While leopard geckos can be bred throughout the year, expert herpetologists and exotic vets recommend mating them during their breeding season since they are sexually active during this period. Breeding season for leopard geckos typically runs from January through September or October in the Northern Hemisphere. When your gecko gets gravid during this period, it may lay 6 to 16 eggs.
When it comes to breeding leopard geckos, the time of day is also crucial. Although many people have the wrong impression, leos are not nocturnal but crepuscular.
However, since crepuscular animals wake and sleep in very similar patterns to nocturnal species, leopard geckos are generally more active during nighttime. So, always try to mate leos during the night.
How Do Leopard Geckos Breed?
Since the leopard gecko breeding process is intensive, we’ll try to cover everything from how to identify the sex of a gecko, how to mate them, how to incubate their eggs, and how to care for newborns.
As long as you begin with healthy animals and adhere to the advice below, it shouldn’t be too difficult to reproduce new geckos at home. Here are some insights when it comes to breeding leos:
Step 1: Find the Right Leopard Geckos to Mate and Sex Them
The first thing when breeding leopard geckos is to find suitable candidates for reproduction. The leopard gecko you choose for breeding should:
- Be healthy and physically fit. Breeding takes a toll on leo’s body and requires a lot of energy. For this reason, they must start the journey when they are in tip-top shape.
- Female geckos should be bred when 50-75 grams and older than 18 months. Males can start mating as early as eight months, but it’s recommended that you wait until they are one year old.
- The geckos you choose should not have deformities and should be compatible.
Once you’re sure that your lizards are in tip-top shape, you’ll need to sex them so that you don’t end up pairing animals of the same gender.
A few unique features will tell you whether you are dealing with a male or female gecko. Check these features to determine your gecko’s gender:
- While males and females alike have a row of pores that forms a V-shape near their tails, the males’ V is more pronounced and hollower.
- Conversely, next to the cloaca is a row of pores arranged in a v-shape known as pre-anal pores. While they can vividly be seen in males, they are almost invisible in females.
- Breeders can also tell the gender of the gecko by looking for the hemipenal bulges, which are only present in males.
- If you still don’t know the gender, don’t hesitate to consult the breeder you bought from or the local reptile vet.
Step 2: Mate the Male with Female Geckos
As mentioned earlier, it’s prudent that you mate your geckos from January to September if you’re from the northern hemisphere since this is leos breeding season. For breeding success, experts encourage you to pair one male with two females. This will improve the chances of the breeding being successful.
When introducing the lizards to mate, ensure that it’s the male gecko that’s placed in a female enclosure. While male geckos tend to be aggressive and territorial, they won’t cause any problems when they realize they are in a new territory.
When they notice that they are staying with female geckos, they will try to do things that will attract their attention.
While mating should occur in a standard leopard gecko terrarium, creating a checklist of the conditions you need to provide is prudent. Before placing breeding geckos in a cage, it should have the following:
- The cage should be divided into two segments with a temperature gradient of around 20 degrees Fahrenheit. You should install thermometers on each side to monitor the temperature and ensure it remains within the recommended range.
- There should be a humid hide on the hot and cooler side.
- Install a light and heat source.
- Fresh water and food bowls
- Décor and enhancements to enhance comfort
- Place a reliable substrate that isn’t easy to ingest or tough on the leo’s skin.
- The food you serve them should incorporate calcium supplements with D3.
Although the tank where mating takes place shouldn’t be any different from the typical leopard gecko terrarium, you’ll need to provide a dig box with a moist, warm substrate for egg laying.
Step 3: Egg Laying
Usually, most breeders leave the geckos in the mating cages for the entire breeding season or even after. However, this is discouraged as it might cause unwarranted stress due to competition and fights. Once the mating is over, the male gecko should be returned to its terrarium.
However, as we pointed out earlier, the cage where you put the female gecko needs an egg deposition (dig) box on the warm side of the enclosure.
You can use a small box or container with a 2-inch diameter entrance. You’ll need to line up the box with a moist and warm substrate. Once the female gets gravid and is about to lay eggs, it will gravitate to the dig box and bury the eggs under the substrate.
Leopard geckos have a short gestation period of only 16-22 days. Typically, female leos usually lay a new clutch of eggs after every 2-3 weeks for the entire breeding season. You should be ready for around 6 to 12 eggs. You must pay special attention to the female gecko when it’s gravid and once it starts laying eggs.
Ensure their diet is rich in protein and calcium to restore the lost energy and replenish the nutrient stores. You can add another bowl where you can add a calcium supplement with vitamin D3. Additionally, ensure that there’s clean drinking water in the cage at all times.
Step 4: Leopard Gecko Egg Incubation
Unlike in the wild, where geckos bury the eggs under the sand and leave them to hatch, in captivity, you’ll need to remove the eggs from the dig box and deliver them to an incubator.
Egg incubation is usually the phase that stirs up the greatest worry among inexperienced breeders. The eggs of your gecko will need to be handled with great care because they have a fragile shell at first.
Eggs laid by leopard geckos can only hatch when exposed to humidity and temperatures between 77- and 92 degrees Fahrenheit (25 and 33 degrees Celsius).
Eggs must be placed in a carefully set incubation medium to prevent them from drying up and eventually dying. You can use moss, vermiculite, or even coconut fiber as an incubation medium.
The eggs’ humidity and oxygen levels should be checked and adjusted every few days. Mold or germs can form on infertile or lifeless eggs. Therefore, getting rid of them as soon as possible is crucial. You should continue this until the eggs hatch.
Step 4: Hatchling Care
Baby leopard geckos emerge from their eggs after around two months on average, or more precisely after 35 to 89 days, based on temperature and humidity.
Because of how silently and rapidly this process takes place, it is pretty uncommon to be present for the actual hatching of the egg. There is a good chance you won’t notice the absence of eggs until you see fresh new baby leos taking their place.
Each baby must have a compartment within the larger container in which they are kept. It is possible to put each infant in its own compartment if you use a tank that is 10 gallons in size and has plastic partitions. Give them little bowls of water and insects when the hatchlings are a day or two old.
Please wait until the juveniles are around 7 inches long before transferring them to a terrarium. First, put them in a cage with dimensions of 12 inches along one side, 6 inches across, and 4 inches high.
At the warm end of the tank, the temperature should be 73 degrees Fahrenheit, while it should be 90 degrees Fahrenheit on the other side. Paper towels should be used in place of bedding for young animals.
Final Verdict
From this guide, you have an idea that keeping leopard geckos as pets is very different from breeding them. Not everyone should take it because it requires effort, time, and sometimes specialized equipment.
However, if you feel you are down for the challenge, you can follow the guide and join a fulfilling experience of bringing forth a new generation of leopard geckos.
Although we have covered the fundamentals of leo breading, there are other tricks and suggestions you can get from experienced breeders. By reading this piece, you’ve made the first step towards breeding your geckos. Keep acquiring more information, and you’ll feel confident to reproduce leos right at home.