dos any one know how i can make a incubater for my leopard gecko??

Question

im going to be breeding my leopard soon and need some good facts like what do i use for incubating and other stuff? i need to know every thing on breeding thin im a 1st timer im re doing his cage this weakend and thin geting a female so they will have a good home but wont to breed thim(need to know every thong!!) :)

Answer 1

this site shows how to make one out of a refrigerator

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml

Answer 2

If you're a first time leopard gecko keeper and breeder I'd recommend you get the Advanced Vivarium Systems "Leopard Gecko Manual" by Philippe de Vosjoli, Brian Viest, Ron Tremper, and Roger Klingenberg DVM. Its a great book that covers all the basics. You can pick it up at any reptile store for around $12.

Make sure both of your animals are at a healthy body weight before you try and breed them. They will breed year round if kept together, which might not be a good idea as the male will often breed her to death. Offer her breaks between clutchs. You will notice that she is gravid because due to their thin skin you will be able to see the eggs forming in abdomen. Just lift her and look at her belly, you should see 1-2 small eggs. Once the eggs are laid try not to rotate them, leave the side that faced up then you found them up. The embryo has oxygen exchange at the top of the egg, so turning it sideways will kill the baby. Mark the up side so you don't acidentally kill the egg.

There is a lot of books out there that cover the topic of building incubators. If you want a low cost book that covers it get "Monitors, Tegus, and Related Lizards" by Bartlett and Bartlett. It has a whole section on building incubators at home. A styrofoam cooler is a great place to start, many fish stores will give you one for free if you ask. Incubation media of Vermiculite seems to have the best hatch rate, but HatchRite is starting to get a big following too. Through a small hole put heat tape or heat cable inside the incubator attatched to a digital thermometer that will shut off the power of this heating device and keep it at a constant temperature. You can purchase one of these from LLLreptiles online site for around $25. Make sure the eggs can't come into contact with the heating device! If you can rig a small fan into the system to circulate the air it might be benificial to your eggs. My friend and I built one like this for Beardie eggs, and it worked well. Just open this system for a few seconds to allow fresh air exchange every day or so. Mist around the eggs but not directly on them with fresh water every day or so. Incubation temps between 85-87 will give you a fair mix of male and female offspring (leopards are temperature sexed).

I do have to tell you that building this yourself will cost around $40-50. This is the same cost as one of the premade Hovebators you can purchase from almost anywhere. It would be a lot less work for you, especially for the small clutch size of Leopard geckos. Read as much as you can first, pick up The Leopard Gecko Manual at least before you continue! Good luck!

Answer 3

if your not dealing with alot of animals its easy with an aquarium. Place a couple pricks in the aquarium and fill the water up to the top of the bricks.... no higher. put in an under water aquarium heater and set it to about 85 degrees.
(so you get a combination of sexes) place a rubbermaid shoebox with vermiculite (from a planting store) and put the eggs in after the vermiculate is damp. drill small holes in the cover of the rubbermaid box for ventilation. place a sheet of plastic on top of the aquarium and tape it down tight then punch small holes in it for ventilataion. and presto you have an incubator for 25 bucks or less.... good oluck and lot alot of other people mentioned... get a good book from a local pet store or check out a nearby reptile show.

Answer 4

I use a styrofoam box that you buy to put ice in for the beach or picnic. I put a small hole in the top for a christmas bulb for heating. I also put vermacite potting soil on the bottom and a bowl of water for humitity.

Answer 5

You can some professional advice I guess as people here would necesarily not be having experience in breeding a leopard.

Answer 6

Keep the egg in your underwear all day. Just be careful when sitting down. Just kidding, don't do that.

Answer 7

please go do some research first there is a lot to know before you begin and people here mean well but we are not experts so go do your research first!!!

Its cruel to the animals if you dont