Leopard gecko breeding questions

Please defer to others who have actually bred these, BUT, I suspect the UTH is safe as long as it's NOT under the entire container, maybe a third or half at the most- & of course, as long as it's controlled by t-stat. Keep in mind that in smaller containers like this, the heat doesn't all stay on one side either. I would think that it's safer to allow options- warmer & cooler areas. And "from where I sit", I'd leave those options 24/7- day & night.

No matter what some say, there is more than one way to safely raise most of these things- as long as you've got the 'big picture' correct, & as long as you're paying attention. I think it's valuable to get multiple opinions for this reason, then keep them all in mind but follow your gut, based on what you're seeing. Like, if you heat half the container with UTH, & they're always on the OTHER (unheated) side, you probably need to tone it down. Obviously, you need to pay the most attention at the beginning- so no harm is done. 90* does sound pretty warm for such tiny creatures to me, but I've mostly raised snakes.

Again, I won't be insulted if you defer to others breeding specifically these creatures- but keep in mind that in the wild they have temperature options too, not just 90* for 24/7.

I've only raised 3 babies so I don't have a ton of experience but I'll share what's worked for me. I keep them pretty much exactly like how you mentioned. I keep them in individual 6 qt shoeboxes, paper towel substrate, and a small water dish (I use bottle caps). I used one main hide and additional half-toilet paper roll "hides" (they don't technically count as hides but using them is better than nothing). I kept the tubs over heat tape covering 1/4-1/3 of the bottom (I figured that the less area is better to create a gradient in a small tub) set to ~90* during the day and a few degree night drop just to keep a cycle. If you don't have the ability to set different temperatures at night then leaving it on 24/7 is perfectly fine. I keep the babies in the same rack as the adults except when placing the tubs I place them so they only cover about half of the heat tape.

For tiny "hides" you might consider raiding your pantry- jello/pudding boxes would also work nicely. ;)

That sounds great! The UTHs I have are pretty small, but even so I'm thinking I'll put them sideways so they cover only about 1/4 of the floor space. Right not I'm calibrating the tstat, and I will try to give them a night drop as well. I may not be able to do it every night because I may get home to late and I won't want to mess around with tstats at 11:30 at night lol.

I'm basically glued to the viewing window of my incubator. Hopefully soon I'll see a dent in the egg!

He hatched!!! I checked this morning and there was a BIIG dent in the egg, to the point where I was a bit concerned, and it turns out, there was no gecko in it anymore. He was hiding in the corner. He’s in his sterilite tub now and looking around. I love that little scream!!!
here’s a link to some pics:
https://ourreptileforum.com/communit...hatched.25231/

That's super exciting!! He's super cute too! Congratulations! Keep us updated with how he does. How are the other eggs doing?

A HUGE Congratulations! :dance: I sure know the feeling & believe me, it never gets "old". :D :gj:

One of the others developed mold and stunk, and looked yellow so I removed it. The other has a bright red glow and is doing great, and Lenetta is due to lay her next clutch soon.

So far the little guy is doing great! He mostly sleeps in his hide but at night he comes out to explore when he thinks I'm not looking. He's already trying to get out of his container. He also hasn't screamed since yesterday, and I think he's warming up to me.

It sounds like he's doing good! Mine tried to get out of the container too, they still do to this day when they see food, lol. They get more and more used to you after time, especially when you're in and out of the container just doing maintenance (like filling the water/food dish). Mine still sometimes scream at me when I accidentally hit them with a water drop while misting, it's kind of cute when they do that, lol.

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

So far the little guy is doing great! He mostly sleeps in his hide but at night he comes out to explore when he thinks I'm not looking. He's already trying to get out of his container. He also hasn't screamed since yesterday, and I think he's warming up to me.

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They scream? I've only known one leopard gecko, & she never screamed? (I'm pretty sure I'm scary enough too.) Mine wasn't a juvenile though- I just read that the little ones are more likely to scream. How cute! I found some audio as well as video:

https://petkeen.com/leopard-gecko-so...ream%20a%20lot.

They only scream very rarely. None of my geckos have screamed except for the 3 babies I hatched (and they've only screamed a few times). Those babies have only screamed when they recently hatched and I scared them or when I'm misting and accidentally hit them.

