OK to Breed?

[Fallout32]

Thanks Meg. Yea I think I'll wait until I pick up the roaches and if she has a good appetite for them then I'll go from there.

[lauraleellbp]

She looks great to me.

[StellarAwesome]

If she were mine, I'd breed her. How long has she been sitting at 34 grams? I mean- that's roughly where my geckos seemed to get in two years without bugs being even remotely a regular staple in the diet.

I'd totally try the roaches though and see if she'll take to them, since they can sit in a dish overnight and most likely not escape depending what you set them in.
Also- if you think she is a picky feeder, some folks seem to have better luck with different flavors..

[Fallout32]

She's been at this size for awhile. I just got my new scale that measures to .01 grams, before i was using one with a 1g resolution and she was 32g 6 months ago. I just got the 3.0 CGD which just has the one flavor, but I heard Matt ordered 2 other flavors of it that should be available in a week or so, so I'll probably get one of those to try. I did buy the Pangea Fruit Mix and gave her a half and half mixture but she only took one lick out of the cup that I saw.

Also, I keep my adults in 58 qt tub setups which is 14.5 gal. For a breeding pair should I move up to larger tubs like the 105 qt's which is about 26 gal?

[StellarAwesome]

I keep a pair in the 58qt- which is really more comparable to a 20 gallon than it is a 14 gallon 'aquarium' if you use this little conversion tool:
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/info.../calculate.htm

The 58qt dimensions are 23.18 L x 16.88 W x 12.5 H"

[that_girl]

I think we are overlooking genetics here quite a bit. These types of posts come up time after time. People want to know when it's ok to breed their females. I've always gone with the rule that they must be at least two years old and 35 grams.

Some say diet is an issue. Geckos that eat primarily or only CGD are smaller. That doesn't necessarily make them unhealthy or unready for breeding. I've been breeding crested geckos for five years now only feeding my adult females CGD. I've had no calcium crashes and no thin tails.

Some say where you live is an issue. I live in the midwest and time and time again, it comes up that most geckos in the midwest do not get huge. My geckos tend to be smaller than geckos from other areas of the country, especially warmer areas.

But I think we overlook genetics quite a bit. As a full grown adult, I'm only 5'2", yet I've seen women over 6 ft tall. Yes there are big geckos out there - I'm actually caring for a friend's female who is 60 grams but looks obese. She dwarfs every other female in my collection.

I just went into the gecko room and weighed my girls. Most of them quit laying eggs in September. I have 8 adult females (that I weighed) from 27 months to 5.5 years old. The range was 38 grams to the largest being 46 grams. My girls do not get big.

I bred five of those girls this season. Akua is my smallest girl at 38 grams. She's always been a small gecko. I bred her first when she was two years old and 35 grams. Last week she dropped her 7th clutch of eggs. This is her second year. Her offspring tend to be smaller. Inoki my flagship male is only 35 grams. Her other son sired by a different male looks like he's not going to top 40 grams either. They only eat CGD. Now you can blame the CGD or you can blame me living in Wisconsin, but when are we going to start talking about genetics? I don't think every gecko is genetically destined to get to 50 + grams. And in my opinion, when you see geckos over 50, some of them are plain obese and no longer healthy. How do we know that the genes behind this female don't make her destiny to be a large gecko?

I apologize if this long winded response is more than you cared to hear, but I see no problem breeding a two year old gecko at 34 grams. There are other reasons not to breed that female, such as lack of head structure, but I would say that you could try her in the spring and see what happens. Make sure you give her an appropriate cooling period next year.

[Misskiwi67]

I would really push the bugs the next few months and see if you can trigger a growth spurt. I agree with everyone else, that you don't want to make her fat, but pushing her too early is not a good plan either.