Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female at 49 grams and a male at 72 grams and last year they produced babies for me. This year, the last 2 times I put them together the interaction has been more violent than I remember it being last year. He will nip at her, and she will whip him back with her tail, and I've also seen her nip back at him. No injuries have resulted as I've removed him pretty quickly. Is it normal for it to be this violent? As an aside, the female has large fat reserves present behind her forearms, and the other day I noticed her doing the tail 'waving' thing, which I thought were both good signs that she's ready to breed again. All advice is appreciated. Should I just let them go at it?
As an aside, both are eating like horses and are otherwise very healthy. I'm going to include a pic of her from last year-check out her tail. According to the breeder who sold her, the tail on this gecko is mutated and has been like this since birth. (It is shorter than normal, but not a regenerated tail.)

yes mating can be very violent. normally its the male that is violent but when the female fights back that normally means she isnt ready. that is what i have noticed with my guys anyways, and this is based on more then a few pairs not just one. also no offense or anything but 49m grams is kind of small to be breeding.

Thanks... I'm going to try and post a better pic of the female, because I believe that her weight is not an accurate indicator of her size, partially due to a tail that is shorter/scrunched... but perhaps that really doesn't matter... she has large fat reserves behind her arms and eats like a horse. I think I'll take your advice and try and get her to 60 grams before I try again.

Thanks!

Just out of curiosity, are you wanting to duplicate the shorter tail in offspring? It could be a developmental thing rather than genetic. If it turns out to be genetic and recessive then you might end up unknowingly passing the mutation on in hets. Maybe not so desireable if you intend to share your offspring with other breeder-minded folks.

Just asking... not condemning...

N.F.

you know, i hadn't really thought about that. i have a juvenile from last season (1 of 3) that hatched, and its tail is normal. the female was purchased at the NARBC chicago, and I don't actually recall if the breeder specified that this was genetic or developmental, just that it had always been like that and was not a regenerated tail. in all honesty, the animals were purchased as pets and I later decided to breed them for the sake of the hobby. (i have been breeding corn snakes for a couple of years now, and there is a local reptile swap where I know I can sell babies to buyers.) i really am going to get another post up soon, because the more I look at my male (a big guy at 72 grams) and realize his tail is giant... i'll include one of the old pictures of the male here...
new pic to come soon...