My Leo Breeding Journal

[@marko@]

so ive been a member on this forum for ages, and have been caring for leopard geckos for almost 10 years. ive finally decide to take the plunge into breeding them on a small scale.
i have had an ember (RAPTOR patternless) female for just over a year now, and she is about 2 years old.
i recently purchased a super (snow) RAPTOR male and he should be arriving today.

im going to quarantine the male for a few months, and then the plan is to keep him with the female together in a well-furnished 20 gallon long with many hides (will build all the decor myself in a month or so).
i understand there is a possibility of him overbreeding her and stressing her if they are kept together and with no other females. as far as i have read, this doesnt always happen with a 1:1 group, but can. so i will be keeping a very close eye on both their weights, and both their behaviors. if i notice any signs of stress, he is going to be removed temporarily. ill then get a second female and make it a trio. id rather not have to do this as more females means more offspring, and i dont want to make that commitment just yet.

im going to be using this thread as a journal so i can keep track of what im doing, and hopefully get advice as this is my first time breeding leos (but not first time breeding geckos, i bred p. laticuada before and loved it).

pics of both geckos to come in a few hours

 

[LindsayMayer]

Can't wait to follow your progress!

 

[@marko@]

thanks, lindsaymayer.

here are pics of the new male:

and of the female:

 

[LindsayMayer]

Very unique! Which morphs are they? Is the female a Banana Blizzard? And the male? New to this whole thing

 

[@marko@]

female is an ember (RAPTOR that is also a murphy patternless).
the male is a super RAPTOR (a RAPTOR that is homozygous for snow). in person he is pure white, with ruby red eyes. very happy with him.
the offspring will all be snow RAPTORs het. patternless.

thats ok, everyone is new at some point. im new to breeding them.

 

[cricket4u]

Hi,

Your male looks a bit to thin. How old is he?

 

[@marko@]

thought so too. wasnt given an age by the seller, but all the geckos he had for sale looked young. im next to certain he is under a year old.
but i did get a weight - he is 48g.

i should be able to beef him up during the quarantine. he can stay in that tank as long as he needs to be ready.
got a dubia colony, and also get crickets every now and then. might throw him a wax worm or two also, give him a touch of extra energy in his diet.

will weigh him myself in a few days. i want to give him a day or two to settle in before i start interacting with him (weighing, offering feed, etc.); though he is not shy at all. came out of his hide yesterday, did a lap around his new tank, and then watched me while i was on my computer for a while before deciding i was boring and went back into his hide.

 

[XoVictoryXo]

They are 2 BEAUTIFUL geckos. Hope he gets beefed up soon. maybe try butterworms/silkworms instead of waxworms.

 

[@marko@]

Would love to. Was looking for butterworms a week ago, couldn't find em in stock anywhere. If you know of a website that has em in stock let me know.

 

[XoVictoryXo]

here ya go right here! I order from them all the time they are great!
http://www.mulberryfarms.com/Regular-Butterworms-c13/

 

[@marko@]

will order from em in a week or so, to have the bugs here a few days before christmas when i have plenty of time to sort them out and such.
for now they will make due with dubia roaches and wax worms.

the new guy is eating already. scarfed down 4 roach nymphs yesterday, and ate 4 waxworms today. i feel like beefing him up wont be a problem at all.
he is still kinda skittish though. have to pick him up to swap out the paper towel, and he hates it. squirms and tries to walk off my hands the whole time im moving him. he'll get used to me eventually though.