Gecko Breeding

Ok breeding , what can I say except turn down the lights, put on some soft music and light some candles, then let nature take it`s course.LOL. But seriously , this page will hopefully give you some insight into the breeding and egging of your gecko. So lets get started.

Leopard Gecko`s are fairly easy to breed. One male will mate with 3 or 4 females at a time. Make sure you dont house new animals with your colony until you quarantine them for a few weeks,  to make absolutely sure they dont have any health problems that might infect the rest of the group. All animals need to be in good health before breeding. One good way to bring on breeding is to reduce the daylight  to less than 12 hours a day and reduce the temperature by day to as low as 72-76 degrees and by night to 65 degrees. For a period of about 8 weeks. Then bring the temps. back to normal as well as the light. That will usually get them rareing to go. You`ll think there rabbits. LOL

Sexing your Gecko

To tell the difference between your male and female Gecko`s you will need to pick them up and turn them over. The males have a V-shaped row of pores on them just above the base of the tail in between the back legs. Females do not. These pores will excude a waxy substance. Also adult males will have noticeable buldges at the base of the tail. One final difference is males are more heavy-bodied than females with broader heads and thicker necks. Juveniles can be sexed as early as 1 month of age.

SIZE OF ANIMAL

Weight is mainly the biggest thing other than age,  sexually mature animals are usually around 35grams.  40grams is a safer size for the female,  so she does`nt have to many problems. Because she will be burning  up the calcium and fat reserves producing those eggs.

Detection

Pregnant females can usually be detected because of a bump on each side of her abdomen. The eggs are usually visible thru the abdomen wall.  Females will start producing eggs even without having mated. But they obviously wont be fertile until she is introduced to the male. So if you house the 2 seperately,  now would be a good time to introduce them.

Breeding season

In captivity the breeding season is usually between January and September. Some can even breed through to October in controlled enviroments. But if you use the daylight and temp. trick I told you about they can be made to breed any time of year. Except for a 3 to 4 month rest period.

Conditioning

Breeding will take it`s toll on the animals health especially the female. Females should be offered food at least every other day coated in vitamin supplements, because of the extreme energy and calcium demands on her. Or offer a dish of mealworms in vitamin /mineral powder around the clock. And like I said on the previous page always have a small container of calcisand available. You can even offer 1 to 2 day old pinkie mice, to help keep up there weight.

Laying box

A place for the female to lay her eggs needs to be provided. You can use something like a coolwhip tub with a hole in the side for her to fit thru should suffice. Inside the tub you need to provide moist vermiculite or sphagum moss. Make sure it`s moist and not soaked. A light spray daily should work fine.The importance of the box is it is safer for the eggs, it makes it less likely that the eggs will dry out before you find them and there is less of a chance of them being trampled or knawed on by prey. Check the box daily for eggs as well as around the cage. You can tell when she is ready to lay cause the bulges will be clearly defined. Once she lays you need to remove them and begin incubation.

Eggs

Leopard Gecko`s usually lay eggs several times during breeding. One egg per clutch is common for very young females or very old. Young females will lay 1 to 3 clutches there first year and with age produce up to 5 clutches. Just laid eggs feel soft and sticky. A fertile egg will  firm up and feel chalky like a marshmallow. A bad egg will stay thin and soft. Get rid of those.

Incubation methods

There are several methods of incubating eggs you can use. One method is to place the eggs on there sides half buried in damp vermiculite in a shoebox. Place the shoebox in the bottom of a covered aquarium and keep heated to about 85 degrees. Making sure to keep the substrate damp. They should hatch in about 2 months. Another method would be to fill the bottom of the aquarium with about 2 inches of water and place an aquarium heater in the water. Then suspend the shoebox above the water with wire or something, cover the top and away you go. This method heats the air above the water and keeps the humidity up so you dont have to respray the eggs much. You could instead of heating up the aquarium water just place a cup of water into the medium with the eggs in the shoebox, to keep the humidity up. Yet another method of a homemade job is to place a bunch of foam rubber in an aquarium, just cover it with water. Then place small dishes on the rubber filled with the damp vermiculite and eggs, cover the aquarium and heat. But last but not least you can go to your local feed store and buy a hovabator incubator for bird eggs, follow the directions and place it in a quiet untraveled place. Make sure you can access it to add water when you need to.

Incubation Temperatures

There have been studies that show that the sex of your Gecko is dependent on the temperature you incubate the eggs. The sex is temperature determined within the first 2 weeks of incubation. If you incubate at 79 degrees you will get females. If you incubate anywhere from 85-87 degrees you can expect 50/50. And 89-90 degrees mostly all males, if you do get females they will probably be pretty aggressive. But if you do want mostly males incubate them at that temperature for 3-4 weeks then lower the temp. to about 80-85 for the remainder of incubation. This will reduce the risk of mortality from being incubated at such a high temperature. Depending on your incubating temp. Eggs can take anywhere from 6 to 15 weeks. So dont be worried if they dont hatch in 2 months like I said earlier. That is just the norm. for that temperature range.

Taking care of baby

Ok, you have slaved dilligently over those eggs for about 2 months and now it is finally paying off, the baby or babies have arrived. Being a brand new proud parent of a little baby lizard brings new responsibility. The babies need to be housed seperately for now. A small plastic shoe or sweater box will work fine. You have to do this because mom and dad will hurt them, or even intimidate them so they will be to scared to eat and may starve. (big mean mommy.lol) Anyway, the babies will not eat till after there first shed. Once they do they should be fed vitamin and calcium supplemented crickets or mealworms. Always give them a small water dish and small thing of calcisand. Mist them several times a week cause the babies need the higher humidity. As the babies grow try to seperate them by size, so as not to have big brother pushin everyone around and taking all the food.

Well I hope this section was helpful, If you have a question

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