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

They only scream very rarely. None of my geckos have screamed except for the 3 babies I hatched (and they've only screamed a few times). Those babies have only screamed when they recently hatched and I scared them or when I'm misting and accidentally hit them.

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Considering how tiny they are compared to us, I sure can't blame them. Poor little things! They're so cute.

Yeah, this is the first time I heard a gecko scream in person, and it was only when I touched him the first day, and when I picked up the incubation box. My adults have only squeaked at me when I hit them with a spray bottle when they were still about 5 inches long.

I'm not sure if this is something they usually do, but this one will jump at my hand while screaming. For such small vulnerable animals, they sure have a lot of spirit!

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Yeah, this is the first time I heard a gecko scream in person, and it was only when I touched him the first day, and when I picked up the incubation box. My adults have only squeaked at me when I hit them with a spray bottle when they were still about 5 inches long.

I'm not sure if this is something they usually do, but this one will jump at my hand while screaming. For such small vulnerable animals, they sure have a lot of spirit!

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I noticed that (spirit!) in the video that I linked to- screaming & even trying to bite her hand! Too funny- but that's the only way to survive if you're that tiny.

Still not much except sleeping... he didn't come out of his hide last night that I saw, but I'm not too worried. Can't wait till he sheds tomorrow and eats!

I just misted his enclosure and he immediately started licking up drops of water. I also added a hide with moist paper towels for shedding.

Lil fella is eating and pooping! Urates are normal size, same with poop, so he's eating and drinking enough.

So how much should he be eating??? The night before last he ate like 7crickets and last night he ate like 10 more! I’m not really worried of course, just shocked. None of my adults eat that much in a single feeding, ever!

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

So how much should he be eating??? The night before last he ate like 7crickets and last night he ate like 10 more! I’m not really worried of course, just shocked. None of my adults eat that much in a single feeding, ever!

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That may "sound" like a lot, but he's growing, & if he's eating & digesting okay, I wouldn't worry about it- I think he'd do the same thing in the wild- eat as much as he wants & could catch. And in the wild, little guys like this have to grow fast, before something else eats them.

Maybe someone else who has raised these can add their opinion though? And it helps to know the actual size of the crickets compared to the size of the gecko- I'm assuming these are tiny crickets? And if so, they're pretty digestible.

Awesome, thanks! He ate more last night and his poop was huge. He's definately doing really well, right now not really viewing me as a source of food but more as a necessary evil.

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Awesome, thanks! He ate more last night and his poop was huge. He's definately doing really well, right now not really viewing me as a source of food but more as a necessary evil.

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Just remind him that you're the caterer. :D

Baby leos will usually eat a lot. Depending on the size of the crickets he might even eat up to 15 or so. What some breeders will do (and I've done a couple times with adults, just because I hate dealing with crickets) is put the babies (one at a time of course) in a tub/enclosure without decorations that has dozens of loose crickets in there. The gecko is left in there for about 15 minutes to catch as many crickets as it can. That has the benefit of the gecko eating what it needs, the crickets aren't in the enclosure (which can harm the gecko), and it's a lot simpler to deal with the crickets since they are all only in one area. The gecko should be observed to make sure it's able to catch and eat them and if it doesn't catch enough or it looks like it's still hunting, additional crickets can be fed normally.

Sounds great, thanks! Last night I ran out of store-bought crickets (I had 40 which would usually be enough but he ate wayyy more than I expected) and fed him a few of the ones I bred myself. They're still a little on the small side, but he still ate them.

Other eggs are still doing fine! Lenetta is gravid with her 4th clutch but I'm guessing at least one will be infertile, just cuz she has already laid so many fertile ones with this pairing.

This clutch could still be fertile since females can lay an entire year of clutches from one pairing.

Well, you were right! She laid today and both eggs were fertile! This is the most eggs I've ever had in the incubator at once- 5! The oldest is due to hatch in 5 days, and I candled it last night and there were veins and a dark shadow that moved. Can't wait till he hatches!

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Well, you were right! She laid today and both eggs were fertile! This is the most eggs I've ever had in the incubator at once- 5! The oldest is due to hatch in 5 days, and I candled it last night and there were veins and a dark shadow that moved. Can't wait till he hatches!

