Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, back in January I got a pair of sikorae with regen tails from Neil Meister up here in Canada and they were probably 6 months old or so. Anyways, they are probably around a year old now. About a month ago I put them together in a new exo terra viv, one of hte bigger ones and just decided you know nature will take its course. I just looked at the temps in the viv and I noticed that they were copulating, wish I had my camera, it's in for repairs. I know they are fairly young and I wasn't expecting any breeding till winter or spring 2006, should I be worried about the female? I know all the dizzle dazzle about boosting calcium now and stuff but will she be okay. So basically what I'm asking is has anyone ever had a gecko die from being bred to early? They are both around 5 or 6 inches with their little stubby tails and I knoew this is adult size. The female is twice as thick as the male though. Shesh i'm kicking myself right now, if it was 5 months from now I'd be crapping my pants but i'm worried now. Any advice for me? Thanks, much appreciated. Oh ya, they are sikorae sikorae.

Mike

As with any animal.... breeding too young can be a problem if consistently bred over the course of their life time. However its is just a romp in the bush, it shouldn't be a problem. I would suggest, since you are concerned, is to separate them and let her grow up some more.

if she consistently breeds from this time on, she could have a shorter life span and not develop 100% as a female. compare the size of r. ciliatus when 1 is bred at 1 year and another is bred at 18-24 months. Total differnce in size of the animals as well as in the overall health of the offspring.

Jason

as jason said about ciliatus. if breed at 25-30 grams the maximum weight a female will grow will be about 30-35 grams and that's if you're really trying. if you wait another six months 40-60 grams is fairly common so the size and maturity of the animal is important.

Thanks for the replies guys. Jason, I know you keep Sikorae, flamed something is telling me you do too (if you do then you can help me out here as well)and I'm wondering how much your adult female sikorae sikoraes weigh? My female is 5.25 inches long with a stubby regenerated tail and weighs in at 22 grams on an empty belly.

Mike

I don't weigh my geckos for the most part. I tend to eye ball them pretty well. But anyway, I keep a sikorae sameiti female and a sikorae sikorae male. My female is almost 8 inches long (original tail ), while the male is about 5.5 inches long (regrown tail).

Jason

it depends on their strain, the weight to legnth ratio. my male and my one female that both have orange bellies are just under 6in and theyre pretty slim bodied. my other female is over 7 in and shes real heavy and wide. her belly barely has any color and her tail doesnt come to a point, its squared off at the tip unlike my other two which are more pointed. my female sameiti just started regenerating her tail when i got her but its about an inch long now, and shes about 6in. she ll be well over 7 in when her tail grows back, but her snout is pretty long and narrow compared to the others. that sameiti can eat five crickets or super worms every night. shes almost as heavy as my other female but the sameiti has a more slender body w/ bigger feet.

Well I talked to Neil the other day and if turns out they are a little older then I thought and he thinks that they would be old enough to breed! So I'm just excited now haha.

Mike