How old?

[golfsk8er]

How large does a male have to be inorder to breed with a 9 month 50 gram female can you tell me?
thanks
matt

[sketchy4]

id say dont breed her yet. its still possible for her to get egg bound. wait until she is a little over a year old to start breeding. as for how big the male is, as long as he is around her size they should be fine.

[Tim and Julie B]

First of all the female needs to be a year and healthy, and a male can be mature at 8 months so long as it's healthy also. Don't be reliant on weight to determine health. If you geckos are robust, have thick tails and eat a regular, mixed diet with the proper supplements and adequate heat, that is when they should be bred. The weight thing is stupid, imo. It has nothing to do with breeding or health. Your female will be ready later this spring which is perfect.:D

Julie

[mathaldo]

Hmmm... I was read somewhere that as long as the gecko is over 45 grams (and healthy) it will be okay to breed. I know that breeding at a younger age is not healthy, but 9 months?

As quoted from the leopard gecko manual, "size is more important than age as the primary criterion for a leopard gecko reaching sexual maturity. Leopard geckos generally reach sexual maturity at 35 grams.Many breeders grow their animals to about 40 grams before they set them up for breeding. Depending on the temperature at which they are raised, leopard geckos reach mature size between 10 months (the earliest) and 24 months (the latest).

So, I would probably wait, but only for a month, and for the male question... I'd say a 8+ month old male and weight being 50+ grams.

[Tim and Julie B]

Many things have changed since that book was first published. Every year we discover new things about even the most common exotics, like leos.

I know the book like the back of my own hand. I used to follow it like the gecko bible,:D until I decided to watch my leos day in and day out to really learn about them.

I took two groups of leos, one from 7-10 months of age and another from 1 year to 18 months and bred the females to the same male for two seasons. The first group had noticable problems maintaining weight and had a much longer recovery time after. They also laid fewer clutches. The first group of females were all 55+ grams, but they still suffered more than the second group where the females were of the same weight. If the weight mattered more than age then the two groups would have had similar results. However, they did not.

I had no problems with group 2, they lost no visible weight and their babies hatched bigger as well. Because of this, I always go by age and health, not weight. Weight does not dictate health.

Temperature does not have a direct role in maturity either. Temperature allows for proper digestion, which allows any reptile to eat more often, which results in a faster GROWTH response, but the growth response does not result in early sexual maturity. Each species has a set "age" at which sexual maturity takes place, usually allowing for some early or late "bloomers".

JULIE

[golfsk8er]

Wow thanks again Julie!!!
Matt

[Tim and Julie B]

No problem, glad I could help out:D

JB