How to STOP Phelsuma klemmeri from breeding?

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BryanF

New member
Hi everyone,

I've got a pair of Phelsuma klemmeri that won't stop producing! I'm hoping to get some advice on how to make it stop.

The female produces a clutch of two eggs every 3-4 weeks, and she's now gravid with her 5th clutch since August.

This is a young female (~1.5 years - thanks Matt!), and I know all this egg production at this age is not good for her. I'm prepared to separate the pair, but the male gets depressed and doesn't eat well when he's alone. Seriously, he's pathetic like that.

This is what I've done so far: I gradually cut the photoperiod from 14 hours/day to 12 hours/day two months ago, and dropped it to 10 hours/day one month ago. I also reduced the number of mistings/day so that the humidity and substrate moisture would remain the same with fewer light/heat hours. I did not change the bulb wattage, so even though the photoperiod changed, the temps did not (90-95F basking spot and ~80F elsewhere).

Any suggestions? Should I also lower temps, or just go ahead and separate them?

Many thanks!
 
mkschaefer

mkschaefer

New member
I would not separate them unless they are not getting along well. I have rarely had that occur with klemmeri. That said, each gecko and pair is unique, so I have pulled females when I have needed to. The following recommendations are dependent on the conditions in your room...

1. Cut back the number of feedings per week. During the winter, I provide less food. I generally feed every other day for most species and most pairs, but may only feed every three days (They still have food in the enclosure, however).
2. Mist every other day
3. I do not lower temperatures. My room is naturally cooler in the winter, especially when you cut down on how much time the fluorescent lights and puck lights are on during the day.

The key right now is to feed her well and ensure she has available calcium, even after laying. I would not say her egg laying frequency is out of the norm. 5-6 clutches for them is a normal/good season. If she looks in poor condition, then I would remove her to ensure she is in good health.
 
LLDG

LLDG

New member
As Matt said, separate them. They will not be lonely. It gives the female recovery time and klemmeri get over bred easy.

Personally, I would be very cautious about reducing mistings for P. klemmeri. Due to their size they can dehydrate quickly. I feel the same with reduced feedings with klemmeri. Breeding females degrade from poor nutrition and this does affect eggs, MBD in neonates and juvenile survival. Seen this way too often.

Why chance all that. Just separate.
 
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mkschaefer

mkschaefer

New member
Agreed, especially concerning conditions in the room. With Phelsuma, Varanus, and Ctensoaura, where I have my animals, it is extremely humid in my room and enclosures, so I very lightly mist until rooms are isolated. I am working on addressing that in the system. In most houses, you should mist 1-2 times per day. I also lightly feed in winter as they always have food in the enclosure (crickets, Repahsy, springtails, and Drosophila----oh, the Drosophila all over the place. I actually think that has been a good thing for all my animals. I have even seen juvenile Ctenosaura and Varanus go after tiny Drosophila, haha).

I will also have to figure out how to address the temperature in the rooms come winter time as they are very warm now.

This is more for interested keepers:

All in all, take special care with females all the time. Give them what they need, down time from males, calcium, Repashy, etc. The mindset I have with my more delicate species is, "Just give them extra attention." If you are thinking that way, they will thrive, barring the freak events we all endure with living systems. You also develop a feel for the animals, how they look, how they move, what they need, that "rules of care" cannot always address. I have some females in certain species that are very robust and breed well until I separate them or they stop. I have other females that are very slender or small for their species that I treat differently and scrutinize their condition daily.

Bryan had great success with his klemmeri pair, which he has not yet shared here.

Similarly, Leann, didn't you have a ten year old female klemmeri lay a clutch this year? That is incredible.
 
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BryanF

New member
I have to admit I'm a little embarrassed by the attention this thread has gotten.

First, some bad news: I lost my breeding pair earlier this summer while I was away and someone else was looking after them.

The good news is that I still have many of their offspring. I've been working with Matt and others to trade these offspring for unrelated bloodlines in order to create new breeding pairs. I expect to have some available to sell next year, but am prioritizing the stability of my own breeding project over sales. My hope is that such an approach leads to more available geckos over the long-term. They really are great little animals!

Getting back to the original point of this thread - my breeding pair was crazy productive. The female was continuously laying two-egg clutches every ~3 weeks from August 2012 until June 2013. They just wouldn't stop. I shortened their photoperiod, lowered temps, decreased misting frequency (though I made sure to keep humidity levels up, which wasn't hard since they were in a planted tank). They didn't care. I became overwhelmed with all the eggs and itty-bitty hatchlings, and eventually stopped transferring the eggs to the incubator and let them hatch and grow in situ (finding and transferring the escapees to escape-proof cages when I could). I never tried separating the pair, though I will try that if something similar happens again.

But yeah, klemmeri are great and I'd give one to everybody if I could.
 
LLDG

LLDG

New member
Yes, incredibly, I had a ten year old female P. klemmeri lay two sets of eggs. I had put her in with two other P klemmeri who were also very old and retired from breeding. I was surprised to get eggs as the female had geriatric related thinness, but otherwise healthy and active.

Her eggs hatched and all the juveniles are doing well. The older female did die a couple of months later.
 
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