The Leopard Gecko Blog

About time for some updates

Stephen — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:08:03 +0000

I haven’t been updating this blog in a long time. But plan to start adding new content soon. I’m heading up to New Hampshire today to attend a Reptile Expo. Plan to take some pictures of the geckos there and … Continue reading →

Moved this blog

Stephen — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:56:34 +0000

I have moved this blog and lost some of the old photos.

Will try to get some new ones up soon.

New Pictures of Halloween and Midnight

Stephen — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:52:04 +0000

Today I took some new pictures of our tangerine leopard gecko breeding pair. Halloween, the male is the hypomelanistic one. Midnight is darker and more plump. Both are very sweet and friendly.

Halloween and Midnight

Two More Breeding Projects

Stephen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:34:10 +0000

Introduced 2 pairs of leopard geckos yesterday. The first are 2 albinos that were sold to me as Bell albinos. However, the folks at geckoforums.net thought that they were plain old Tremper albinos. My plan is to breed the male, Winston, with Bella, the possible Bell albino, and to breed him to a known Tremper albino.

If both crosses result in albino offspring, then he is a Tremper, and Bella is also a Tremper. If Winston and Bella are Bells, I will get albinos with this cross and no albinos when I breed hom to a Tremper albino.

My female Tremper albinos are not yet big enough to breed, so that cross will wait a few more months.

The second breeding project is with 2 tangs. I don’t have a detailed history of their genetics. I got Halloween (the male) at Petco and the female I picked up at the Manchester NH reptile expo back in September. She was a very dark juvie and the person selling her didn’t know why. I thought she was cool and I got her for only $10. We named her Midnight, because she was so dark.

As Midnight has matured she is a nice light tangerine color with high contrast dark, bold spots of black.

These picture are from when this pair was younger. Will get some new pictures up soon. I promise.

Feb 4 Update: one egg a dud

Stephen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:15:21 +0000

It has been 10 days since Lemon Drop laid 2 eggs. I looked at them this morning and one was starting to mold. When I touched it, I noticed it was soft. The other egg is nice and firm though. I removed the dud, spritzed the perlite with a little water and put the ‘good’ egg back in the incubator. I had opened the container on Monday to give it a little oxygen but didn’t touch the eggs at that time.

Lemon Drop looks like she will lay another clutch in a few days. Fingers crossed for fertile eggs.

First Eggs of 2010

Stephen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:16:35 +0000

Last week I determined that my RAPTOR female was gravid. Her belly was big and I could see 2 eggs. I put her back together with Henry, the RAPTOR male. They had been together for a week in early January.

After making sure the egg-laying hide (lay box) had sufficient moist coconut fiber, I turned the incubator on.

Sunday night Lemon Drop was in the lay box digging. But Monday morning she was out walking around. I removed the lay box and carefully dug around finding 2 nice white eggs.

Set up a fresh Rubber Maid container with 60 grams of pearlite and 48 grams of water (1:0.8 ratio by weight). This is the leopard gecko incubation method recommended by Albey. Placed the eggs in and put in the incubator at ~82 degrees.

Hopefully they are fertile and there will be 2 beautiful RAPTOR hatchlings in 7-8 weeks.

Happy New Year

Stephen — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:37:59 +0000

I know, I’m a bit late with the “Happy New Year”. I’m also a bit late with an update to this blog.

Well I’m back and planning to make more frequent updates in this new year.

Well, the geckos are doing great. Growing and getting more beautiful. I guess I never finished the story of the young female that laid a couple eggs. The eggs were infertile. I incubated them for a few weeks, and the second clutch of eggs as well. But all the eggs eventually shriveled up. She didn’t eat for a while and I was worried but eventually get her appetite back and has gain weight.

The pair of Bell albinos that I bought at the reptile show in Manchester, NH in September may not actually be Bells. I tooks some pictures with closeups of the eyes and posted them on GeckoFourms.net and the consensus was that they were probably both the more common Tremper albinos. I will probably need to cross the male to a known Tremper female and to the female that I bought as a Bell. In the future I am not going to trust breeders at shows unless I know of there reputation beforehand.

