Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been wondering this for a long time and I really want the input of all leo breeders... novice or advanced. I've been breeding leos steadily now for going on 5 years in May. There is however a catch. The first year I had one female and managed to hatch 4 babies with the rest of the clutches going bad. (6 more clutches as a matter of fact) The second year was a horrible year because my leos started breeding right as I was moving and again the next season the same thing happened. Both those years I only hatched out 3 hatchlings from 2 female's worth of eggs. 8 clutches apiece for each female both years. Anyway, this year has been my best year so far but still not as good as I thought it would be. Its getting better though most of my females are still too young to breed. I have 5 breeding females at this time... next year that will increase to 12 depending on what I keep from my hatchlings this year to go into my projects. I've bought at least 4 more this year as well to add to it... but I still have a problem. 3 of my females have laid probably near 30 eggs so far between them. I have hatched out 8... and lost 2 of the hatchlings. One to a ruptured abdomen from where his egg absorbtion didn't complete before he hatched and he pulled his intestines out tugging against the egg yolk still caught in the egg and another to aspirating a bit of jumpstart I was giving it due to the fact it didn't absorb any of his yolk and was weak from the start. To me this seems like a very low ratio of successful hatching but its been better this year than preceeding years. I modified some of my incubation issues so that has a bit to do with it. I've gotten a hovabator to finally hold a steady temp by running it through a rheostat.. constant power heating the coil even when the light isn't on..

To my point and enough rambling. I'd like to see what kind of ratios others get who breed here. How many healthy hatchlings that live past 2 weeks per number of fertile eggs recieved, since all my eggs have been fertile save for 3 that I've lost. Many are usually a month into incubation and aren't disturbed in the least save for regular air exchange in the incubation tubs, when they start molding though this year its been different. They don't really mold they just start to collapse and shrivel or turn transparent and die. I cut open each egg that does this and there's always a small embryo in it...My other hatchlings tell me its not really my incubation thats doing it or humidity problems since I have all those readings for each small tub of eggs that are in the incubator.

So, the point of this poll? For all the breeders out there, I'm asking the question, how many successful hatchlings do you get compared to number of eggs lost during incubation, not counting the ones that were never fertile. (Fertility of course dependant on being able to candle the egg and look for the bullseye shaped embryo after they've been laid or within 3 days of such) I'm not really looking for exact numbers. More like a general ratio or percentage.

Thanks for the input to any and all who answer this. I'm curious... and rather trying to figure out what my own problems may be.

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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
5.11.Leopard geckos (1.2 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 0.3 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, and Aris), 1.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.2 Normals)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)

I know my info won't help too much.. but figured I would put in my results as well. Last year was our first year breeding, as well as our leos. We had 5 clutches for a total of 10 eggs from our single pair. All but the last 2 were fertile. The first clutch got right up to a week or so before hatching and died in the egg, they were fully formed. We lost all others at a day or two to a few weeks into development. But that loss was due to a temp spike and not turning on our air conditioning in time, the hovabator was in a closet that got too hot. Temp inside incubator got to above 100F. Within a few days all eggs had ceased growing. I realize now that I should have dropped the temp slower, and that the drastic rise and fall (I moved the incubator to a cooler location to try to lower the temp) was the reason for their death. So I am 0-10 last year. Hoping for a better year this year.

My male Piccolo as a youngin, he is dbl het for patternless and rainwater albino as is his mate.

For me it seams as if they do better with age and health. First year breeders are at about 40% betwen infertile and stilborns. The majority of mine are at about a 90% hatch rate. Making sure you have a reliable incubator and well nurished animals will help alot with your stats.
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Brian
www.thewindycitygecko.com

well i dont have mutch eperience with breeding but i have 3 babies and 5 healthy eggs on the way. these are all from 2 females. i think maybe 2 eggs went bad and the other stayed healthy. correction i think 3 eggs

Well, this will be my 3rd year breeding leos. First year I got nothing. Plenty of eggs were laid, but due to my own idiocy w/incubators, not a single one hatched. Last year, I bred four females and hatched successfully about 20 babies. I had at least 6 infertile eggs, and several others that molded tho fertile. Also had 2 that hatched but didnt make it (one had a stomach lump and never ate, and one had underwent a temp spike and was seriously deformed). Hoping for similar numbers this year, though I have not started. I also tend to start the season late, havent even bred anyone yet this year.
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1.0 Hypo stripe, Het Rainwater from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino (Cloud)
1.0 SHCT hatched by me! (Sunny)
0.2 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko (Beatrice, Pepper)
0.1 Normal (Freckles)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko (Rainbow)
0.1 Tremper Albino (Leucy)
0.1 Jungle hatched by me! (Hazy)
RIP Peaches, Ghost, Bill
Hatched: ~30
Available:
1.0 aberrant m, 0.1 pastel F, 11 month male circleback tang

I have some awkward ratios as well. I have been working with leos for about 4 years, only breeding them for 2. The first year I had 12 eggs from two females. I had 3 eggs hatch total, the others never hatching though appearing fertile when candled. All lived and have good homes. Several months later, I had two new additions and one female produced 8 eggs, all of which hatched no problems and that was awesome, I have never had a gecko like that before. This year so far I have had 10 eggs total, 5 girls, all about to lay thier second clutches. None of the eggs have hatched, they havent even been in the incubator long enough yet.lol. I had one girl lay her eggs in the water dish and they even look great, they are full, turgid, and appear fertile when candled.

Phil

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.