Preps..

[Tongue Flicker]

I'm planning to breed my female leos next year so i wanna be prepared now as much as I could. I've read some info online but I do have a few unusual questions that I may have missed the answer to though

The females age, size and weight is out of the question since they've both successfully produced young in the past and they definitely feel & look heavier now than when I first saw them. Do note though that the girls were once owned by my friend so i do not have leo breeding experience but have successfully bred other non-conventional pets, reptiles included. Okay here goes:

1.) If i live in a warm (okay hot lol) country without the necessary temperature regulating incubators / facility, how would I be able to temp regulate my future hatchlings sexes? I don't want an all boys or all girls club unless I'm running a basketball team or an all girl pop group lol

2.) Am i to introduce the male to the female's enclosure or the other way around?

3.) If my female lays fertile eggs on the water bowl (i read some do), will it still be okay even if they were soaked in for a few minutes to maybe less than hour? If I don't get to see and remove the eggs quickly since i maybe late out at night

4.) If my females decides to lay their eggs inside their moist hides, should i just take out the eggs immediately? Or wait for the female to go out first? (Note my leos go out at sunrise and sundown only, so waiting for the females to go out voluntarily may be a challenge lol)

5.) Vermiculite or perlite is next to impossible to obtain where I'm at. But I've successfully hatched other reptile eggs using moss, sifted coco fiber and/or fine gravel mixed with some authentic desert sand in the past mostly from snakes. Will the same hold for leo eggs or should it be strictly vermi/perlite incubation medium?

6.) I read that a female in top condition could produce about 20 eggs in one season and an average non-first timer about 12-16. If I decide to not my breed the females next year will they still produce the same amount of infertile eggs and/or clutches throughout the season?

Hmm i think that's it for now. Just want these queries covered before I move along into looking for a good male candidate from my region lol

Thanks i advance!

 

[acpart]

Here's my best shot:
1.incubation: you need to find a place where the temperatures will stay pretty steady. If you can find a place where the temps stay in the 84-86 degree range, you will likely get a male-female mix. If you can't find a place with that steady temp range, then you'll get more females at a lower range and more males at a higher range. If you can't find any place at all where the temps stay steady, you'll have to make some kind of incubator and there are instructions online.

2. Introduction: People have advocated doing the intros both ways. See what opinions you get. I keep mine together for the season, so it's not an issue for me.

3.Eggs in the water bowl: they are usually infertile, but if you think they're fertile, take them out and incubate them. Maybe you'll be lucky

4. Eggs in the hides: I usually find my female in the lay box (which doubles as a moist hide) after she lays and I gently pick her up, remove the eggs and put her back in. No problems.

5. Incubation medium: You may be able to order hatchrite or something like that internationally. I suppose coco fiber would work. Another solution is to get those containers that suspend the eggs above the moist substrate and then you don't have to worry about what the eggs are in (SIM from squamata concepts and the G.E.O. which you can probably google to find)

6. I have read that geckos (like human women) have a finite number of eggs they can produce. I've had first timers lay 20 fertile eggs and experienced breeders stop laying. NO way to know what you'll get.

Hope that helps.

Aliza

 

[Tongue Flicker]

Yey aliza you saved me lol. These are the only things that bothered me since no one online seems to bother covering them up since only peeps like me would encounter them and I'm not even on the 1% of the world that keeps leos haha.

Yeah i figured I'd be getting a mixed gender brood if i find a suitable area with stable temp. My kitchen cabinet would probably be perfect for the incubation job since i noticed it was always warm all year round everytime i open it up during early morning.

Thank you very much!