Leopard Gecko Reproduction
Mating Leopard Geckos
Leopard geckos become sexually mature at around 10-14 months of age. Females should have a minimum weight of 50 grams to reduce the chance of any complications carrying or laying eggs. Males however do not need to be of any specific weight once sexual maturity is reached (though an obese male may be reluctant to mate). If you are looking for more information on how to determine the sex of your leopard gecko, go to our care sheet and check out the sexing info.
Most breeders group one male gecko between ten and twenty females, and some even keep one with up to fifty females. If using this method, one should remove the male during the non-breeding months. You must also monitor the female in case one does not compete well for food and loses weight or occasionally fight. Small scale breeders may, however, want to keep it down to one or two females per cage, and rotate the male between cages during mating season to prevent a possible tail loss from fighting mothers.
Leopard geckos usually breed from around March to September, though it may begin as early as January and finish as late as October. They are also influenced to reproduce by subtle drops in temperature during winter.
If upon inspection of the translucent abdominal skin on a female there is the visual appearance of developing eggs, the female should mate immediately when introduced to a male. Two matings should be allowed to take place in order to insure that successful fertilisation has occurred.
When a male and female are introduced the male will shake, or rattle, his tail. In response, the female silently sways her tail from side to side along the ground. Following this, the male will lick her to obtain her scent. The male will begin gently biting her from the lower body upwards. If the female does not wish to mate, she will bite back and the male will cease his activity. If she accepts, he will continue up to her neck, making his body parallel to hers and placing his hind leg over her tail, and inserting one of his hemipenes.
Roughly a month later, the female will lay either one or two eggs. Clutches of two eggs will then be laid monthly throughout the rest of the mating season, though this varies from female to female according to age, with older females laying less.
The leopard geckos sex (gender) can be determined once the animal reaches an adult length of 6"- 8". In males there will be a V-shaped row of spots in front of the cloacal opening, and noticeable swelling at the base of the tail caused by the hemipenis. Males are typically larger than females, but this is not a reliable indicator of sex.
Number of eggs you can expect to be laid
|
Year
|
Eggs
|
|
1
|
6
|
|
2
|
8
|
|
3
|
12
|
|
4
|
16
|
|
5
|
14
|
|
6
|
10
|
|
7
|
10
|
|
8
|
8
|
|
9
|
6
|
|
10
|
4
|
|
11
|
4
|
|
12
|
0
|
|
13
|
0
|
Egg incubation
Use a plastic Rubbermaid container with a fitted lid to incubate the eggs in. Mix equal parts vermiculite with water (by weight) so that the vermiculite feels just barely moist when touched. Without changing how the eggs were laid (i.e. the eggs must not be rotated at all, lest the embryo fatally separate from the egg wall), place them carefully into the moistened vermiculite, half burying them in it. Place a small container of water into the vermiculite too to help keep the humidity up. Close the container and keep it closed except when checking the eggs. This allows for ample air circulation, but too much air circulation will cause the humidity to go down, jeopardizing the eggs.
Like many other egg-laying reptiles Leopard geckos use temperature-dependent sex determination. If eggs are incubated at 79 F, the majority of all neonates will be female. If incubated at 85F, you will get an almost equal number of each sex. If incubated at 85 - 87 F the ratio of males to females will be more or less even. When incubated at 89 - 90 F in the first four weeks, than dropped down to 80 - 85 F to reduce risk of cooking the eggs, practically all will be males. Females hatched from these eggs are generally more aggressive than other females, and they tend to reach sexual maturity later if at all. Anything lower than 77 F or higher than 97 F will cause deformities and usually death of the neonates incubated at these temperatures. Eggs will hatch in 8-12 weeks, with the higher temperatures hatching sooner than lower temperatures.
Hatchlings
Juvenile Leopard Geckos
Approximately 6-12 weeks after being laid, the eggs will hatch. First, the gecko will break the surface of the egg and push its head out, remaining in this position for as little as 2 or as many as 4 hours. During this state, it is important that the neonate is not touched or otherwise disturbed, as they are gradually adapting to lung breathing and obtaining oxygen from the egg membranes as well as absorbing yolk from inside the egg.
A leopard geckos markings at birth are extremely different to those of an adult. The skin has no spots, instead large dark bands (usually purple)and intermittent light bands (usually yellow) cover the body from head to tail. For the first few days of life, the gecko will turn down any food offered, its hunger sustained by the absorbed yolk still in its system.
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