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might be getting out of the "bussiness"

M

Manhattan Herps

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well, after 28 premies, including another tonight, i think i will be selling off a few of my breeders,i will keep a few, most my best and most docile, but just as pets,maybe breed 2-3 next season, maybe

heres a list of the ones i might be selling, by names, for pics, go to my website

Marrick-80$
Charlie-50$
Petey(not on the site, he's a high yellow)-45$
Jasmine-55$
Navarre-250$
belle-50$
ellie-150$

if anyone is interested in any of them, please email me and i'll put you on a list, you will get an email if i do decide to definitely sell them, this isnt an ad or anything, just letting you guys know

Thanks
 
Hmm.. I say think it through again. You got some good ones, and I think you should stick it out one more season, see if changing any techniques help..
 
Dan, hang in there, its been not so great for me too but things will get better!

I got out of leos almost 3 years ago and started buying wholesale lots to resell, I missed breeding them so much that I started buying breeders again last year and even though it has been a hard season I still regret selling them off back then but I do not regret getting back into them at all!
 
dude that sucks! what happend? man it looks like you have invested so much time and money into your bizz. dont get fustrated and quit! You have so many killer geckos. Ive been there b4. hope things clear up for you. I wonder why you have no many prematures? you seem to have a ton of males are any of your pairings related? what temps did you incubate at?
 
I think that it's a little too early to give up. If I'm not mistaken, this is your first year successfully hatching leo eggs and most of your females are first time breeders. It's not unusual for it to take a few years to get all the kinks worked out. I'd take a hard look at everything that was going on pertaining to incubation, supplementation, etc. This will help you locate things that need tweaking. Then, tweak and try again. Dealing with premies, deformities, etc. is definitely unpleasant and heart wrenching, but at least for me, being greeted by a healthy screaming leo in the incubator still brings a smile to my face and more than makes up for all the heart breaks that come with the territory.

-Alice
 
i do have too many males..lol, but none of the pairings are related, females are incubated at 82, males at 88, the beginning of the season was great, no infertile eggs, eggs where hatching without a problem, then in late january i had my fodt premie pop out, since then it has doubled, out of over 70 eggs, i have 8 hatchlings, most of the eggs died because of an incubator failure, (about 30..)

i just feel like its not worth this
 
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The incubator failure is probably also responsible for the premies. I've ordered a helix to hook my hova-bator up to...

-Alice
 
Helix is a brand of proprotional thermostat. I've got two for my racks and the temperature rarely even fluctuates a degree. Even though I've moved my hova-bators to a room where the temperature stays stable, I'm still seeing a lot of fluctuation.

To me, although heart breaking, all these short comings in terms of hatch rate and deformities represent challenges that I need to over come. I don't want to admit defeat until I've exhausted all possibilities. And, since not everyone is having these problems, I know a solution is out there for me.

Next year, I'm going to rework my gut loading and supplementaion schemes (I may only do it with half the groups so that I can compare) and I'll have more stable temperatures in the incubator...

-Alice
 
Sorry about the problems,

However, it does happen to the best and the brightest.
Leos are not a good business except for a lucky few, but they are a great hobby!

:cool:
 
I’m sorry to hear that Dan. Hang in there though! Just because you’ve had a bad year doesn’t mean that it’s all over. I’ve been bummed out at time because of all the infertile eggs… it gets better though. All of us here support you with whatever you want to do. Good luck in your reptile adventures. :)
 
Hang in there and think of all the good thing that have come from your breeding. While it's heart breaking with all the problems you've had this year, there are so many good things to come in the future from you that it seems a shame to give up now.
 
alice, that incubator is long gone,wouldnt use it again if it shorted outand killed that many eggs...vince, that was a typo, meant to type 8 LOL

i would like to downsize my collection though...so i dont have so many eggs next season, just incase this bad luck decides to ring my neck and shoot me in the head again, seems like every time i check on the eggs when i a hatchling is due, its either deformed, or premature, it kills me knowing that the baby is going to die, especially when its one i have been really looking foward to, i love the geckos to death but, maybe breeding them big time is not for me..i have to see what happens, if the next clutch hatches premature again..i dont know what i'll do..im going through some depression now, because of other things as well.....and this is really making it worse

not looking for any pity..just need to vent...
 
Hopefully, things will turn around for you. I can understand the desire to cut back, but I think that we'd all hate to see you give up after one bad season. And, if you're attached to your breeders, there's no harm in giving some a season off while you play around with incubation methods etc.

-Alice
 
Diet

I checked out your web site and noticed you you Rep-cal with D3.

" All food MUST be dusted with a calcium/vitamin supplement. Rep-cal with vitamin D3 is one of the best. Vionate is also good, but only for growing geckos and should not be offered exclusively."

If you dust daily with this, it is way to much D3 which might be causing you some problems, this supplement should only be used once every two weeks.

Miner-All with D3 can be used twice a week.

I'm not sure what Vionate is but it notice it has a picture of a dog on it?
I would try changing the diets and give it try again next year.

First time breeder always have some bad eggs.
 
dont use rep cal with d3 anymore, stopped in october, i use vionate now, its a vitamin/mineral supplement for all animals, but i do sometines just give them plain rep cal calcium once or twice a week

most of all my female are first times, but i have only had 3 infertile eggs from them this season

my thoughts on premies would have to be either, genetics, supplementation, or incubation, although i can not find anything wrong with the incubation temps, and i know a few others who use Vionate and have no problems, genetics could be the culprit, i dont know, i have been trying to figure this out since january, i dont know if i would consider just plain giving up..rather than a break, i should not be dealing with so much stress in a hobby that i love,it has its ups and downs, sure, but i didnt think it would turn out like this, i figured a few defmaties, maybe a few premies and lots of infertile eggs, never thought i'd end up with 28 premies, 4 alone since thursday, i do however need to sell off a couple of my leos, i really need space

anyway, i think a "vacation" from this is in order, still continue with the reutine(sp?) cleaning,feeding,watering,handling..etc..but hold off on the breeding..mainly what alice said..
 
you do seem to have a few extra males from what i saw on your site, too bad im on the verge of too many myself. i happen to like the vionate as well btw.

not sure if you posted but what kind of incubater do you use? im sure if that was the culprit youd have figuerd it out tho.

i would hate to think you may be experiencing the defining stages of inbreeding in leopard geckos but i almost wonder (it seems alot of your stock is from the same breeder, but i could be wrong)

i am curious if you may be interested in taking the time (who has the time these days?) to lay out the relation of your problem clutches to the parents.
i.e. were they related? if only to cut out possibilities.
i intend to follow your dilema closely since it may end affecting me one day for all i know.

i take a great deal of enjoyment im my geckos and in some ways its the only way i have too forget about my problems and focus on the future possibilties sittng in front of me. i say dont give up and we all know that if you stick to it you will get past this, even if the answer is as extreme as new blood altogether to liven things up a bit.

good luck
 
pretty good post chad, wasnt long and winded at all

i have gone over the lineage of most of my leos, except the ones from petco, onlt two are half related, same father, different mother, 4 hatchlings from them so far though, havnt had any problems from them, the rest all have different mothers and fathers, but, ancestry(sp? lol) could play a role, if the geckos befor the mother and father were inbred and the geckos befor that to get the future mother and father geckos, i think that coupld play into weak blood, later falling into weak hatchlings that eaither die in the egg,trying to get out of the egg, or just hatching premature, its a possibility, but i doubt it..just a theory

i just hope it gets better, i have some HUGE plans for next season and i'd hate for this to happen again, even thought i really doubt it will..
 
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