hows the breeding season shaping up for yall?

[John_Woodward]

Hey guys just figured id start this thread so we can all keep up on whose producing what this year incase anyone is interested in working out any deals/ want to just post baby photos haha. Heres what i have so far incubating/ hatched:
10 phelsumba borbonica eggs

the main female producing them

the other girl responsible (dont have a good photo of the last female)
5 Phelsuma guimbeaui eggs, 2 hatchlings, 1 juvenile just starting to turn green.

one of my pairs
I also have alot of bavayia eggs and some lygodactylus williamsi eggs as well, cant wait for babies to start hatching.

 

[daggekko]

Hey John, seems your well into your breeding season!!

I've had a bunch of Phelsuma laticauda hatch, but I don't even look for the eggs anymore. Last baby I found across the room from the enclosure it hatched in!

I'm sitting on 4 Phelsuma pasteuri eggs, 2 of which should hatch by 4/8. I'll be getting more eggs from my female shortly.

My P borbonica females are split right now. I am trying to keep them from squabbling. I thought the lone one was gravid but she hasn't laid any eggs and doesn't exactly appear gravid anymore. The other female that is in with the male does seem to have eggs in her belly. I'll be swapping the females again soon.

I am getting a pair of Phelsuma abbotti checkei and Phelsuma sundbergi ladiguensis hopefully tomorrow and will get some eggs out of them as well this year.

I am in need of a male Phelsuma guimbeaui. Do you know the approximate age recommended for them to start breeding?(smaller species usually a year, larger species usually about 18 months right?) I believe my girl might have recently laid some dud eggs, or is about to. She has been spending more time sitting on the glass near the front of the tank.(ALL of my females seem to do this with eggs in their belly)

Hope the season continues to get better for me, and hope everyone else's season is going excellent!!

 

[colinmelsom]

Adam ,I generally let my Phelsuma start to breed after about two years,males can probably breed sooner but I feel that it takes too much out of the females at any earlier stage.They often havent reached full adult size until about eighteen months but are capable of breeding.Thats just my personal view.

 

[daggekko]

Colinmelsom,(is you name Colin?) what species do you breed? I like your opinion on the size and age before breeding. It does seem to make a difference.

 

[colinmelsom]

Hi Adam,I am Colin.I had enough of going under pseudonyms on forums.At present I breed borbonica mater, guimbeaui,inexpetata and klemmeri.Hopeully some cepediana soon as well.

I have spoken to various Dutch and German(fortunately they speak English well) breeders at Hamm and they have told me to do this.I think that it makes sense as females can have five or six clutches per season and feel that its best if they get up to size first.

 

[terradas]

Slow start for me considering I witnessed mating in January.

Grandis have a clutch incubating with another due in a week or so. Standingi are newly paired and have some dense sansevieria. Either no eggs yet or I'll just find hatchlings in with the pair. Klemmeri are still not quite full grown, but hopefully soon.

Very envious of those guimbeaui, John!

 

[mkschaefer]

I have klemmeri, borbonica (agalegae mater), robertmertensi, kochi, laticauda, standingi, and madagascariensis clutches (I should have many of these) incubating.

I should have cepediana and sundbergi ladiguensis clutches any day now and may have guimbeaui soon (but I cannot get a good look-too many plants).

Did you get my email concerning borbonica a few weeks ago? I can resend it. Nice pictures!

 

[Ivan M]

So far here is what i witnessed today.

 

[Sgvreptiles]

Havnt checked much for eggs yet. But found my last hatchling from 2011 borbonica eggs. Just pulled out of cooling a week or 2 ago so should start picking up.

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

My crimson female grandis has laid a total of 5 eggs so far now. She doesn't have a male with her right now but she was gravid when I got her so the eggs should be fertilized.

 

[PhelsumaUK]

Only started warming the room up in early March, so not too many eggs yet. Mostly cepediana and a few ornata so far. Got a few inexpectata showing with eggs but these tend to start laying later than the others

 

[jeroen de kruyk]

i have 3 clutches from my ph. Mad Boehmei and both are carying eggs.
borbonica mater have 3 clutches an both are carying eggs
guimbeaui carying eggs
inexpectata carying eggs
vanheygeni carying eggs


waiting for :

grandis mod leiogaster
bor bor laticauda
klemmeri lat angularis
ornata cepediana


should be a good year for me

 

[terradas]

i have 3 clutches from my ph. Mad Boehmei and both are carying eggs.
borbonica mater have 3 clutches an both are carying eggs
guimbeaui carying eggs
inexpectata carying eggs
vanheygeni carying eggs
should be a good year for me

Wow, vanheygeni isn't a species you hear about ever. I love the color the young ones have so please post pictures when your impending eggs hatch!

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

Finally paired my female with my male. I was really worried about aggression after having unknowingly kept two juvenile males together and seeing them fight. They seem to get along though and I saw them do their greeting with face-licking and vocal noises and head and leg movements, it was quite interesting to watch.

I also currently have 5 eggs in incubation, one clutch is 48 days in, so I've only got a few more days to wait!