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Pretty exciting, but "torture" having to wait & wait...;)

Congratulations! That's super exciting!

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Pretty exciting, but "torture" having to wait & wait...;)

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Yeah, definately. But I guess it's also part of the fun. Just not fun until the egg hatches.

So far there isn't too much new happening with Rex (the hatchling). He is still eating a ton and pooped three times in one day yesterday. shedding regularly, etc. I'm not sure exactly how much he's been drinking, but when I put a water bottle lid in there it's mostly gone like 6 hours later, and his urates have been normal-sized.

Rex is also what I named one of my crested geckos, lol, I guess it's a good name for reptiles. The water could just be gone from evaporation, since leopard geckos don't drink a lot. As long as he has access to water most of the time it will be fine.

I named him that because I love Jurrassic park and Jurrassic world. Delta and echo were also names I seriously considered.

You should have more babies coming so you could use all of them. :D

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

You should have more babies coming so you could use all of them. :D

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:rofl:That's for sure!

So I just was checking on Rex and he didn't move when he saw me like he normally does, and his eyes were open. I think he was asleep, but I've never seen a leopard do that before- sleep with his eyes open. Is this normal? I did clean his enclosure this morning so I guess it could be stress? I don't really check on my geckos much during the day so I guess they could do it sometimes when I'm not looking.

Maybe he's meditating? ;) :D (I've only had one leo & don't recall any sleeping with eyes wide open.)

So the egg hatched but the hatchling is small and has a large yolk sac still. I don't think he was ready. For now I put him on moist paper towels in the incubator. Is the yolk sac just yolk or organs, too? What do I do?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

So the egg hatched but the hatchling is small and has a large yolk sac still. I don't think he was ready. For now I put him on moist paper towels in the incubator. Is the yolk sac just yolk or organs, too? What do I do?

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Can you post a pic?

Sure. He was screaming a little at first but has a lot less strength https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...hp?i=60997&c=3

Some of my geckos will sit in the same spot with their eyes open. I don't know if they are sleeping or what but it's not super uncommon. I think the baby is fine. Just let it be and avoid letting the towels dry out.

I agree ^ ^ ^ let him rest quietly, & keep him on damp towels- when I've had a snake in this condition, they'll drink drops of water from my finger, but I don't know if this guy will or not- but if this takes a while, maybe mist him so he can drink off his face, at least. I think approaching him with your finger to drink would just stress him way too much.

He's not doing much, but I'm not expecting him to of course. Do you think the vermiculite on his yolk sac will be an issue?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

He's not doing much, but I'm not expecting him to of course. Do you think the vermiculite on his yolk sac will be an issue?

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No, I'd leave it alone. (If you sprayed a tiny stream of water to wash it off, you could, but I think that would scare him, & his panic reaction could prove fatal- he could pull himself open.)

Okay, thanks. I already did put him in a little warm water this morning, do you think he'll have issues from that? He didn't really doo much, just sat there.

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Okay, thanks. I already did put him in a little warm water this morning, do you think he'll have issues from that? He didn't really doo much, just sat there.

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Who knows? Wait & see & hope.

I don't think the water would have caused a problem. My recommendation is just to close the lid and check once or twice a day. It's hard to do but it will give him the best chances so he's not stressed. It might take a few days or a week for him to fully absorb the yolk sac. The vermiculite won't be a problem. I think they just drop the outside of it anyways, I'm pretty sure they don't think they absorb/eat it.

Also agreeing with the above. Moist paper towels in the incubator and as little stress as possible. He should either absorb a little more or it will drop off on it's own when the body is ready.

Alright, thank you! Man, I’m worried. I know there’s nothing more I can do, but still. When should he start eating? 3 days after hatching or 3 days after the yolk is finished?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Alright, thank you! Man, I’m worried. I know there’s nothing more I can do, but still. When should he start eating? 3 days after hatching or 3 days after the yolk is finished?

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Not until well after the yolk detaches. Don't offer until then either- if you normally offer 3 days after hatching, my guess would be to wait until 3 days after yolk detaches. See? Always patience-;)

Great, thanks! Last night I checked on him and the yolk was smaller and was detached. I took it out and replaced the bloody paper towels. He did survive the night, so hopefully he can do that 2 more times before he starts eating live food.