But, I'm going to put my theory forward here and see what everyone thinks. These animals are naturally attuned to a desert setting. The heat, the humidity factors, the nights and the passage of seasons within the deserts they call home. (Not a sand desert though as I've said in previous posts) I'm almost suspecting that the timing of their breeding and laying of eggs is crucial to getting a good count of hatchlings and good eggs that make it through the incubation period. While they may be able to breed all year, there is bound to a period during the year that they are naturally most fertile at. 100 generations (Or however many its been) of captive breeding isn't going to change their natural bodily rhythmns that they spent millions of years adapting to their environments. I find my best successes come between December and April and as the months move onward good results and good eggs taper off despite temps, lighting, etc remaining stable and at my usual norms for them. I do keep leos a bit differently than most people.. though not with their nutrition.. just with their heat and humidity. As a matter of fact, from my regiment, most of my females who lose body condition during breeding are back up to breeding weight in between 2 to 4 weeks and surpassing their previous weight in 6. This is usually limited to 2 or 3 females who produce all their eggs rapdily (A clutch every 2 weeks) I also find that the longer retention of eggs by females seems to effect the fertility alot...3 weeks held by the female and I get healthier eggs than at 2 week retention and formation. Though there is an exception to this rule. My tangerine albino het patternless will throw eggs every 10 days that are fully fertile and has spat out 10 clutches for the past 3 years. One other finding I made is that if you wait for a female to get to 2 years old before breeding her, her egg quality improves dramatically. You don't have the first clutch coming out infertile as often as you do if they're bred at a year old. These are just my personal observations...and I'd be happy to see what other's observations have been. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be discussed among serious breeders and even hobbyist breeders in order to better the quality of the animals we produce. Much of the infertility or dead offspring/eggs has to have something to do with incubation or timing.. one or the other or both. Its a question of gathering data and truthfully, I have only my group to go by so I need input from others to see patterns. Anyone's help in this is welcome, no matter experience as long as you've bred and successfully hatched at least one leo. Input from non-breeders is welcome too from a behavioral and husbandry aspect.
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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)
