This is only my second year breeding leos. I do have a lot of experience with Colubrid snakes though. This helped because not only did I know how to incubate eggs by warming them, I also had good experience keeping them cool as well. High temperatures can be killers for both leos and snakes.



One difference that I noticed is that leo eggs tend to have a very narrow tolerance with regard to humidity. I never had a problem with snake eggs and humidity, but this is what I needed to work on with leos. I have found that if you check your eggs daily then it is better to error on the side of too dry. It is very easy to notice a dented egg and mist the substrate. However if mold starts it is nearly imposible to save the egg.



With regard to fertility, I do think that a good diet from birth, as well as waiting till the second year to start breeding is very helpful. Also it seems important to let the male breed with the female multiple times, just like with snakes and humans for that matter.



My first year I only breed 2 females, I got 8 eggs from one and 9 from the other for a total of 17 eggs. Both of their first clutches, 3 eggs total, were infertile, and I lost 7 more eggs due to my humidity being too high. I did have 1 egg from the first 11 hatch shortly after. I reduced the humidity in the incubator and switched to perlite. After that 5 of my last 6 eggs hatched with the 6th being infertile.

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