Leopard gecko breeding questions

:gj: Raising animals sure helps us appreciate how fragile all life is.

Another example- yesterday, I played paramedic to 4 tiny* pinkie mice. I raise mice (& have for as long as I've kept snakes- decades, lol) & I just happened to look in on them to see how a new mouse-mom was doing- she's been looking like a tennis ball so expected she might have trouble. :O Sure enough, she was overwhelmed & kept setting some pinkies aside without cleaning them up. (pinkies are about .75-1.0" long- hers were on the small side)

Contrary to popular belief, it's not always because they "know there's something wrong with them". So I kept taking those out to do the clean-up for her- wiping away the membranes, making sure their tiny face was uncovered & snipping off the placenta, then stimulating them to breathe by doing tiny & rapid chest compressions with my thumb or finger. They slowly went from blue in color to pale pink, gasping for breath, & wiggling their legs.

When I was sure they could keep up in the pile of pinkies she was already sitting on, I put them back. Of the four I worked on for her, 2 of them took longer, going back to blue & not breathing until I did more compressions- I thought those 2 might not make it. No idea how long they'd been set aside, but in my experience, about 30 minutes can go by where I can still save them- pinkies don't need a lot of air quite yet, if their placenta is still attached.

Anyway, each of them finally turned pale pink & were breathing on their own & were given back to "mom", where she was finally figuring out what her job was, lol. And today, there are no dead pinkies in there- just a big healthy squirming pile of cherry-pink pinkies with white tummies to show for it.

:hijackd: This is way off your topic but I thought you might enjoy it- I think you'll be keeping animals for a long time & you never know which ones you'll end up with. (I sure didn't!) ;)

You're doing great with your geckos...:gj:

Oh wow thats cool! How often do things like these happen with mice?

The lil fella seems to be doing okay. At what point should I move him to the shoebox?

If there's enough space, you can set him up with a shoe box in the incubator. A small smooth hide of some sort and a shallow dish of water. But still keep the paper towel moist until the yolk detaches or absorbs more.
If the yolk detaches and he has a pink nub, still keep him on moist paper towel until it heals over or looks more like an outie belly button than a nub. You can also try a very shallow bath to rinse it clean if it looks a bit dirty.

I wouldn't try to move him out to a rack or tank until the belly is looking good.

Cool, thanks. I may move him into a shoebox in the incubator but then again maybe not because I don't want to stress him unnecessarily. Do you think I should or no?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Oh wow thats cool! How often do things like these happen with mice?

The lil fella seems to be doing okay. At what point should I move him to the shoebox?

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Never know how often- I've raised a ridiculous number of mice- every once in a while, one needs help is is lucky enough for me to be able to help in time. If this happens overnight, obviously it's too late. But I can guess which one might have trouble, & this mom was HUGE & looked over-due, so I was looking in a bit more often. Pinkies look so tiny & delicate, you'd think this wouldn't even be possible, but when you see how rough the moms can be (stepping on them, stealing them back & forth from each other sometimes, etc) the first time, I just figured I had nothing to lose, but I couldn't have been more surprised either, when it actually worked! :D

Sometimes that's all you can do- take your best guess & run with it. ;) Incidentally, that's also my advice for when you should move this little gecko to a shoebox- I've never raised geckos, though I've kept them, so this makes you the "voice of experience" between you & me, hahahaha!

Moving him will be your call. It wouldn't hurt for him to have a small dish of water. If you can maybe fit a little bottle cap in with him for now? Otherwise if you do move him, I would maybe do it at the end of the day so you're asleep and not tempted to peek in on him constantly while he's settling in

Last night I gave him a bottle cap of water. I didn't move him yet. When I checked on him tis morning to refill the water dish, he seemed relatively active, so maybe he'll make it.

That sounds good, I think he will do just fine. Since he's active I think you could move him sometime soon, if you want to be safe you could wait a little bit but you have a lot of options of what you can do.

Great, thanks. The "belly-button" is looking less pink and more skin-color. I'll try to post some pictures of him soon.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=85563


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=85563

What a cute little guy. You could call him Audi. (it sounds like "outie", hahaha! & it actually means "listen!" in German) :D

Haha idk maybe. Or maybe Lucky lol.

