Breeding Leopard Geckos - Tips and Tricks
Do you need some helpful advice in breeding leopard geckos? We're here to help you with your conundrum with some helpful tips and tricks on how to make your very own designer lizard dreams come to life.
Basics The first thing you have to know is the sex of your pets.
This won't be that hard...
you just have to turn your pet over on its back so that you can examine its underside.
The area you'd want to check would be between the hind legs just before the tail.
You'll be looking for hemipenal bulges that are exclusive to males.
Males will also have pre-anal pores that can appear as bulges.
This is usually a simple process but there are things that you should look out for that can lead you to confuse your pet's sex.
Some females have enlarged pits near their hind legs that can be mistaken for pre-anal pores.
Also, as these lizards store their food in their tails, some can have enlarged tail areas that can be also mistaken for bulges and pores.
Taming It is very important that your pets be used to being handled by humans.
It is definitely worth the time and effort to tame your lizards, especially in preparation for breeding.
The simplest way would be to allow your pet to walk on your hands, placing one hand in front of the other repeatedly, until the lizard gets used to the idea of being handled.
You may have to repeat this process over the course of a couple of days.
Age Concerns You should wait for your lizard to reach appropriate maturity before you begin the process of mating them.
Around 8 months old should be fine but you also have to remember that some of the traits that you want to pass on to the offspring can change as the animal grows older.
This can be a reason to hold off your mating plans until you can fully assess which creatures possess the appropriate traits.
As with any animals, some of the offspring will possess more favorable traits and it isn't uncommon for brother and sister lizards to have differing appearances.
The Mating Game Once you've done all the selecting and preparations, you can start planning the mating itself.
You really don't have to do much...
just get the lizards you'd want and place them inside the tank and wait for the magic to happen.
You'd want to watch out for aggressive behaviors though.
Males tend to get very aggressive towards females during mating and biting is not uncommon.
If the female does not respond to the male's advances, she will fight back and resist.
If there is too much fighting going on, it may be best to separate the lizards for a couple of hours or even days then try again at another time.
Humid Boxes and Eggs Science Once the female is impregnated, you have to provide her with a nursery in which to lay her eggs.
The humid box that your tank should be equipped with should be sufficient for this purpose.
This can be a simple plastic container that contains moss or sphagnum.
Kept at the right temperature, you should have healthy eggs on the way.
Plus, a little bit of egg science: If you keep the temperature at around 79-84 degrees, you'll get females; if you keep it at 86 - 90 degrees you'll generally get males.
Basics The first thing you have to know is the sex of your pets.
This won't be that hard...
you just have to turn your pet over on its back so that you can examine its underside.
The area you'd want to check would be between the hind legs just before the tail.
You'll be looking for hemipenal bulges that are exclusive to males.
Males will also have pre-anal pores that can appear as bulges.
This is usually a simple process but there are things that you should look out for that can lead you to confuse your pet's sex.
Some females have enlarged pits near their hind legs that can be mistaken for pre-anal pores.
Also, as these lizards store their food in their tails, some can have enlarged tail areas that can be also mistaken for bulges and pores.
Taming It is very important that your pets be used to being handled by humans.
It is definitely worth the time and effort to tame your lizards, especially in preparation for breeding.
The simplest way would be to allow your pet to walk on your hands, placing one hand in front of the other repeatedly, until the lizard gets used to the idea of being handled.
You may have to repeat this process over the course of a couple of days.
Age Concerns You should wait for your lizard to reach appropriate maturity before you begin the process of mating them.
Around 8 months old should be fine but you also have to remember that some of the traits that you want to pass on to the offspring can change as the animal grows older.
This can be a reason to hold off your mating plans until you can fully assess which creatures possess the appropriate traits.
As with any animals, some of the offspring will possess more favorable traits and it isn't uncommon for brother and sister lizards to have differing appearances.
The Mating Game Once you've done all the selecting and preparations, you can start planning the mating itself.
You really don't have to do much...
just get the lizards you'd want and place them inside the tank and wait for the magic to happen.
You'd want to watch out for aggressive behaviors though.
Males tend to get very aggressive towards females during mating and biting is not uncommon.
If the female does not respond to the male's advances, she will fight back and resist.
If there is too much fighting going on, it may be best to separate the lizards for a couple of hours or even days then try again at another time.
Humid Boxes and Eggs Science Once the female is impregnated, you have to provide her with a nursery in which to lay her eggs.
The humid box that your tank should be equipped with should be sufficient for this purpose.
This can be a simple plastic container that contains moss or sphagnum.
Kept at the right temperature, you should have healthy eggs on the way.
Plus, a little bit of egg science: If you keep the temperature at around 79-84 degrees, you'll get females; if you keep it at 86 - 90 degrees you'll generally get males.
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