sunfish
New Member
- Messages
- 15
- Location
- North Carolina
This is my second season breeding leopard geckos, and I've had some frustrations with one of my females (Lucy). She began ovulating in mid december and I paired her to my proven male. They mated twice over two days if I'm remembering correctly. She laid six clutches at regular 2-3 week intervals but every single clutch was obviously infertile. The eggs were water balloon-y and candled completely yellow. I paired her again to my male after three clutches of infertiles but the consistency of her eggs never changed. She laid her last clutch in March. She lost a bit of weight during her period of being gravid, which I expected since some females are poor eaters during that time. She didn't start gaining weight back though after she finished laying. I went to check one of my other females for eggs a few minutes ago since I'm expecting a clutch from her any day now. When I opened Lucy's tub she had laid a pair of eggs which were small and misshapen. They were very thick shelled and hard to the touch. Is it possible that she has been holding on to these eggs since March? That could explain her not gaining weight but I just don't have enough experience with odd lay times to be sure.
Some other information: Lucy is 3 years old but this is her first season. She ovulated very early last year and laid a few sets of infertile eggs despite not being bred. Could she just have gone into an ovulation cycle again in a single season? Or is it more likely she held onto a pair of dud eggs?
Before this happened I was planning on breeding her again next year to see if she just had issues because it was her first season or if she is just infertile or has something wrong going on with her reproductive system. If she still produced infertiles next year I was going to retire her.
Do you think I should continue with that plan, or retire her early? My main hesitation is I don't want to breed her if she's going to have this many potentially dangerous issues and put that much strain on her body with no return.
Here's a picture of the eggs she laid today:
Hopefully everyone's seasons are going well. Mine may have started out badly but I have two other females laying proper fertile eggs now, with my first clutch being due early June.
Some other information: Lucy is 3 years old but this is her first season. She ovulated very early last year and laid a few sets of infertile eggs despite not being bred. Could she just have gone into an ovulation cycle again in a single season? Or is it more likely she held onto a pair of dud eggs?
Before this happened I was planning on breeding her again next year to see if she just had issues because it was her first season or if she is just infertile or has something wrong going on with her reproductive system. If she still produced infertiles next year I was going to retire her.
Do you think I should continue with that plan, or retire her early? My main hesitation is I don't want to breed her if she's going to have this many potentially dangerous issues and put that much strain on her body with no return.
Here's a picture of the eggs she laid today:
Hopefully everyone's seasons are going well. Mine may have started out badly but I have two other females laying proper fertile eggs now, with my first clutch being due early June.
