How to choose a male

I think it must have been about a year ago I bought four baby leos, all girls, from a vendor here on Fauna. They have grown up to be young ladies and I was thinking of getting a male and maybe raising a baby leo or two.

My girls are ordinary leos, but the thing is, I think all leos are beautiful. I really like the kind I have seen in pictures that are sorta yellow and white striped and some of them even have white and orange tails.

I know that people here are involved in all sorts of projects to breed this or that and the genetics seems kind of complicated. I do not think I want to get that involved, I would just like a little gecko family.

If I just go to a reptile show (I haven't been yet, I want to) and jusy pick out a male from a breeder with a good rep, there is no harm breeding a few geckoes, is there? I intend to keep the little geckoes. I don't know that I would breed something like an iguana because those are really overbred, but it seems like breeding a few geckoes and keeping the offspring would be OK.

What do you think? And should the male be about their age?

Lucille, once you start breeding your leos you will most certainly be bitten by the "bug"! If you don't really care what morphs your leos produce, just get a nice, healthy male that appeals to you! If there is a certain morph you are looking for, I suggest looking at the 'available' pages on the many websites of the various breeders here on this forum.

Male leopard geckos don't need to be as old as the females to breed... perhaps around 8-9 months of age. Breeding season in pretty much over until February, so that would give you pleanty of time to quarantine your new fellow when the season starts back up! We all will be here to help you along the way.

I agree totatally with Marcia.

I have a few normal male leos that I need to part with unfortunately...I would be willing to ship out if you are interested. Let me know...My email addy is Dolphnenergy85@aol.com

I can send you pics to see if they are to your liking

Thanks Mari but I am actually looking forward to going to a show. I am kind of shy in person and this will give me an incentive to actually go, I've been wanting to see what a reptile show is like for a long time.

That's cool...Shows are great! I just went to the Tinley Park one and had a ton of fun, even though I only came home with a Vivarium I headed out with a friend and it's the best. I only wish there were more shows near my area. As it was, it was an hour drive to Tinley Park...

Once you go to one, you will be looking for more, I guarantee it. Just a warning though...It is very very very difficult not to come home with more than one..so plan ahead

Marcia's right, the leopard gecko bug is contagious! You have been warned!

That said, I pretty much agree with all that's been said above. Just be aware that breeding a male to four females is going to produce a butt-load of eggs and babies! Be prepared to be overrun. My main breeding group is 1.4 and I produced 36 babies this year. A conservative estimate is 10 eggs per adult female, especially given that your females are at the prime of their lives. Make sure you have adequate housing to fit all the babies (a shoebox rack works nicely until they're grown up, then switch to a sweaterbox or blanketbox rack for adults).

Another thing to consider before breeding the leopards is that you're going to have to start buying your feeder insects in bulk if you don't already. Not that this is hard or even inconvenient, but it's something to consider. I have 20 geckos right now (not including those I've sold) and I spend $60 a month on 2000 crickets and 2000 mealworms.

Unless you're going to throw out eggs, which from personal experience is incredibly difficult to do, be ready to take care of all the babies! You may find yourself a vendor at one of these reptile shows before long! Hehehe...

I agree with all of the above, just go with a male that appeals to you! And be prepared for a lot of babies! Since I do mealies as my staple I go through 10,000 a month for $40 and 1 box of crix a month for $16 and I have alot more than 20 leos lol

Hope you enjoy the show, I am still hoping to go to one myself soon and let us know what you get when you get him home!

One thing that I M,IGHT add is dont just go to the cheapest vendor.Get a sheet about what to look for and print it out.When you find a gecko you like look over the sheet to see of it has all the good chartristics.Maby if you find a good gecko you like ask the breeder if you can hold it to inspect it.Thanks!
ellie-bo-belly

Elli, you are absolutely right. I am fortunate enough to have been around Fauna for a while and to get an idea of who the quality vendors are here, so I will probably get my gecko from one of them. I could do that now, but as I am not really in a hurry, I think it might be fun to wait until a show and be able to ooh and ahh over all the geckoes that will be there.