How to breed Crested Geckos?

Are you thinking of petting a crested gecko and want to know about breeding crested geckos since you want to multiply them? Then you have reached the perfect page. Here we have provided all those techniques and ideas of breeding created geckos. But breeding these creatures is not a difficult task.

Simply putting the male and female in the same enclosure would result in rapid mating. It is so easy to breed crested geckos. If you have male and female crested geckos, then you are good to go.

Those will stay locked together until the female is inseminated, so if you see both of them locked, stuck together, then you don’t have to worry. If you want to learn about breeding techniques and the most effortless ways, do not skip and keep reading the whole part.

Breeding Crested Geckos Basics

You can quickly breed crested geckos and save yourself from investing in high-end equipment because breeding is relatively more straightforward for these cresties.

You only need a pair of healthy crested geckos. And a box to lay eggs and also incubation boxes and substrate. These crested geckos breed during the time of March to September. They have a natural breeding cycle of 8 to 9 months.

But before trying to mate the pairs, you need to make sure that they both are sexually mature. You also need to weigh them and make sure the weight is inappropriate to get mated. The female crested gecko should weigh about 35-40 grams.

Also, it should have enough calcium supplements. And also, it should be 18 months old. So you should provide dusted insects and a calcium lock before the breeding process to get a smoothened breeding process.

Things to Consider Before Breeding Crested Geckos

There are two types of breeders. One breeder may want to expand the collections, and the other may want to make money. Crested geckos are the easiest to breed. They don’t need high-end equipment to create offspring.

But meanwhile, you may be required to use some excellent equipment if you are trying to breed for marketing purposes. However, breeding them is pretty more effortless when compared to other creatures.

So, there are some small things to be considered before breeding created geckos. If you want your breeding process to be not a failure, then do pair healthy cresties. Also, the things you need to consider before breeding them are as follows,

What Do You Need?

Before breeding crested geckos, you need to have a pair of male and female crested geckos. Make sure that these are healthy and have a good amount of weight. Also, invest lay boxes and incubation boxes, and substrates.

Should I Breed My Crested Geckos?

Yes, you can inexpensively breed your created geckos. Breeding created geckos are an easy process. You don’t have to invest in massive equipment.

So yes, you can breed your crested geckos since it is the most uncomplicated process, and you can do it at your home.

Why Do You Want to Breed Your Crested Geckos?

Mainly there are two reasons to start breeding the crested geckos. One is simple; you want to expand your collections of crested geckos. You love them. And want to see them multiplying and would like to have more and more. And the other one is for marketing purposes.

You want to grow them multiply them, and want to sell them out in the market. To make a lot of money, you may consider breeding them.

Meanwhile, if you opt to breed crested geckos for the second reason, you may need to invest in a few types of equipment since you want to expand and produce in bulk.

Choosing Breeders

You might want crested geckos in different colors, patterns, and healthy ones, so the breeder should be according to your expectations. So you need to make sure that the breeder is of sufficient calcium level breeder and healthy because you don’t want your baby crested gecko as an unhealthy one.

Also, you should make sure that the male cresties aren’t suffering from any genetic defectives because you don’t want their offspring to be genetically defective. Many people choose dull, plain colors of the breeder to maintain the wild look of the crested gecko.

How Do I produce super morphs?

Super morphs are the extreme versions of morphs. They mostly have pinstripe or dalmation spots. There are also harlequin geckos with lovely patterns and colors and also new Caledonia geckos, gargoyle geckos.

If you wish to produce the crested gecko with these high-end traits, then you need to search the gecko for these traits. When you try to breed, you should only choose the geckos that display these traits to create a super morph.

Pairing Of Breeders To Breed Your Crested Geckos

It would be best if you did the pairings of the crested geckos first to breed them. There should be a pair, including male and female; you can pair a male with a female or a male with several females. However, The female number can be four.

When Can My Cresties Pair?

The crested geckos usually breed from March to September. Their natural breeding cycle lasts for 8-9 months. Before mating then you should make sure that the male and female crested geckos are sexually matured.

The female crested geckos should at least be 18 months old. And the weight of it should come around 35-40 g. Also, the female cresties should have sufficient calcium.

The Mating of Crested Geckos

While mating the crested geckos, you can mate them by placing the male geckos in the enclosure of female crested geckos. But, the male geckos can be extra aggressive, and there is a massive chance of hurting the female geckos.

