sex - OnlineGeckos.com Gecko Breeder

If you are just getting into leopard geckos, you might be wondering why buy from leopard gecko breeder as opposed to buying from local pet stores. You might be asking why there are such price differences, and is it worth it? Here we’ll explore the differences and hopefully help you make your purchase decisions easier.

So what do we know about pet store geckos? Well, very little.

We know pet stores often stuff 5+ geckos into the same display container, a container size suitable for 1-2 juvenile leopard geckos at best. There’s no temperature gradient, and they’re often all crammed inside one small hide.
We know they often use wood barks, sand, or repti-carpet for substrate, none of which are ideal for leopard geckos. While repti-carpet does not pose direct health risks unlike bark & sand, carpet traps bacteria and is very hard to clean.
We know often they have crickets crawling all over the place, sometimes even on the geckos themselves.
The geckos often look skinny, malnourished, and frail. Many have injured tail or bite marks on them.

Now what don’t we know about pet store geckos?

We don’t know their sex, and when asked, store employees won’t know what temperature the geckos were incubated in. So you can’t temperature sex them or even make an educated guess. If you are looking specifically for a male or female, you just can’t be sure.
We don’t know their genetic background, or the morphs of the parents. So there’s no way to tell what geckos are het for or what kind of mix they are. This leaves you out from ever breeding them ethically.
We don’t know the hatch dates of these geckos, so you won’t ever know their age.
We don’t know their weight. Without knowing their age + weight, it’s hard to gauge their growth rate or know if the geckos are healthy.
We don’t know the breeders these geckos are from, so you’ll have no idea if you are buying from ethical breeders or just another gecko farm where they cram multiple hatchlings in small tubs.
We don’t know the reputation of the breeders these geckos are from, therefore we won’t know the conditions they were bred & raised in. This means the geckos could be raised in poor conditions, and likely will carry parasites or diseases which will pose threats to your existing geckos. Not to mention if the geckos get sick, you’ll face huge vet bills.
We don’t know if these geckos are being cared for properly in the pet stores by knowledgeable individuals. We know their living condition is less than stellar as noted above, but are the feeders getting gutloaded? Are the feeders being dusted properly with multivitamin powders prior to being fed? Is the belly temperature inside the display tanks at the proper 88-93 degrees?

But I’m rescuing the geckos from poor conditions. Continue reading “Why buy from leopard gecko breeder? Why price differences? Worth it? Difference between pet store gecko and breeder gecko”

Leopard Gecko Sex and Incubation Temperature

Did you know that leopard gecko’s sex is determined by incubation temperature? When the eggs are incubated at higher temperatures around 88-90 degrees, you will hatch out mostly males. When the eggs are incubated at lower temperatures around 80-82 degrees, you will get mostly females. And lastly if the eggs are incubated at around 84-86 degrees, you will get a mix of both sexes. While temperature sexing is mostly accurate, Mother Nature likes to play tricks against the odds sometimes. You could hatch out a female at high temperature, just as you could hatch out a male at lower temperature. They are rare, but it happens from time to time.

How soon can you tell a leopard gecko’s sex?

It’s rather hard to tell for sure what a leopard gecko’s sex is until they reach adulthood (1 year old). But there are signs you can look for. Males develop two distinct bulges early on. Although females do develop bulges as well, sometimes they are not as distinct.

The for sure way to tell a leopard gecko’s sex is either 1) when the female starts to ovulate for the first time, which is usually during 8-12 months old, or 2) the male has matured enough to develop darkened “V” pores. The first is obvious, males don’t go through ovulation, so they won’t have these pink circle dots on their belly. If you see pink dots on a gecko’s belly, then that’s a female. The darkened preanal pores is the best for sure way to tell if a leopard gecko is a male. While females will have a V in the same area, only males will have darkened (chocolate brown/black) spots there.

How do you sell temperature sexed geckos using incubation temperature?

When a gecko is labeled to be temperature sexed, it usually means the gecko is too young to determine the sex just yet. So the breeder has labeled a gecko as temperature sexed female or male based on their incubation temperature. Continue reading “Did You Know? Leopard Gecko’s Sex Is Determined By Incubation Temperature”