I actually named my first crested gecko baby Lucky. Haha, I guess we both have good taste.

Good news! I tried to feed the lil guy last night after he shed, but I wasn't sure if he got anything. But today I just watched him eat his first waxworm! I figured the high fat content would help him gain some weight, and if he refuses plain crickets after this I can squeeze waxworm juice onto them or something.

That's great! I would definitely try to get him onto something healthier but eating waxworms is better than nothing.

Definately. I'm not thinking I'll give him any more, I just wanted him to gain a little weight, and he wasn't fast enough for crickets.

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Definately. I'm not thinking I'll give him any more, I just wanted him to gain a little weight, and he wasn't fast enough for crickets.

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I think that was a good decision- ;)

Also, in the future, if a gecko has trouble catching crickets you can put the crickets in the fridge for a short time (5-10 minutes) and they will slow down. It's perfectly humane (cooling the temperature is the standard way to euthanize inverts) and it will slow them down enough where it's very easy for the gecko to catch them. They will speed back up as they warm up but they would still be slowed down for a while.

Over the past few days the lil guy hasn't been eating a ton, but I think he ate more last night and he pooped and it was larger than it was before. So far, so good! I don't think I told, you yet, but ater his first shed I moved him to his shoebox outside of the incubator.

I've noticed Rex has been staying in his humid hide when he's not exploring/hunting. I think that's because his humid hide is more secure feeling, but I'm concerned he's not getting warm enough since the bottom of the humid hide is thick ceramic, and that he's breathing too much water since it's a humid hide. I'm considering replacing it with a less secure tupperware container so he actually gets warm enough. What do you think?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

I've noticed Rex has been staying in his humid hide when he's not exploring/hunting. I think that's because his humid hide is more secure feeling, but I'm concerned he's not getting warm enough since the bottom of the humid hide is thick ceramic, and that he's breathing too much water since it's a humid hide. I'm considering replacing it with a less secure tupperware container so he actually gets warm enough. What do you think?

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You're actually seeing him, we're not- so I'd say "trust your gut" on this. He has a separate "warm" hide that he's not using? Either find something else that's better suited, or another way to make his warm hide more cozy- ie. put something inside it to make it smaller & see if that helps him want to use it. (I've never used ANY hides that have a bottom- a "floor"- in them- all mine are open bottom because I use UTH.)

How do you use an open bottom humid hide???

Anyway, the humid hide is a Zilla rock lair, and it's small and dark so it would be hard for me to beat that. I think I'll just leave it for now and if I notice he has issues with it, I'll change it. I measured the temp and it's only like 83* inside the rock lair, when I want 90* in the warm hide where he spends most of his time.

The little guy’s tail looks a little strange and has since birth… just the patterning. Is there a specific term for this? Is it unusual?

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery//sh...mageuser=85563

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=85563

Just the aberrant banding? Don't know about Leos (-if it means anything?), but markings in snakes typically vary.

Do you know the genetics of yours- are they all "normal" type? Because here's one with odd tail markings: https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/rep...-geckos/779256

So maybe there is something going on??? But I'm just throwing that out there- not saying there is. I guess you'll "have to" keep breeding these guys to find out? ;)

(Gosh, I'm a "bad influence", hahaha!)

I don’t know the genetics of the female although I know that the male is normal. Usually leopard geckos have four or five bands on the tail and they fade as the gecko matures. Some geckos have different banding/striping, but they are different morphs. But usually they are more pronounced than this. So I don’t know if it’s a specific genetic trait or if it’s just something this individual happened to have and it doesn’t mean he’s any specific morph.

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

I don’t know the genetics of the female although I know that the male is normal. Usually leopard geckos have four or five bands on the tail and they fade as the gecko matures. Some geckos have different banding/striping, but they are different morphs. But usually they are more pronounced than this. So I don’t know if it’s a specific genetic trait or if it’s just something this individual happened to have and it doesn’t mean he’s any specific morph.

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It's most likely (IMO) just a random "nothing" but not sure anyone can say for sure. See what others w/ more Leo experience have to say though?

The other day the next two eggs hatched. I'll get some pictures later. The one has a really interesting pattern.