Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I remember reading a minimum weight that a gecko should be before breeding..something like 65g? My two girls right now are only .5g apart, at 40.1 and 40.7. Just wondering.
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2.2 Corn Snakes
1.2 Leopard Geckos
1.1 Crested Geckos
1.2 Green Anoles
1.0 Russian Tortoise
3.2 House Cats
0.0.1 African Millipede

RIP
Alice, Bruno, Lars

i bought a leopard gecko pregnat without knowing last summer she was about45 grams ... yeah i know small gecko but she layed 3 good clutchs out of 7 and of corse should be laying soon ... poor baby really shes on her 8th clutch and its her first time..

that points a question for me though she keeps laying dud eggs ? know should she not stop this soon

LGM says bare minimum is 40g. I've heard most breeders recommend 50-65g. To be honest, I believe it is hard to just throw out a number. My brother in law's female is 6 inches long, but my girl is just shy of 10 inches. I hardly think they have the same weight requirements for breeding. Ok, sorry about the soap box. I'd stick with your feelings on the matter, aim for at least 50-65g and see if that gives her a good tail and the beginnings of arm pit bubbles. Then I'd be ok with it and, of course, extra support for her throughout the process.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Awesome.

You know, my boy is 8 inches and 77.1g..yet he doesn't have any fat pouches at all. What gives! I really ought to take some recent pictures.
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2.2 Corn Snakes
1.2 Leopard Geckos
1.1 Crested Geckos
1.2 Green Anoles
1.0 Russian Tortoise
3.2 House Cats
0.0.1 African Millipede

RIP
Alice, Bruno, Lars

Many females can breed at 40g without incident, but as this is not the maximum size for most females, it will put a stress on them...

Always remember that with young leopards (or any living thing), energy is first and foremost for growth (outgrow the size of as many predator species' mouths as possible). Later in life, energy is allotted to a novel event - reproduction. Energy used for growth is not available for reproduction, and vice versa.

So, if you have a small, younger (less than 10-12 mos.) female leopard, don't breed it until it starts ovulating that first year. Females often lay whether they've been fertilized or not; past the bit of stress the courting male puts on them, it seems a shame to waste those spent energy resources on dud eggs unless a female is so small (

Don't know what happened above... here goes again:

Many females can breed at 40g without incident, but as this is not the maximum size for most females, it will put a stress on them...

Always remember that with young leopards (or any living thing), energy is first and foremost for growth (outgrow the size of as many predator species' mouths as possible). Later in life, energy is allotted to a novel event - reproduction. Energy used for growth is not available for reproduction, and vice versa.

So, if you have a small, younger (less than 10-12 mos.) female leopard, don't breed it until it starts ovulating that first year. Females often lay whether they've been fertilized or not; past the bit of stress the courting male puts on them, it seems a shame to waste those spent energy resources on dud eggs unless a female is so small (

Darn! Think I typed a symbol that this forum read as a cutoff point...

Many females can breed at 40g without incident, but as this is not the maximum size for most females, it will put a stress on them...

Always remember that with young leopards (or any living thing), energy is first and foremost for growth (outgrow the size of as many predator species' mouths as possible). Later in life, energy is allotted to a novel event - reproduction. Energy used for growth is not available for reproduction, and vice versa.

So, if you have a small, younger (less than 10-12 mos.) female leopard, don't breed it until it starts ovulating that first year. Females often lay whether they've been fertilized or not; past the bit of stress the courting male puts on them, it seems a shame to waste those spent energy resources on dud eggs unless a female is so small (less than 40g) that the whole process would be a risk.

An important consideration is, have the husbandry practices allowed the female to reach prime size by the time she starts ovulating (it ain't all up to genetics) ?

Since the common practice is to breed for color traits over all others, some leopard strains have seen a reduction in size attained by the average animal. Some of these females never achieve a size that's safe for breeding. My normal practice is to wait till ~45g for most females. Waiting till 60g for females is overkill. With males, I wait till they're bigger, but that's not a health-related practice. Hope that helps.

i agree with everything the previous posted said but i would wait maybe till next breeding season, by then im sure your females will be the proper size. my females that are 60 or less seem to have a difficult time but the larger ones dont. as for my fatties i had my 50 gramers pop out more eggs their first season then my seasoned breeder leos.

Right on, I was just wondering. My male is 70.1g at 8", the females are 40.1g & 40.7g at about 4.7" each. They have weird tails..one of them shorter, but not a regrow. (that being the rainwater-esque one) She seems to store her fat in a bulb, unlike my male. The darker female isn't eating terribly well..she'll take two to four 4 week old crickets if i'm lucky. She was raised on mealworms, so I may have to go back to those if she doesn't show an improvement. I tossed in 8 crickets last night, and there were still 2 in there after a half hour, but i've only had them for about a month..so..we'll see if they show an improved feeding response.
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2.2 Corn Snakes
1.2 Leopard Geckos
1.1 Crested Geckos
1.2 Green Anoles
1.0 Russian Tortoise
3.2 House Cats
0.0.1 African Millipede

RIP
Alice, Bruno, Lars

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2.2 Corn Snakes
1.2 Leopard Geckos
1.1 Crested Geckos
1.2 Green Anoles
1.0 Russian Tortoise
3.2 House Cats
0.0.1 African Millipede

RIP
Alice, Bruno, Lars