advice please about breeding a few questions etc

[marieandchrisx4]

hi all ,ive been reading about breeding i have got 2x babys from a pet shop i think there to young yet ut want to prep , ok

Q1- how old could my geckos be there about 6-7 inches long .
Q2 - i bought the babys together would they be ok to live in the same tank and just let nature take its course
Q3- i hve a spare 2ft tank ,if i put a heat mat in and the substrate that holds moist in tubs and place them over the heat mat would this work.
Q4 -wat is the best age to breed .

ive added pics so you can see the 2 i want to breed

 

[acpart]

Q1- how old could my geckos be there about 6-7 inches long .
I'm guessing they are 2-4 months but it's hard to tell

Q2 - i bought the babys together would they be ok to live in the same tank and just let nature take its course
If you really have a male and a female, nature will take its course the same way nature takes its course with 13 year olds: they will breed too young and that may hurt the female due to egg binding and/or stunting her growth. It is most adviseable to separate the male and female till she is big enough to breed. After that, you can keep them together unless the male endlessly hassles the female.

Q3- i hve a spare 2ft tank ,if i put a heat mat in and the substrate that holds moist in tubs and place them over the heat mat would this work.
I assume you mean to ask whether this will work as an incubator. It will work only if you can guarantee that the temperatures will remain within 2 degrees or so anywhere in the 80-88 degree (F) range and that the humidity will remain at 80-90%. if not, you will either fail to hatch anything or the babies could be deformed.

Q4 -wat is the best age to breed .
Best age to breed is at least 9 months for the female and at least 50 grams. The weight is more important than the age, though I wouldn't breed a 6 month old even if she was heavy enough

In addition to what you have asked, make sure you will be prepared to provide and deal with the following before you breed:
reliable incubation method
housing and food for all the babies
plans to keep or sell the babies
ability to take sick breeders and hatchlings to the vet if necessary
ability to deal with the possibility of a hatchling with birth defects or special needs (I'm not saying your methods will make that happen, but it does happen eventually to most breeders).

Good luck,

Aliza

 

[marieandchrisx4]

hi thats been very helpfull and greatly taken into account ,i wil put the female in a different tank ,and the mae and female are already registerd in a reptile vets ,my big male had his opp there ,the people are great , i have to travel but thats worth it , i realy am intrested in the breeding ,but im bit sceard about there age as dont want to breed them to soon as if i was an animal i woudnt like it , is there any realy good books as ive just got the book called the leopard gecko in captivity its good but i realy do want to do more reading and reasurch into it as the last thing i want is a disaster please any help is better than none im going to get another extention lead tomoz so i can move her will it be hard to get them together or could he just reject her when the time comes

 

[acpart]

Google "leopard gecko breeding" and read a few caresheets. You'll find a lot of the same information repeated and also there will be some that conflicts. THe information that repeats is likely correct; ask specific questions here about the other info (there is not just one correct way, there may be more than one way to do things). Also, at the risk of promoting myself, I wrote two articles for Gecko Time (A Blog About Geckos: Gecko Time), one called "breeding on a small scale" and one called "caring for gecko hatchlings".

One thing I did before I got into gecko breeding 5 years ago was to read as much information on the forums as I could. Whenever I saw something that seemed particularly useful, I copied and pasted it into a document. Eventually I had a whole document of information that was useful and it really helped.

ALiza

 

[marieandchrisx4]

hi thats brill aliza , she has now been seperated shes in 1 half of the 4ft tank and the baby male is in the other half and ma big boy is now in the bedroom in the 2ft i had spare ,ive decided to save for a prop incubator and search about gecko breeding . my female has started to go grey so guess she feels ready to shed so ill keep an eye on her the baby male has already done his shedding , as with my big gecko he sometimes needs help with his feet , but anyways ill be doing lots of reading lol ty again mean alot when people help

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

If you really want to do some research, look through the tons of previous posts in the leopard geckos forums right here at GU. They contain advice from some of the best leopard gecko breeders in the country. You simply won't find a book that's as comprehensive as these forums.

 

[marieandchrisx4]

thank you riverside reptiles , and also can we put the warning graphic behind us this is a forum bout geckos not to arrgue and am sorry if i got bit to on my high horse but anyways thanks again ill have a look