New Leopard Gecko

[Catherine]

Quote:looks like I'll be making my own incubator. I looked online and the only one either of the pet stores around me has is the zoo med incubator and the reviews were horrible. I can probably make it cheaper anyway.

I need to start looking into timers for the lights to come on and off automatically. It will make their life easier and they will get a set "sun" schedule. It will making breeding easier for them too. Right now I just turn the light on when I wake up and turn it off 9-12 hours later. But depending on my work schedule it could be as early as 5am or as late as 12pm. Most day's though I can get it on at around 9am or 10m and turn it off around 8 or 9. They both have tank heaters that stay on all the time so at least they have that.

Timers are a must. They give a more regular day length and they make life so much easier for you. You are not tied to your tanks on a daily schedule.

People do make their own incubators and they seem to work just fine. Let me know how that goes. It would be harder with snakes because the clutches are so big and they all come at once. The incubator I have access to is made from an old refrigerator. It has heaters instead of coolant and it is on a thermostat. It works very well and holds lots of boxes of eggs.
I was taught to put the eggs in damp peat moss and cover them with sphagnum moss. Both of them are clean and prevent the eggs from molding. That is a big problem with eggs. If an egg molds, it dies because it can't breath. Reptile eggs are soft so they can take in air and moisture. They also have to stay level. Do not tip them because the baby develops above the yolk.

If you keep your meal worms in a big enough container, with food and carrot or apple for moisture, then they will breed. (that is regular sized, not super meal worms) It saves money if you can breed your own. Crickets are too much trouble to breed. It is easier to buy them.

That sounds like a super tank sale. My best tank source is "garbage day". People in Toronto, when they don't want something anymore, just put it out on the sidewalk and who ever wants it takes it. Cracked fish tanks are fine for reptiles because the tanks are dry. Usually you have to buy the lids. No one ever throws out a good lid.

[Libby]

Well I think I may have fried my aquarium heater it only worked for a few minutes. I'm going to see if I can take it back and get a better one. I got one that I could change the temperature on. I accidentally melted some plastic to it then I tried to turn the temp down and it stopped working But other than that it's all ready and set up.

I gave the boys pinky mice today. Charlie the new boy is showing no interest in it. I may try to see if he will take it in a little bit. But Jack (formally Allison) took it immediately. It was gone in a minute. He licked at it a couple times but grabbed hold of it and gulped it down. I was so proud to see him eat it. I wish charlie would eat his.

[Catherine]

Maybe Charlie is a bit young to be interested in pinkies. Jack is fully mature and eats like a mature lizard.

Too bad about the heater. They are not that fancy. You do need one with a good thermostat so your eggs don't get too hot or too cold.
That is the most important thing with reptile eggs. The second most important thing is humidity. Too wet is bad, but too dry is deadly.
Other than that it is easy to breed reptiles. Unless of course you have the gender wrong.
That happens all the time at my place.
Desert Lily is definitely male and so is Isis. Opps! At least I know why there are no eggs.

[Libby]

(03-25-2014, 02:26 PM)Catherine Wrote: Maybe Charlie is a bit young to be interested in pinkies. Jack is fully mature and eats like a mature lizard.

Too bad about the heater. They are not that fancy. You do need one with a good thermostat so your eggs don't get too hot or too cold.
That is the most important thing with reptile eggs. The second most important thing is humidity. Too wet is bad, but too dry is deadly.
Other than that it is easy to breed reptiles. Unless of course you have the gender wrong.
That happens all the time at my place.
Desert Lily is definitely male and so is Isis. Opps! At least I know why there are no eggs.

I'll have to see about exchanging the heater or getting a new one tomorrow. Then Thursday my girls get here. I'm so excited. I feel bad the woman who sold them to me she seems very attached to Kate, the first girl I decided to get. She calls her Fluttershy (I don't like My Little Pony or the name so it had to go) and keeps sending me pictures of her. I don't think she really wanted to sell her but when I showed interest she decided to sell her. She is beautiful. I can't wait to see both girls in person and hold them.

