Questions about breeding..........

[Smithm]

Hey Folks,

I had a couple of questions about breeding my Leo's.........I am not sure I am going to do it yet or not but I am just asking the questions to learn more.

I currently have 1 male and 4 females..........These were given to me by people that wanted out or their kids lost interest and needed rid of them. I already had 2 (at the time) and were worried about what would happen to the others if I did not re-home them. I have posted on other forums asking questions and learning lots and now I have the male and females all in separate tanks (20gallon L) with thermostats and hides (moist and dry) and so on. I spent a lot of time getting the tank temps right and now all the gecko's seem happy and have names!!

My biggest question would be..........Would I be a bad guy if I bred my male to one of my females even though I have no back ground on either one of them??

Unfortunately, I have not been able to collect any information on any of the rescue's up to now. Would pictures help with identifying them?

I was told my male was a Giant Tangerine with a lavender color on his tail and his weight (and size 98g) helps with identifying him. I have a larger female (68g) with normal colors (yellow, white and black dots). I have 2 females that have a jungle pattern and the last female is all yellow (a very bright yellow). I can take pics and post if that will help.

My last question would be when does the breeding season start? I have read that some breeders do their "cool down" period in October/November and start to breed in January/February. Then I read that people are breeding their Leo's right through to November and others just breed all year round.

What month would you want to start checking for an ovulating female? Apparently the the large Tangerine and large female are proven breeders (there was dried eggs in the tans when I picked them up) and one of the jungle morphs had a successful clutch.

Thanks everyone
Marc

 

[Mardy]

It's generally frowned upon breeding geckos with unknown genetics. You don't know what hets they carry, and you could end up with muddy genetics (geckos carrying multiple unknown hets).

As for when the breeding season starts, during gecko's first year a male can become sexually mature as early as 5 months old, females usually start their first ovulation between 6-11 months. After their first year, females generally start ovulating around January, and they could last until around June/July, sometimes into August/September. A female can start ovulating, then stop ovulating completely for a few months, then start again. But more often than not they ovulate continuously for 5-6 months.

 

[XoVictoryXo]

Are you planning to keep all the hatchlings?
I dont really recommend breeding until you have REALLY researched and gotten a few years under your belt and figure out if you are going to breed for $$ or for the actually love of the hobby.
It gets QUITE expensive, and there are also fatal risks involved for both the male and the female, look up egg binding and prolapse... not to mention the female goes thru a couple of appetite loss stages and can loss a tremendous amount of weight.
I probably sound harsh and i dont mean to come off that way, but I always speak up about this topic, because I have made some mistakes in my past and I learned from them the hard way. I appreciate experienced breeders in the leo industry, of course! -
but honestly what the industry DOESNT need is another inexperienced breeder with a ton of leos going to homes only to be turned into another unwanted pet like the owners you rescued them all from.

 

[Smithm]

Thanks for the info and I don't think it sound harsh but rather just plain reality!! I have given it a lot of thought and I have being trying to prepare for the breeding season. The female I want to breed to is about 75g right now and the male is 86g. They are good eaters and this would not be the females first time..........

I have already purchased the incubator, incubator nesting material, hatchling plastic sweater boxes and 10 gallon tanks and UTH's for them. I have ran the incubator for about 4 weeks now to ensure the temps are good. I wanted to try for females so it would be easier to house them once they hatch. I have a good supplier of pinhead crickets and a lot of calcium, calcium (w/D3) and multivitamins. I have also located and spoke to a Herpetologist vet in my area to ensure I had one available.

As far as breeding for money........HAHA!! There is no money in this at this stage of the game and I don't care about that anyways. I would be breeding for the love of the hobby. I have had leo's in the past but they have always been adults and never baby/juvie's so the thought of raising some from an egg very much interests me!!

As far as the re-homing, I do have homes for a few already. These are homes that the Leo's would do very well in by people that do have some experience with reptiles and would like to get a Leo. For the most part, depending on how many successful clutches the female will have, I was going to keep them and build a large enclosure that would accommodate multiple females.

My only real concern right now is not knowing the backgrounds of these Leo's. I really wish I had more info on where they came from and what morphs were bred to make them!!

Thanks for the advice!!
Marc