Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I just (finally) got a scale this weekend and went through today and weighed some of my adults. Out of thirteen adult geckos, I only have three that are over 35 grams. The others are all just as long, but leaner.

I have been breeding all of them for a year and a half now, thinking they were over 35 grams. Has anyone else had this problem? I don't think some of these females are EVER going to hit 35 grams, they just arent built that heavy. Even out of the three males I have (2 of which I got from another breeder at their current weight/ size, and who he was using for breeding) 2 of them aren't even 30 grams. I have had really great production from all of these Cresties, and very healthy babies. None of them have shown signs of Ca2 problems, ect.

All of them were rested over the winter, with egg production stopped for at least four months. They eat only TRex Crested Gecko diet.

Has anyone else had similar findings? Are some Cresteds like some people- smaller and more lightly built? I feel awful now thinking that I have been breeding them too light, but to all appearances these are adult animals. They are easily as big as other I have seen from other breeders.

Thanks for the input,

Genevieve
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5.13.12 Crested Geckos
1.1.3 Gold Dust Day Geckos
0.1.0 Presa Canario

I too bought a scale recently and weighed all my animals. From my understanding, most of the "heavy" breeders usually weight for a yearling and the females to be over 35 grams. I haven't heard of anyone that had females that just weren't getting up there. And if they did have some "runts," I'm not sure they would breed them. Breeding already puts alot of stress on the females, so I would imagine a couple of grams would make a pretty big difference. On that note, my oldest female (8 mos) is already 32grams on an empty stomach, with my oldest male (same age) being 26grams, I believe. I don't imagine them having any problem getting up to 40grams in the next 4 months. Hope this helps.
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1.1.4 Crested Geckos
0.1.0 Tremper/Bell Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Golden Gecko
1.1.0 Gargoyle Gecko
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon

I have some males which I intend to breed someday that steadfastly refuse to hit 35 grams, and while I know it's the females who need to weigh 35 gm, I've also had some bad experiences with smaller males getting "whupped" by larger females, so now I wait until I know they can hold their own. I had one gorgeous female I got from Anthony (named Toni, in my album) go from 16 gm in December to 34 gm 2 weeks ago! They seem to do that, plateau and then spurt! Personally, I'm in no hurry; I'd rather give them all the time they need since I plan to have them for a long time.
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Terri
5:9:5 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildFire, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, Randi(y), Shine, Squeak, & Bling. (last 2 just hatched)