Breeding Yearlings

[Neon Aurora]

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on breeding yearlings. This being my second season, I have a lovely tangerine het eclipse and rainwater female from last year that I am not sure if I feel comfortable breeding or not. Those who do not breed are also welcome to comment!

Do you breed yearlings?
If so, do they have more complications than older geckos?
Anything else notable about the subject?

Looking forward to everyone's input.

 

[indyana]

Disclaimer: I do not breed yet, but it's on my mind for the future.

I would not ever want to breed a yearling, especially the females. Yearlings are like teenagers, and breeding that early puts stress on their systems while they are still maturing, diverting resources that would otherwise be used to fill out the body frame and shore up bones. Breeding the second year is possible (especially for the standard E. m. mixes with fast growth rates), but I would prefer to wait for growth and weight gain to plateau to indicate they are entering their prime.

Personally, I will try to wait until third year (age 2 years +) so I have time to track growth rates and see where they naturally stop versus being arrested by the interruption of breeding. I'm also working heavily with Afghans though, which clearly have a slower growth rate.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Thanks for your input! I've often felt the same. It's so tempting because I could be producing typhoons this year, but I know I'd rather wait until I feel comfortable with the gecko's size and weight, especially since this one hatched in July last year (pretty late in the season even if I wanted to breed at 1 year).

More input from anyone else is welcome.

 

[acpart]

I've done it both ways as long as the female is over 50 grams. In some cases, a yearling stops eating because she's ovulating (I have a giant now that's 8 months old, weighs 47 grams and is, of course, the only female ovulating. Since she's a giant I'm actually not planning to breed her till next year), loses weight and may benefit in a way from being bred and getting hungry. I haven't analyzed any data, but my sense with my own experience is that it hasn't made much difference in the female's ultimate growth and development in the long run.

Aliza

 

[Neon Aurora]

I see. I have been worried about that, actually. My female from last season is 7 months old now and has declined in eating quite a bit recently and I'm hoping she isn't going to ovulate so early.

I'll have to think on it, but I think I'm leaning towards being more comfortable breeding at 2 years.