Let's Talk About Sex! A Simple Guide To Breeding Leopard Geckos.
Leopard geckos are not only popular pets for beginner and advanced hobbyists alike, but they are also popular breeders. They are incredibly prolific, and easy creatures to hatch and rear. When a beginning hobbyist asks me what would be the best animals to begin breeding with, I always suggest a leopard gecko!
Of course despite them being one of the easiest reptiles to breed, there are still some things that should be known about the process of making little baby leopard geckos effectively, safely, and productively.
You should conduct research whether you plan to start small or go big, and there is no reason to jump into something like breeding reptiles unprepared or uninformed. With that being said, below you'll find some of the quick basics that come to the birds and the bees in the world of leopard geckos, and hopefully you'll be able to take away some good tips to get you started on the exciting journey of breeding these amazing little animals.
First Things First...
You need a healthy, mature male and female. If you already have this part down, skip this portion of the article. If you don't, then read on! Choosing a healthy and mature breeding pair is a fairly easy process, but one that should be handled with mindfulness and care.
Age is not normally as important as size is when it comes to a virgin pair of breeding animals, however you should never attempt to re-breed a female that has been retired from breeding, for her egg production will most likely prove to be poor, and hatchling as well as the females health could be compromised. The same goes for females that are underweight or sexually immature.
When it comes to size, I prefer my females to be between 45 and 55 grams, and my males to be between 35 and 40 grams to start off.
Distinguishing a male and female leopard gecko from one another is normally fairly easy, for they are sexually dimorphic. While there are some subtle differences in the bodies of male and female leopard geckos, the most accurate way to tell a male and female leopard gecko apart is to look underneath of their tail. Below their vent (cloaca), males will possess two large bulges, and above the vent there will be a row of pre-anal pores that will sometimes secrete a waxy substance. Females may have very small or no bulges beneath her tail, and she will be lacking in the visible pre-anal pores.
Top Female, Bottom Male
Sometimes, a very experienced breeder can sex a Leopard Gecko at as little as a month old with a X10 magnifying glass and a pen light, however most accurate results will come at around 5 months to a year of age.
Now that you have your couple....
It is time to introduce them! It is advised you introduce the female into the males environment, or, introduce both of them into a brand new environment. This can be a 20 gallon tank, or bin in your rack system.
It is best to pay attention to the female and the males behavior among meeting for the first time. The first thing one might notice when they introduce their leopard geckos is a fast rattling from the males tail. This is a signal he is hoping to breed with the female and is interested in her. An accepting female will stand very still as the male investigates her, and she will raise her tail to indicate she is prepared to mate. The male will bite flaps of her skin between his jaws, and will nibble up and down her body. This may appear rough, but do not worry. This is the male securing the female, and he is not causing her extreme distress or pain. He may even leave her with small tooth nicks in her skin. This is fine too, and very much normal. As he climbs on top of her, you will see him raise his tail as well, and he will insert one of his two hemipeines into the female.
Mating can last anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes, and when the two disconnect, you will see the male begin to clean under his tail. Do not disturb him while. You are welcome to move your female back into her cage though while he is doing this.
A female that is uninterested in mating will be very clearly aggressive and standoffish. She will stand tall, and she will bite the male when he approaches or touches her. Supervised mating is always recommended when possible, just in case aggression does break out between the two, whether it be initiated by the female or the male.
Sometimes, mating does not happen immediately. This can be with first time breeders or even nervous animals. Some breeders cohabitate their male and female leopard geckos in this instance for 1-5 days to ensure mating occurs, and some cohabitate through the entire season. I personally prefer short, supervised interactions. If a female isn't receptive and won't mate within 15-30 minutes, I remove the female and try again 1 to 2 days later. In almost all instances, my females have become receptive by at least the 3rd or 4th date!
Ok, so they've bred...
Now what?
Well, It's time to wait.
Normally, in about 2 to 4 weeks your female will be swollen with eggs and laying them for you to incubate. A female will lay anywhere from 1 to 8 clutches of 2 eggs throughout the breeding season every 15 to 30 days sometimes up to several months when she's been bred only once. Leopard gecko females are able to retain a males sperm, so really it's up to you if you'd like to breed for a second time in the season. I place my females in with males twice throughout the breeding season to keep fertility strong. It is normal for the first and the last clutch of you females eggs to be infertile.
You will be able to see the eggs through your females thin belly skin, and she will become more slow moving however should still remain alert throughout the process (lethargic females could indicate a problem), and will even stop eating a few days to a week before her eggs are laid. It's important to provide your female with a moist laying box/hide, filled with coconut husk, moss, or even vermiculite that you keep warm and damp. You also need to provide your gravid female with lots of calcium, for this is how she will form her eggs. Dust the food she will eat and supply her a bowl of calcium, for she will actually eat the calcium by itself.
Keep her cage nice and warm, and wait! Keep handling of your female also to a minimum, as while leopard geckos are hardy animals she is still going through a very delicate process! Once you get eggs, the real patience begins...
