Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im curious my girl is 4-5 months old but shes already 50 grams. I read in the leopard gecko manual that at 10 months of age they reach sexual maturity, but shes already 50 grams which ive read on the forum is good to breed.
I guess my question is if shes 50 grams by 5 months does age matter??? should I wait a while?? Or as long as shes 50 grams its ok
Thanks
Jack

WOW she grew fast. size is really all that matters. how big was she when you got her?

I dont think that females are sexually mature at that age. I think it would even be best to wait until the female was 1 year old.
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Josh
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trust him not me, ive never had a female grow that fast.

Well neither have I, but I am pretty sure that females arent sexually mature at only 5 months of age.
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Josh
My Email

Well, I got her around march 1st at petco and she was about 15 grams, They told me she was one-to-two months old so now she should be 5 months old. But my male leo is growing at the same rate, I bought him at 6-7grams from A&M gecko on april 13 and now hes 25 grams so I basically get around 15grams a month.
But anyways should I wait ten months then, I thought weight was all that matters, Is there any way I can tell if shes sexually mature yet or should I just wait???
Thanks
Jack

I would wait until at least 8 months, 10 months to know for sure. I dont know if you can tell when a female(leo) is sexually mature. I would just wait.
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Josh
My Email

Hoe about the male? Im expecting him to be over 40 grams in a month or so around 50 in two months that would make him also around 5 months old at arond 50 grams. Should I wait at least 8 months on him also??
Have you ever had the situation im IN (had a female at weight but too young? did you ever breed one like that??, what happened??
Im just curious as to what would happen if shes not old enough, would simply nothing happen?? could it be damaging to her??
I wont do it unless I find evidence that its OK, but Im curious about it and if you could point me somewhere were I could get more info on this, or if you could give me the info yourself I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
Jack

you can visably sex them, they can breed as young as 3 months old, its just the matter if the female will over power him. Females are a bit different, weight is more important then age but I've never heard of a female breeding younger then 7 months old. I usually breed when my females are 40-45 grams big, but their usually at least 8 months old by then. I say put the two together, if the female is not ready then she will not breed. If she doesn't breed then seperate her and wait another month.
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Bradley Baquial

You should not breed females while they are still growing because she needs to be using her calcium and energies for growing strong healthy bones and organs, not eggs. Breeding while she is still growing could stunt her growth. I believe breeding too young also increases the risk of eggbinding, the eggs would probably not be fertile either. I would wait til she is at least 8 months old, minimum, though if she has good weight I don't think you really need to wait a whole year.

Breeding the male young won't hurt him, though he might not be interested in breeding, or might shoot blanks. It's different for femsale geckos because breeding uses a extraordinary amount of reserves- energy and calcium. Even adult healthy feamles often lose a lot of weight when breeding. You don't want to do that to a yopund growing geckos. It could conceivably kills her or cause permanent damage.

About the production of eggs, I have a question.
I know that sometimes female leo's produce infertile eggs even when not introduced to a male, suggesting they naturaly produce eggs every now and then. But also if you put her with a male after breeding she produces the eggs 'on-command', the breeding by the male induces the eggs to be produced.
So im curious as to egg creation, does it come about from the reasons I mentioned above or others? Am i wrong/right about anything??

The reason I ask is because if the female is of good weight but not of age Im curious as to wether the mating with a male would cause her to produce eggs or if nothing would happen, I believe in humans if a girl hasnt gotten her period and has sex she can't become pregnant, something like this.
I of course dont want to conduct the experiment with my female Id rather qait but Id like to know if anyone else has..

Jack

Yes, it is true that sometimes female geckos will produce infertile eggs without having been introduced to the male, but this usually would happen until she's at least 2 years old, ceratinly well over one year. Breeding itself WILL stimulate a female to produce eggs, even if she is not capable of producing FERTILE eggs yet. I have bred some geckos this year which are ten months old and 60-65 grams and eggs do not yet appear viable. Others have been. But you should not even consider breeding a 5 month old animal. Period.