females at once may just do the trick. Besides that, I think the time apart will help as well. Anywho, long winded, sorry for that! Have a good one and I hope this helped a little.

Cheers,
-Matt
 
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