How many of you get year-round breeding?

CHRISANDBOIDS14 · 03-01-05, 03:20 AM

Howdy,

Just wondering how many here get year-round breeding with their cresteds? I know a couple people that do, and some that get once a year breeding. Thanks.

C.

CDN-Cresties · 03-01-05, 06:23 AM

This is a quote from Allen Rapashy's The Perfect Gecko that was in Reptiles Annual 2002.

"If kept at optimal conditions, females are capable of producing up to 18 eggs per year, with the average being around 12"

little_dragon_ · 03-01-05, 09:18 AM

I think it's 18 clutches!

And that would be a good way to kill your female.

HeatherRose · 03-01-05, 10:27 AM

I think he's asking if our cresties breed all year... (maybe?)

Mine breed all year, but I find that breeding and egg production tend to slow down a ton in the winter... Of course, I don't keep the females in with the males all year, I rotate everyone around so that the females get nice long 'breaks' in their own cage with all of the food that they want to themselves.

CDN-Cresties · 03-01-05, 12:09 PM

I keep my cresties seperately all year. The only time I put them together is for breeding. I leave males in the female cages for a month or two when its breeding time, depending on how many pairs I decide to use.

little_dragon_ · 03-01-05, 12:12 PM

I have my females seprate from their mates right now for a rest 3 month rest. I'm not really sure how good the females are at retaining sperm. When you have yours together for a month or two. How many clutches do you end up with as a result?

CDN-Cresties · 03-01-05, 12:23 PM

My only time doing this was last year and I started a bit late. I believe I got three clutches, so 6 eggs from each female. I think that the winter months slowed down egg production to nil. Either that or the females didn't have any sperm to work with.

Im almost positive that it was the winter months because my friend housed a trio together and his females egg production stopped at the same time as my females.

little_dragon_ · 03-01-05, 12:33 PM

I'm guessing April they will start laying eggs again.

Skinnychondro · 03-01-05, 01:10 PM

I had a record year last year from my one female. She produced 14 fertile eggs for me. I'm giving her a break this year and will breed a couple other females. She started laying in February of last year and dropped her last 2 eggs just before Christmas. She is 3 years old and the biggest crested I have.

Cheers
Jamie

little_dragon_ · 03-01-05, 01:31 PM

My record so far is 20 if the next 2 hatch next week!

CHRISANDBOIDS14 · 03-02-05, 10:58 PM

Yes, Heather, I was asking if peoples cresteds breed year-round(if they are kept together). I dont have any yet, but I would like to get some. Thanks everyone!

C.

Betty Miskie · 03-03-05, 07:47 AM

We separate our males from our females until Nov/Dec. We then add a male to whatever group of females we want to be paired with and when the females start to lay we take out the male and he will have a long rest until the fall again. The females start to lay sometime in January (usually) and stop laying when they chose to which can be from 3 clutches to our record last year of 8 clutches. (All 16 babies were good and healthy from that one female) So the cresties definitely retain the sperm. If one or two of our females only give us 6 eggs, so be it. They get a longer rest as they are not with a male until the fall/winter again.
Betty

DragnDrop · 03-03-05, 08:52 AM

If conditions are right, females can lay themselves to death. Cooling, shorter light cycle and less food will imitate the natural conditions of winter, so they'll stop producing eggs.
I keep my pairs together all year long and the girls still take their 3-4 month rest every year. They get natural daylight, so by October they've slowed down, no more eggs after September. They rest until the first eggs show up in January or February.

rhacodactylus · 03-05-05, 12:09 AM

I have had my first colony since 1998 and the male and 3 females have never been separated since. I do get breeding all year round but there are light and temperature changes in the room they are housed induring the winter months. The heat and light in this room is controlled separately from the rest of the house and I allow it to become cooler in the winter months. This does seem to slow down egg production a bit but I do still get eggs in the winter. All 3 females in this cage are healthy and the only time I had a problem was when my first female laid her first clutch in 1999 and I noticed tremors in her extremities right after laying which is a sign of Ca deficieny. These were allevated by giving her liquid Ca. I also keep a fluorescent UVB bulb on a 12h/12h day/night cycle on all my breeder cages. I have never had any health problems in any of my crested colonies kept under the same conditions.

A proper diet is also an absolute must if the gecko is laying eggs all year round. The crested gecko fruit recipe that was floating around this forum a few months ago is is the latest version of one I started using about 7 years ago and it has mutated over the last few years as I have talked to other breeders in the US and Canada and tried some different combinations. The one that was posted a few months ago is my current recipe and one that I give to people who ask for it when they buy crested hatchlings from me.

Other people who successfully breed cresteds have their own recipes and techniques but this is the one that I find that works very well for me with my cresteds. Hope this info helps.