Leopard gecko breeding questions

[Malum Argenteum]

I've produced a few hundred leos, so here's my input.

1) I don't ever ventilate my leo eggs in the incubator. They get a little air when I open the cup to put more eggs in, and I don't put more than 8 eggs in a cup.

2) If the egg is molding, it is likely dead. You can screw around with it, but it likely won't do any good. Good eggs that get some surface mold are said to hatch out fine (I've never had good eggs mold).

3)Pretty high. My first clutch or two of the year are often infertile, or bad in some other way.

4) Possible? Yes, theoretically anything could possibly be contaminated. Extraordinarily unlikely, though, and I've not heard of such a thing (some people still like to mention asbestos contamination, which was due to one mine in Montana that closed in 1990. Vermiculite is now tested for asbestos).

More input:

I use regular vermiculite with good results -- I prefer Burpee brand, but this may be a superstition of mine. It took me a couple years to get good at incubating leo eggs, and I'm sticking with my little rituals. I do prefer a fine vermiculite, which is contrary to most breeders' preference.

I use 80% hydration -- so 100 parts vermiculite to 80 parts water by weight. If you weigh things out it is easier to know how to adjust if, say, you get dehydrating eggs.

I keep my leos together year round. If you get poor results, it may be that the one night stand thing isn't the right idea. Sometimes leo pairs don't like each other right away, and each spring I get some evidence of very physical interactions of them getting the breeding season started -- never any permanent damage.

I used Hovabators for a handful of years, run first by the native thermostat (the one where you bang your head against the wall until the temp holds) and then a Herpstat. The hatch rate was not great -- temp variances in different locations in the incubator are too great for me to get good results, and opening the top lets all the heat out, even though I ran thermal masses in the incubator (jam jars filled with water) Once I switched to a C-Serpents incubator (OMG is it nice; I want to get another one for the living room just to look lovingly at), the hatch rates on all my animals went way up. So, if you don't get good results, consider that the incubator may be contributing.

I don't pay any attention to ovulations or the like. I check the geckos every day or two, and pull eggs as they appear. Some people like to helicopter this sort of thing, but not everyone does.