Hey ya'll. My male has been fattening up in his tail and has put on size. As of next week I will have an adult female and I want ya'll to review my plan. I need to make sure that I have all of this down pat. I have nearly everything planned out to the finest details and this plan only skimmes over the main idea. Here it is.....

I have arranged for my local pet shop
to order in an adult female. When she gets here she will be housed
seperatly in a large rubbermaid container. I'll fatten her up for a
few weeks or so with plenty of crickets and waxworms. At that time,
it's my understanding that I need to put her in with my male (20 gal
tank) and leave her in there for 2 weeks. Then, remove her back to
her own cage. Then i'll watch her very closely and check her hidebox
daily for any eggs. When/if she does lay the eggs. i'll put them
into a small plastic container with moist vermiculite and place that
container in a hovabator. Candeling can be done 2 weeks after the
eggs have been laid. I plan on having mixed sexes, so i'll keep the
hovabator temp at 85 degrees and keep the contaier humidity at 80%.
When the babies hatch, i'll leave them in the incubator overnight
and wait until the yolk sac falls off. Then, i'll house them by size
in a few rubbermaids or something of the source. When they have
their first shed, i'll start to feed them with fruit flies and
pinheads feeding them until they pretty much stop eating every time,
knowing that they may not eat but one or two crickets their first
feeding. Then, weekly i'll sort them by size into seperate
containers. Finally, when they get about a month old (???) i can
start to sell/give them away. The pet shop has agreed to take the
babies If I cannot find other homes for them.

If anyone has any suggestion or comments i'd love to hear from you.
This is my plan, so if anything seems wrong then please correct me.

__________________
-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

just make sure the the "hide box" you refer to is acutally more like a humid hide, to keep the eggs moist and give her a place to dig to lay them...

the seperation of the two is not really needed, we keep our females with one male all the time... with no problems...

when your fattening up your female, make sure it is with more then just fat (wax worms) make sure she gets plenty and lots of calcium during this time as she will need lots to form the egg shell... with the same feeding routine after she lays each time, to regain her weight...

__________________
Jayr & Mandy Robinson
J&M Herp Shack
"Are you watching closely?"

Also I would have to recommend that you keep the female separate from the male for up to 3 months when you first get her - you need to allow a quaratine period to ensure she is healthy and isn't carrying any nasties which could be passed to your male.

You also need to check her age and weight - she should be over 50g, and as jrobinson said, you need to make sure she has plenty of calcium in her in preparation for egg-making. - always have a bowl of calcium present in the enclosure so the geckos can control their own intake of calcium, and the rest you sound like you have pretty much sorted.

Good luck, and make sure the babies go to good homes - you need to be willing to keep the babies for many weeks after expected if you don't find homes for them straight away, and we always prefer, if possible, to sell individually ourselves so we can see who and where they are going to. Pet shops aren't always the best places for reptiles, unless the one you know is reputable and you trust them.

One more thing.. remember to post pics of the new girl when you get her!!!

__________________
"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

And PLEASE keep the babies for a few weeks after they hatch...the PetCO here just got in some TEENY baby Leopard Geckos that had to have been shipped the moment they pipped...they're just appallingly tiny and fragile.