She laid!
This is the most exciting part for most breeders, however it marks one of the most difficult waiting games one might ever have to play. Your female looks very skinny one morning you wake up, and you notice her cage is awfully messy and disheveled. There is dirt from her laying box scattered all over - this is a real sign. Once you've found those little nuggets of white gold, it's time for them to go into the incubator.
However you may be wondering, are these eggs any good? Especially with first and last clutches during the breeding season, you are sure to get some infertility. The most popular way of checking to see if an egg is any good would be to candle is. Take a small pen light and shine it through the egg. You should notice a very thin, red bulls-eye at the top of the egg. This is the embryo, and this signals a healthy egg. Be very careful to NOT TURN THE EGG. This could drown the embryo, as it had already attached to the top of the egg shell and cannot be turned. Some breeders prefer to mark the top of the egg with a sharpie or a marker before they even lift the egg from the nesting box, so that if accidental rotation occurs there is no question as to which side is up.
Some eggs will be obviously infertile. Discard any mushy, browning, or moldy eggs. Some eggs you may candle and not see an embryo. Incubate these eggs anyway until you notice any discoloration or mold. Sometimes eggs will surprise you!
During incubation, it's your job to do nothing! Keep the humidity levels within the incubator between 80-90%, keep substrate moist, and check the eggs every few days to make sure there is no denting, mold growth, or most importantly, hatchlings! If everything goes well, hatchlings should emerge within 35-80 days depending on the temperature at which they are incubated. Incubating at 87-89 degrees Fahrenheit will produce hatchlings at 35-45 days, and a high number of males will be produced. Leopard geckos are temperature sex dependent, and therefor within the first 21 days or so, what temperature they are incubated at will determine their sex.
Temperatures between 79-82 degrees Fahrenheit will result in mostly females, and the hatchlings will come between 55-80 days. Never go below 79 degrees Fahrenheit when incubating, as this can result in egg death. Also, never go above 90-91 degrees Fahrenheit, as this could also result in egg death, or very small and unhealthy hatchlings. Some breeders have experienced what is known as Hot Females; leopard gecko females that are highly aggressive and infertile that were hatched at temperatures higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
New Babies!
So at last, your hard work has paid off, and you have begun to see the first signs of life poking their noses through their eggs! It is best to, as the eggs get closer to hatching, check your incubator several times a day. Often times, a baby may be found coming out of its shell. Do not attempt to assist a baby from its shell. This could cause injury. A baby will emerge when it is ready after it has absorbed its yolk sake. When you see a baby is fully out of its egg, there are two options here. In many cases, breeder's prefer to leave a baby resting in the incubator for about a half hour to an hour. However, if there are other eggs in the incubator, it may be best to remove a hatchling so it doesn't disturb the other eggs. Place your hatchling in its new container (this can be a 5-10 gallon tank or a rack system); it is best to keep a hatchling by itself as to reduce stress or risk of injury.
Your hatchling will be very nervous, this world can seem awfully big for such a tiny creature. Handling hatchlings extensively is not recommended. Hatchlings often dart and scream when handled or even startled, so it's best to keep handling to a minimum. Babies will live off their absorbed yolk sake for about 3-5 days. After a baby has shed its first skin, it is ready to eat. I feed small mealworms and extra small superworms. Keep a water dish, shallow and small, in or mist the cage daily to every other day. Hatchlings should be fed every day, every other day at the longest, and will thrive in housing conditions very similar to adults.
So, you've got all these babies! What should you do with them?
Hopefully before you've gotten to this point you've had some previous plans in place for what you'd like to do with your hatchlings. Depending on the number of babies you get, you may have a few ideas and options. Some first time breeders only get a very small number of hatchlings during a season, and may choose to keep all of them to grow their colony or just as pets. Sometimes, the number of hatchlings a breeder gets can be overwhelming, and selling some of the babies may be necessary. There are ways to sell leopard geckos online through community forums and classified ads. You can also seek out local and privately owned pet stores in your area, as sometimes owners are willing to buy reptiles to sell in their stores. One can also rent spaces at reptile expositions to sell your geckos. It's very important to have a plan before you breed any kind of animal what you will do with the offspring they produce, and it's ever more crucial that that plan is ethical, safe, and responsible.
Congratulations! You've done it!
You've completed a breeding season! Often times, the season begins for most females between January and March, and can go as long as till June for early starters and September for later breeders. As mentioned earlier you females will lay one clutch of eggs every 15 to 30 days for multiple months, and you could potentially have babies hatching year round if you time certain females to begin their cycle at a later point in the year! A breeding female requires a break from breeding between her cycles, so she can build up strength and in many cases be able to breed again! Once she has laid so many times, she will produce more and more infertile eggs until she stops producing all together for the rest of the year. If a seasoned breeding female began breeding in January she will be finished for the season by June, and should rest until the following January to ensure she will be in the best condition to breed again. The process will start over before you know it, and the next year will come around again in no time!
