What age/weight for mating please

[suey]

It was just to get some idea please on how you more experienced keepers decide when they are old/big enough to pair them together.

I do have an adult pair of phants together, but also keep guentheri and sikorae separately as they are not old enough yet, although i am in no rush.

I keep crested geckos and don't pair them until they are at least 18 months and 40gms or more, i assume it would be as simple as 'when they are adults and a similar size to each other', but thought i'd ask anyway

Thanks

 

[Graham_s]

I think it is generally better to go by age.
18 months - 2 years is a good age. 4-6g I think is usually adult weight for phantasticus though.

 

[tristan 92]

4-6 grams isn't an adult size for phantasticus !
I think it can be dangerous to breed phantasticus female before 7 grams, my breeding females are all between 7.5 and 8.6 grams, males are smaller, my bigger male is aroud 8 grams but they usually stay between 5.5 and 7 grams.

Breed a phantasticus female of 4 gram = death, I'm pretty sure of that : this is the weight they are when they are a few months old ( under one year ), when you keep them in good conditions.

For sikorae, I don't really know, my breeding females are between 25 and 32 grams if I remember well.

They still grow after the first breeding season, but I think like Graham that 18 or 24 months is a minimum age to breed them.

 

[Graham_s]

Sorry, I think I must have been mistaken. I don't make a habit of weighing my Uroplatus, and don't remember exactly how much they weighed when I last weighed them. I thought it was about 6g, but said 4-6 because I had seen someone mention elsewhere that their adults weigh less than 6g, so thought that maybe my memory wasn't as accurate as I thought!

Anyway, 6-8g sounds more reasonable. 8.6g is quite large?

 

[rcarichter]

I have 2.6 very healthy adult phants, the heaviest is 5.3 grams. The girls are already cycling this season and have huge calcium sacs. The one male mentioned in my previous thread is over 6 grams. I think we have established he is from the group of 'larger' phants. But I certainly have 5 gram females that are healthy and laying. BTW, I agree with the age of 18-24 months. I've never put them w/ males before 18 months.

 

[tristan 92]

yes, 8.6 is a big female, you're right.;-)
But that's not because a female lay eggs that it's good for her, especially if you want to keep her several years.
I have females who started to produce infertile eggs before being with male, they was around 5 grams and one year old, for me it's not enought ( and they already have calcium sacs at this age ).
5.3 grams for your heaviest female :shock: this animals aren't adult, even if they already lay eggs when you bought them.

 

[rcarichter]

The 5.3 gram female is will be 4 years old in June. One is still young, the rest are 2-3 years. I definitely agree that laying eggs is not a sign of health, and I know they store calcium from a young age, I'm just saying that mine are well-fed and healthy. The girls are quite round! Isn't it possible, given that we have established there are different-sized sub-species, that I have 'smalls' and you have 'larges'? I don't picture a healthy 4 year old putting on another couple grams from normal growth.

 

[suey]

Thank you for your replies, 18 - 24 months it is then, assuming they are up to weight. I had just wondered if they reached adulthood earlier as they do not live as long as the rhacodactylus.

 

[bobbiflower]

Yes I agree 2 years is a good age.I did not know there were different sub-species.That is good to know.Just weighed mine and Wow if 8.6 is a big female then mine must be huge she weighs 10.4.Here is a couple pictures of my girl.I lost the one that is to the right in the picture where there are two.Her calcium sacks got huge.I do not know why .I am trying to find two girls for my gorgeous boys I have.

 

[Graham_s]

Very nice phantasticus. Sorry to hear you lost one of them
I hope that you manage to find some more from somewhere.
Thanks for posting some photos

 

[sikorae]

Gorgeous phants Bobbie, hope you manage to locate more females

 

[jadrig]

From my experience, most geckos are sexually mature based upon age or size, which ever comes first. Logically, it would be in the best interest of the gecko to wait a little longer to breed it. If the gecko is at breeding size at 8-10 months, especially if female, it will most likely not be nutritionally sound to breed. They need to develop calcium storage...which is hard to do while they are growing.