[Catherine]

I know how she feels. Sometimes you don't want to let one of your babies go and yet for the right person you might be willing. So you are her "right person". It is hard. You can't keep them all, but you don't want to part with them. If you can send her pictures she will feel better about letting her baby go.

So Raven is laying her eggs right now. It is the second worst possible time this week for her to lay her eggs. I can't get them into the incubator until wed night. If she is done by morning I can at least get them into an egg box. I was home all day yesterday, why couldn't she have laid her eggs then?

[Libby]

(03-26-2014, 02:46 PM)Catherine Wrote: I know how she feels. Sometimes you don't want to let one of your babies go and yet for the right person you might be willing. So you are her "right person". It is hard. You can't keep them all, but you don't want to part with them. If you can send her pictures she will feel better about letting her baby go.

So Raven is laying her eggs right now. It is the second worst possible time this week for her to lay her eggs. I can't get them into the incubator until wed night. If she is done by morning I can at least get them into an egg box. I was home all day yesterday, why couldn't she have laid her eggs then?

You almost need a back up incubator for when that happens. Just for temporary emergencies.

I may have to switch over to a different substrate for the 2 girls for 30 days. The woman says that if anything happens to them in the first 30 days while they are on sand then she wont take them back and reimburse me. Cause it could be the sand.
I've never had a problem with sand before with Jack. Charlie has been fine too. I get fine play sand and sift it to make sure if they eat it the sand wont get impacted in their stomach.
My only other option is this mat stuff. It can be kinda expensive at first but it might be cheaper in the long run cause it lasts a long long time. Every thing else is either too expensive or just not right for leopard geckos.

[Libby]

My girls are here!! They are beautiful!

Kate is fully grown or almost there. Her tail must have been detached at some point because it's regenerated. But it is good healthy and fat now. She's a little wild but with time and handling she should calm down.

Claire is still little. She needs to pack on a lot of weight. She's really skinny. she got burned on her tail a little while ago and didn't eat much while it was healing. It's healed now but her being on sand worries me so I may be getting the mat for her at least. She is a little wild from the trip I'm sure, but she can stand to be held some. She's about the size of Charlie so she is still young. Not yet a year.

I kinda feel like they are in better hands with me since they are both kinda beat up. Poor things.

[Libby]

Kate
https://flic.kr/p/muJRj4

https://flic.kr/p/muJQd6
You can see on her tail they are suppose to have fat rolls but she only has a few and then it's strait. That's where the tail had detached but then it grew back.

Claire
https://flic.kr/p/muLGhG

https://flic.kr/p/muJMd8
Her tail is suppose to be as fat as her middle but it's thin and wrinkly from when she got burned.

They both seem ok. Claire is running around her tank exploring right now. She's already pooped so thats good. Kate is hiding but she seems a bit more shy anyway.

[Libby]

So I got the girls the mat. It was about $12 for the 20 gallon and $8 for the 10 gallon mat. But I think I like it better. It's not as messy. I'm going to find some online that's cheaper. The girls was an emergency but the boys can wait a few days until the other gets shipped.

[Catherine]

The girls are beautiful. You will fatten them up in no time and have them eating out of you hand. I think they will do better with you. Look how well Jack(Allison) has done. It will be nice when you can put your pairs together. They will like it and you will love watching their interactions.

Lots of people use sand. There are different kinds of bark that are good. Finely ground cocoanut bark is fine. Shredded or chipped aspen works. I have the Hognose snakes on the chipped aspen. They like to dig through it. I have the pine snakes on the cocoanut bark. I think they all work just fine. It matters which product you can get and how reasonable a price it has.

I have seen the matting. It washes right? So you can reuse it.
It has it's good points. You will probably use different substrates over the years.
The peat moss is best for hatching eggs. I have that information from an experienced breeder. Vermiculite works, but it does not hold moisture as well as the peat moss does.

I use my egg laying tank as a back-up incubator. I set the eggs in an eggs box and keep it in the egg laying tank until I can get them into the proper incubator. It holds temperature and humidity very well for a day. If it was longer then I would have to work very hard to keep things steady. Nine weeks is a long time. It is easier to have the eggs in a proper incubator where things are controlled by a thermostat.