 

[daggekko]

Hey, finally my P pasteuri eggs hatched. Unfortunately the first one didn't make it. Hatched out and its color was almost a blackish green. It died within a few hours of hatching. The other one is doing really good. Here are some photos.





On a secondary note, John, Jeff, and/or Matt, would you guys send me some info about how your keeping your borbonicas. I believe one female laid an egg today but ate it by the time I got home. So far I have seen random dud or broken eggs, but nothing good. I just swapped the females again, so hopefully this time around I get some good eggs.
Lately I have increased temperatures and been doing later in the day mistings. I'm going to post some photos of one of the girls in one of the borbonica threads. She was BEAUTIFUL today. I need to work out why I am not getting good eggs from them. My two concerns as of right now:
1. Are my animals too old? They were hatched in 2007.
2. Is my enclosure too big? 36"x18"x18"
Thanks

 

[Ivan M]

Adam congrats, looks wonderful that little guy. Hopefully things work out for you and your barbonica. I would be curious to see what others say.

 

[colinmelsom]

Adam your females are not too old to breed,I have females that I bought as fully grown in 2008 and are still laying fertile eggs.

As you know females only usually eat infertile eggs, so perhaps the problem is with your male rather than the females?Do you know whether he is fertile?

I keep my 1.2 adults in a cage that is 18" x 18" x 36" high,as they are quite large geckos(certainly the males).Borbonica dont like quite as high temperatures as most other species,I keep mine on the floor in my animal room.he temperature there rarely goes above the low 80s.You can usually see
when they get hot they turn a bluey colour.

Lastly its worth putting them outside in a screen cage in the summer(after they have bred hopefully).Assuming that you dont have problems with cats,rats or birds.Their colours intensify and as long as nightime temperatures are above about50f and its warm in the day they will be fine.

A last thought,it may be worth separating the sexes for a while and then reintroducing them.

 

[daggekko]

Colin, the male should be fertile. When I bought them the guy had a bunch of babies produced from the trio on the table.

I added more heat(probably gets high 80's on warmer days). Since I added more heat my females have been showing WAY more color. Usually before they would be very dark/drab in color. To me this seems positive. That is weird that you say they turn more blue-ish when they get hot. Oh yeah and they sit out and bask even when it is warmer. I'll have to get some temperatures today to see where I am at.

I was thinking about switching my Tokay Gecko with the borbonicas. She is in an 18x18x24 exo terra(and she probably wouldn't mind a larger enclosure!!). I am not keeping them as a 1.2 because the females don't get along. I understand the feeling about a larger enclosure. I was watching the male attempt to mate with the female when I switched them yesterday. Don't know for sure if he ever actually did.

I've thought about outdoor enclosures. I have a few worries about doing them.
1. I would want to use aluminum screen-but I worry the geckos might burn their undersides if they sat on them in the sun.
2. I do have some wildlife/cats in my area
3. Fireflies(Lightning bugs)-I KNOW these are toxic to reptiles. I don't really want to risk my geckos on them deciding to make a meal of one. Studies have shown that a lot of native animals won't eat them, but any reptile that did eat one would die unless it puked it up.

 

[colinmelsom]

Perhaps I didn`t phrase myself correctly.They are brown when they are cold but to my mind they go a nice green/blue at the correct temperaure,then turn a light blue colour when they are too warm.This is only my assumption but I have noticed that when they are happy they have ythe brown mottling as well.But temperament seems to affect their colouration more so than other species that I keep.

Perhaps your concerns are justified with outdoor enclosures.I keep mine outside in aluminium enclosures and have never had a problem with burning but its cooler here near London than Atlanta and we certainly dont have a problem with fireflies,only birds and cats.My dog usually sees them off though .

It could just be a matter of time,I have a pair of inexpectata where the male is so timid that he hides most of the time.I have to swap males to get the female to breed.

 

[m.roesch]

Hi Adam

I have the same opinion like Collin, i don't believe your borbonica are to old for breeding. Normally, Phelsuma borbonica need about three years before they initiate breeding. And they can reach up an age of about 20 Years. So yours are in the best age. Eggs are eaten mostly if they are infertile. I could never watch them eating a fertile egg.

Maybe it's best if I just tell you how I keep mine, so you can compare.

I keep them inside the whole year, just because it would be too much to keep 100 Phelsuma outside. My borbonica are all living as pairs in 20"x20"x40" cages. Here you can see a pic: phelsumae - Terrarien, Galerie, Phelsuma, Hochland (the second, third and fourth pic) I keep mine in a special room for highland Phelsuma. The temperature in the winter drops down at about 41°F and gets up to 68°F during the day. Under the halogenspot there is it about 85°F for a few hours a day. And this for about four or five Months a year. In summer the temperature is about 60°F at night and 80°F at day. Under the spot the temperature goes up to 95°F.
I never measured the humidity, but I spray once a day in the morning during the whole year.
With this parameters i made very good experience with all highland Phelsuma. Only a few, like barbouri and malamakibo do have a 5°F deeper background temperature during the day, since I keep them in the under row in my regalsystem.

I hope you can need some of the information. If there is any question about how I keeping them, let me know. Just don't give up trying. ;-)

Regards
Markus