Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been looking into starting a breeding project and was looking for some advice. My main consern is how/where do I sell the babies? I dont want to end up with a huge collection of geckos. I have thought of the classifieds on kingsnake.com but with me not being a professional I thought I might not get any people intrested in some random guys posts. What do other people do?

One advantage with crested geckos is they don't lay huge clutches like a bearded dragon would. A single female crested gecko lays maybe 6-10 eggs per year. Each clutch typically has 2 eggs (sometimes they lay only one, but 2 is most common. I haven't heard of any laying more than two at a time). Crested geckos are prolific, and could lay eggs every month non stop...but if their temperatures are lowered they will stop laying eggs (always recommended to do to give females a break and avoid calcium crash).

So, with a single pair, not too much danger of being stuck with a whole bunch of geckos.

To find homes for the babies, if you do decide to breed, and since it sounds like you don't want to breed a whole bunch of females (best way to ensure you don't end up with too many unwanted babies, is not to breed many females), not much point in advertising to the entire country/world. If you don't have any way to ship, it does limit your options (most people won't want to pay $50 for shipping (guessing at the rate...but it is pretty high even with small packages) for a lizard they may only paid $50 for.

Advertise locally...using free online ad sites (ie Craig's List), local reptile organizations, some pet stores may have a bulletin people can post ads on (check with your local pet stores..) Some pet stores will be willing to buy baby at whole sale prices as well.

When I was breeding crested geckos the above is pretty much what I did (minus the pet store part) to sell my babies, and later my adults. It may take a few months to sell them but they do go. Crested geckos are quite popular and being a great beginner's pet, it isn't typically hard to find them homes. The fact they are very low cost to house and feed (anywhere from $10 to $200 depending on how much a person wants to spend on caging) gives them a plus over other common beginner reptiles (ie leopard geckos). That and the bonus of being able to feed crested geckos exclusively on a powdered diet (no crickets!) makes them appealing, especially when somebody in the household doesn't like the idea of having bugs in the house.

Oh, one down side with breeding crested geckos, is the babies should be at least 3 or 4 months old...before selling. This makes sure they are well established and less fragile. Very young babies can stress out (dropping tails etc) if eager new owners try to handle them too much...or are not meeting their requirements exactly.

When I had these wonderful geckos, I didn't need to provide any additional heat (apartment is nearly constantly between 73-76F, maybe reaching 80F tops during summer...or 70F during really cold days in the winter) These ranges are idea for keeping crested geckos. Also, their eggs can be successfully incubated in the same temperature range, so I didn't use any incubator to hatch the eggs. I just set a deli dish on a high shelf and checked humidity every week...I had hatching in about 60-63 days.

Babies I kept in dry goods storage containers i bought at the local dollar store (approx. 14"tall, 4" thick (at top) and 6" long. Drilled a few holes along the top for ventilation...put in fake plants and paper towel for the substrate, pop bottle cap for water and the crested gecko diet. Perfect setup for one or two hatchlings for 2-4 months.
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PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

The Crested Gecko market has decline greatly over the last year. Prices have dropped by about 40-50%.

There are some interesting threads going on a couple of the Crested forums. I would definitely go check those out so you can get an idea of the big picture.

Will

I went with a Jackson's Chameleon project in stead. Thank you for the help and information though.

Tom