Breeding Season 2010

I plan to start breeding Leos this season. I bought a used incubator so I am all ready. I just need breeding pairs.

Many of the Geckos I bought after August ’09 will not be ready to breed for a few more months. However, my RAPTOR pair are 9 months and are large enough now. So I put them together last week. The female, Lemon Drop, didn’t seem interested and so they have been separated until I determine that she is ovulating.

That is all for today. I promise to write more frequently and provide some interesting articles.

Where To Buy Mealworms Online

Stephen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:47:56 +0000

Looking for a good source of mealworm feeders for your geckos? I now have enough geckos that the cost of buying mealworms at the pet store in containers of 500 worms is getting expensive. I did some research and found several vendors that carry mealworm feeders.

Here are some sources that ship mealworms. I was surprised that the price of bulk mealworms varies considerably. While price may not be the only thing to consider, it is a primary concern if you are trying to raise geckos in the most cost effective way possible.

Some of these sites do not offer a 10,000 mealworm size option but I have determined the price you would pay for 10,000 mealworms. Most do not include shipping so you would need to check the shipping to your home.

Grubco.com
$50 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms.

ReptileFood.com
$54 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, wax worms, super worms.

SouthernCricket.com
$57.50 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms.

ArmstrongCricket.com
$60 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms.

FlukerFarms.com
$60 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms.

NYWorms.com
$69.99 for 10,000 mealworms (includes shipping!)
Also carry crickets, super worms, wax worms, butter worms, roaches.

Ghann.com
$72 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, super worms, phoenix worms.

CricketsOnline.com
$74 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, hornworms, super worms, wax worms.

MulberryFarms.com
$99.95 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry super worms, silkworms, roaches, phoenix worms, wax worms, butter worms, horn worms.

PremiumCrickets.com
over $100 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry crickets, wax worms, super worms, butter worms, Phoenix worms.

Wormman.com
over $100 for 10,000 mealworms
Also carry butter worms, wax worms, super worms, crickets.

First two Eggs

Stephen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:31:18 +0000

After laying on top of her humid hide/lay box for about 24 hours, my Bell Albino, Bella crawled inside last night. This morning there were 2 eggs in the coconut fiber. Since I wasn’t really expecting to have eggs so soon I don’t have an incubator. You see, I purchased this female a week and a half ago at a Reptile Expo and didn’t know what I was getting.

It is still unclear if she had been with a male, or if these eggs are infertile duds. I guess I will find out in about 8 weeks.

I followed the directions on incubating leopard gecko eggs at Albey’s site. I wired up a six inch piece of heat tape that I had and put a tile square on it to get a more even heat and plugged it into the thermostat that regulates my gecko rack. It took a little playing around but I have the temperature between 82-84 degrees F.

Poor Bella was only about 40g with the eggs and now is only 32g. I tried to get her to eat tonight but she seems like she would rather rest.

New Gecko Is Going to Lay An Egg

Stephen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:12:30 +0000

This week I discovered that one of the female leopard geckos I purchased last weekend at a reptile expo is gravid. I noticed she was strangely plump but only 40 grams. Then I noticed that there was a white egg-shaped object in her abdomen. I am a little concerned because she is not yet full grown.

I hadn’t expected this, but also hadn’t looked so carefully at the expo when I bought her. I should have asked how the vendor housed the geckos etc to make sure she had not been introduced to a male.

Never having had a pregnant gecko, I went to the Gecko Fourms to ask some questions. I learned that sometimes when a female ovulates for the first time, she can produce and egg even if she has not mated. She can either lay the infertile egg or resorb it.

I turned her humid hide into a lay box by adding some damp coconut fiber to be ready of she lays an egg (or eggs). Not sure what I will do if it is fertile. Guess I will have to make an incubator and see what happens. To be continued…