So be careful with it. In the enclosure, male crested geckos try to chase the female and will mount over it. Also, the male will try to bite the head of female crested geckos multiple times during the mating process.

Also, it is pretty normal to hear squeaking sounds during the mating process.

How Long Does the Mating Take?

These crested geckos are easier to breed. Because there is a chance of initiating the mating process within the hour of placing your male geckos in the enclosure of female cresties, they start to mate within an hour.

Also, they might only mate once, or they will mate multiple times. If you want to breed and wait for good results, leave the male crested gecko in the container of a female crested gecko for a week to make sure that they mate a couple of times.

Should I Leave the Pair Together After Mating?

You can place the pair together, or you can separate them. It is entirely up to you. Some breeders place the pairings in the same tank after the mating process. Meanwhile, some try to separate them.

However, watch out for their behavior towards each other if they are aggressive to separate them. Or they are pretty standard, and there is no aggression between the pair; you don’t have to separate them.

Tips and Tricks During Mating

Breeding geckos is the most uncomplicated process. Okay, there are some tips and tricks for first-time breeders to get a healthy baby gecko and make the breeders feel comfortable. They are as follows,

Keep the adult geckos separately after mating because there is a high tendency of male geckos to be aggressive and fight each other. So try to separate them once the mating is done.

Also, try to provide a resting period to the female geckos. Because make geckos won’t stop mating if you place them together in the same terrarium. Male geckos will try to mate multiply times, even up to a year.

Therefore you should introduce a resting period of 3-4 months to aid the female geckos in regaining their strength. Also, male geckos bite females during the process of mating. So try to heal the wounds by introducing anti-biotics.

Also, remove the male from the enclosures of female geckos until the wound heals.

The Gravid Female Care

You can breed these reptiles quickly. But what about the care, treatments. How to care for the gravid female gecko? Here is the answer. A pregnant female crested gecko is called a gravid. After a short period of breeding, the female gecko will become pregnant.

During the pregnancy time, the gravid female will try to be hidden and start hiding places. Also, the appetite will be increased, and they crave more. And also tend to stay at Warmer areas will be increased.

An extra tip for caring for a gravid female is, avoid handling them. Because handling them often will cause more stress to the gravid.

Crested Gecko Egg Deposition

There should be a separate place or box to lay eggs. Creating an egg deposition chamber would be helpful because it will aid them in laying their eggs in that chamber.

Some breeders place the female geckos in their enclosure to lay eggs. And won’t introduce a separate chamber.

Preparing an Egg-Deposition Chamber

Suppose you are planning on creating an egg deposition chamber. Then don’t worry. It is not difficult and expensive. Use a plastic container of 8×8×5 inches.

Then fill 50% of the container with slightly damp moss. Also, make sure to seal the chamber with a lid. Also, make a 2-inch hole in the chamber to make an exit and entry of the geckos easier.

Egg-Deposition in an Enclosure

If you plan to provide an egg deposition chamber, you need to maintain the moisture inside it. It would be best if you used substrate to maintain the moist in the tank. Female geckos will lay eggs in the moist area. These creatures usually lay eggs at night.

While laying, it will dig a hole in the substrate, lay the eggs, and cover them with the substrate. It is best to introduce a separate egg deposition chamber to ease the task.

Time to Lay Some Eggs

Female geckos lay two eggs every 30- 45 days. Female geckos lay an average of 6-10 clutches. You should remove them with 24 hours of laying eggs from the egg deposition chamber or enclosure.

If you don’t remove them, the eggs will start to get dehydrated and won’t hatch during the incubation period. Also, remove the eggs carefully from the enclosure and place them in the incubation box.

How should crested geckos eggs look like?

The eggs will look very small and flexible. Also, most color eggs will be pearl white with pink spots. And the yellow eggs will have a thin shell that is not visible to us.

How Often Do Geckos Lay Infertile Eggs?

The Female crested geckos typically lay eggs once they reach a year old. And also if it weighs 25-35 g during that period. If you do not introduce a male into its enclosure, they won’t produce an embryo.

And they will start to lay a clutch of infertile eggs. When trying to breed them, you should be careful and check if the female cresties are fat and big because those are unhealthy breeders.

