How long do i have to wait for my cresteds to breed?

Discussion in 'Rhacodactylus (Crested) Geckos' started by Gary Putman, Oct 19, 2011.

  1. Gary Putman

    Gary Putman New Member

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    Hey all!

    I recently baught a breeding pair of cresteds and every where i look to see when they will start breeding i see nothing as far as how fast the female with produce an egg or signs that show that they are in breeding mode. Iv have a lay box set up for a week now since they have been together. im just wondering how long before i get a egg? im only going to let her purposly breed one egg then ill seaperate them untill i finish building there perminate area in the house. I understand they also do the whole sperm retention thing but im really anxious to get this project started. Any help? Thanks.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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    Hey Gary = )

    First up: Make sure your animals are ready to rock: Females should be at least 1 year of age (preferably 18+ months) and at least 35 grams in weight. Males usually can breed as early as 8-10 months of age and 25 grams and be fully capable of breeding a couple of females.

    They don't really have a noticable "breeding mode", actually most of my males jumped on the female within minutes of introducing them into the females enclosure. If they are of size and together, they usually do the dirty work on their own at some point. I often heard mine breeding in the evening several times throughout the week.

    Once the male is introduced, you can start expecting to see eggs within ~4-5 weeks give or take some time. Females become somewhat restless and will begin searching for an area to lay. I often know that a female has laid because she will be laying on top of the lay site for several hours after laying her eggs (typically). If you can keep a calender going, you can keep pretty good tabs on approximate lay dates. Most females will continue to lay eggs in cycles every ~4-5 weeks or so and can lay up to 7-9 clutches a year on average. Don't be discouraged if she only lays one egg in her first clutch or two, most virgin females produce single egg clutches on their first breeding efforts.

    I'd say on day 25 onward from pairing, start checking the lay box every morning for eggs. Then move these into the incubation container (would you like me to elaborate on incubation?).

    If you aren't seeing any copulation and want to encourage breeding, try separating them and playing around with temperature fluctuations and mistings. Take a few weeks while they are alone and drop temp a bit and mist only 1x daily - then after a few weeks warm things up a little to the upper 70's (you can even create a SMALL basking area of up to 84 degrees) and mist 2-3x daily lightly to give a sort of false optimal season. Then try introducing them again.

    As for sperm retention; your kind of out of luck on only aiming for one clutch. It's possible she may only lay one fertile one, but she may continue to lay several fertile clutches...maybe even continue to lay infertile clutches (I have a female who lays the occasional infertile clutch and hasn't been with a male in 3yrs). So always keep a lay box available to prevent egg-binding from inadequate laying location.
     
    StikyPaws312 and яowan.ω like this.
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Gary Putman

    Gary Putman New Member

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    Yes elaborate on incubation. And that were sold to me as proven breeders. I made the lay box out of a red plastic container. They weigh in perfectly. Idk whats going wrong. Maybe ill try the separation idea. If she has a bad clutch or two its ok i just wanna hatch 1 baby lol. To see that it works and with my work space gets arranged ill buy a few more and get projects going. I was just under the impression this would all be a little quicker... i guess not.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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    Keep in mind copulation can be quite brief, theres a possibility they may have bred or are breeding but just doing it while you are asleep in the dead of night. Sometimes they are noisy and obnoxious about it where the male will pursue the female around the cage, lots of vocalization, etc and other times the female complies readily and things go much more swiftly. It can last only a few minutes and be done.

    Also, females really don't get obvious signs of eggs - they plump up a touch and a keen eye may allow you to see em in the abdomen days before laying but its very subtle.

    As for incubation, here's what I always did:

    Get a plastic container - I always used the 6qt plastic shoebox containers by sterilite, but you can use virtually any kind of sealable container. Some even use deli cups.

    Drill 1-2 holes on the sides of the container, toward the top. Don't drill them on the lid, you just want some slight cross-air ventilation from the side...maybe 1/8" diameter or so nothing major. Some breeders even opt to use no ventialation holes and just lift the lid off every few days to check on the eggs and replesnish fresh air in the incubation container. I also check on the eggs about 1-2x weekly and weigh the incubation container (I'll elaborate on this momentarily).

    Temperature of the incubation container should be kept in the mid 70's ideally. I've heard success from ranges anywhere inbetween 70-80 degrees F, where the lower end produces geckos that have longer incubation times and hatch slightly larger offspring out of the egg. There is no temperature dependent sex determination with this species; and you can expect to see the eggs hatch in 60-90 days depending primarily on temperature. It would be best to avoid keeping things too hot though, warmer temps may equal fast incubation, but also slightly smaller and more delicate babies.

    As for the incubation container itself, weigh it out.

    Then add about 2-3" of Perlite or Vermiculite.... weigh this within the container.

    Then add water.

    You want a mix of 1:1 water to perlite by WEIGHT. You can keep it a little drier too.. a lot of breeders have good success with 2 parts water to 3 parts dry substrate, even as as 3:4. I always kept mine somewhere in the 1:1 - 2:3 range of water to dry substrate by weight and had great success. I would weigh it weekly or so and add a little water that was lost by evaporation to level it out.

    So, for example: If your container weighs 200 grams, and you have 100 grams of dry perlite... I would add 100 grams of Perlite and up to 75-100 grams of water. Your total container now weighs 375-400 grams depending on how much water you added. When you go to weigh it, if you lost a couple of grams... pour a little water in the container. Don't pour it right on the eggs, just in a corner or something to get the water weight back up. You do not want the eggs to actually come into contact with water.

    After collecting eggs from the egg laying container, do not rotate them. Pick them up exactly as laid and place them into the perlite. I just put a little thumb print in the perlite and place the egg within it to give it a place to settle and be unwilling to roll while moving the container around.
     
    StikyPaws312 likes this.

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