Incubating the Crested Gecko Eggs

You can incubate the crested gecko’s eggs in several ways. Please put them in a dark incubator box. Please do not invest in high-end incubators; instead, you can use a container, place it in a dark area, and turn it into an incubation box.

Using an Incubator

You should place the eggs in the incubation box because they should get a stable temperature, and there should be no fluctuations in the temperature. There should be a consistent temperature.

Also, you can create your incubator box if you are a crafty person. Take a 10-gallon aquarium with a few inches of water. You can heat the aquarium with aquarium heaters, place a brick inside the water, and place the container of eggs upon it.

Hence, this way, you can easily create an incubation box with no special costs.

Using an Incubation Box

You can also make your incubation box by using a plastic container or a shoebox if you aren’t planning on investing in a new incubation medium. Fill the box with 2/3 substrate. Use substrates such as, perlite, vermiculite and superhatch.

The substrate should be moist. Also, create 5-8 holes in the lid to get proper ventilation. Place the eggs in the substrate and close the lid and place it in a darker area.

When Will the Crested Gecko Eggs Hatch?

It takes 60 to 120 days for the eggs to get hatched if the temperature is around 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

You need to check the eggs every 24 hours, and the hatching will not last long if the environment is hotter.

Why My Crested Gecko Eggs Not Hatched?

Due to some conditions, crested gecko eggs will not hatch. Those circumstances are if the health of females is feeble, then the eggs won’t also hatch if the male didn’t fertilize the eggs. And if there were no sufficient calcium, then the eggs wouldn’t hatch.

Hatchling Care

When the hatchlings are fully developed, they will make a hole and poke out of the egg. It is known as piping. Some hatches will try to stay in the egg to absorb the nutritious yoke, and others may come out fully.

You should separate the babies to a separate baby enclosure, or you can wait until they shed for the first time. Babies will shed within 12-24 hours of hatching. Keep the decor of the enclosure very simple, and you don’t have to add more than one plant.

Also, do not forget to provide them with food and water. Also, it would be best if you misted the tank often or most of the area to help them in preventing them from shedding problems.

Egg Binding in Crested gecko

Egg binding occurs when the gravid female cannot lay the nature eggs formed in its reproductive system. You should take the gecko to an exotic vet if it occurs.

It is not easy to tell if the egg binding has occurred. So the symptoms to check out are loss of appetite, bloated stomach, and lethargy.

Causes of Egg Binding

Causes of egg binding are deformity of female crested gecko and more giant eggs. Also, egg binding will occur if the gecko suffers from poor health and there is no sufficient calcium. Also, it will even occur in the first-time female breeder.

Solution

The solution for the egg binding is as follows.

You should give a lukewarm bath to the geckos if it’s experiencing egg binding. Also, gently massage the egg area. But these are risky, and you should pay a visit to the vet. Because egg binding is a severe problem and it may even cause the death of gecko.

Breeding Crested Geckos Frequently Asked Questions

Most frequently asked queries about breeding-created geckos are as follows.

How do I tell if My Gecko is male or female gecko?

When the cresties are below six months old, it is tough to differentiate between male and female geckos. When they get older, there will be a pair of bulges formed behind the vent and the base of the male’s tail.

Also, there will be a row of preanal pores behind the vent of the male crested gecko. In this way, you can identify the male and the female gecko. Female geckos won’t be having these types of bulges.

Do geckos go through a brumation period?

Brumation occurs during the winter season. The brumation period is a cool-down period; you should separate the male and female geckos during the incubation period.

It usually lasts for about 2-3 months. So you need to move in and out the geckos from the brumation period to avoid affecting its systems.

What are the hints of dead lizard eggs?

The eggs will start to stink once it’s dead. Also, you won’t notice a vein running in eggs. This way, you can make sure that the egg is dead.

Can you open the crested gecko eggs by yourself?

It is a bad idea. However, you can open the eggs by yourself only when necessary, only during some extreme conditions. If the hatchling cannot come out by itself and needs manual opening, then it won’t become a healthy adult.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that created geckos are excellent pets to breed. You can try to find out your luck in making money by breeding these reptiles. They are the easiest ones to breed. You won’t be facing the need to invest in any equipment or any infrastructure.

You can breed, multiply them, expand your collections, and sell out in the market and earn a freak chunk of money, so if you are planning on choosing a breeder and breeding these and expanding, then never back out. You can check your luck in this field.

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