Breeding Frequency for Female Veileds

[Dyesub Dave]

Hey all ... I did a search on the forum but couldn't find the exact answer I was looking for. I want to know how long to wait to safely breed my female veileds again. I've heard anywhere from 2 months to 1 year from various sources.

One female laid eggs at the beginning of last October and they are hatching right now and the other female laid eggs about a 45 days ago. I was wondering if the one that has the babies hatching now is ready to breed again or should I wait until the summer or perhaps next October? I'm not in a rush to breed her I just want to make sure that I'm not doing it too soon. I don't want to diminish her life expectancy by wearing her out !!

Thanks .... Dyesub Dave.

 

[Chameleon Nation]

breeding

Dave,

I usually give my girls 3-4 months between each clutch. The girls only live 3 years tops. Some may say this is too much, but the breeder that I bought out had them all on this cycle. I bought all her incubators, tank, accessories, everything she had. She gave me the schedule that they were all on, so I just continued on with it. If you notice a girl is getting a little rough around the edges bring another in to get ready to replace her. The key to having constant clutches available is all in the timing from girl to girl.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Female veileds will live 3 years tops IF they're bred so frequently. One of my females is over 3, and has just laid a clutch of eggs. She's showing no signs of slowing down, either.

I breed her once a year, at most. I would say it's perfectly safe to breed them twice a year. when you breed them more than that, you are going to have a short-lived female.

Clutch size is also important. With moderate food intake, a female will become receptive 1 or 2 times a year, and will produce 20-40 eggs per clutch. Her lifespan will likely be 4-6 years.

If bred mroe often, or fed to increase clutch size, you're looking at around 2-3 years, less if she's laying huge clutches.

Huge clutches and multiple clutched a year tend to go hand in hand. Similar husbandry practices lead to both of these, it's rare to have one without the other.

I find it's best to watch them. See when they become receptive (bluish color on the head and back), and watch their behavior around males. When they're receptive, you'll know.

 

[boothy]

Hey Dave , most female veileds usually kick the bucket around there 6th or 7th clutch of eggs when they are around the age of 2 yrs to 3 yrs old , but there all different so you will get ones with great perfect genes that will live 4 yrs and have a batch of eggs every 90 to 100 days and act like they just layed there first clutch , my female veiled paased away there 2 weeks ago and she just layed her 10th clutch of eggs and then went down hill from there i think she just got old or she was very egg bound , and as Eric stated i to only bred my female once a yr just so it wasnt soo hard on her body and they should live alot longer to if you only breed her once a yr , to me personally she was finishing her mission to populate the world with more of her species by just breeding and hatching eggs out once a yr and you will get more time to spend with your girl, but if your just into it for breeding sakes i wouldnt expect a female to live longer then 2 yrs because of breeding and laying so many eggs in so short of time because if allowed they can produce anywheres from 30 to 80 eggs every 90 to 100 days, so roughly 200 eggs can be layed in one yr and thats puts soo much stress on a female it isnt even funny, it takes a load of nutrients out of there bodies to just produce eggs and in some cases the female will die laying eggs it takes soo much out of her , some even get MBD because all there calcium went to making eggs so alot of breeding can result in alot of sicknesses or death and i totally agree with Eric once a yr is fine but two is just to hard on them if you ask me so keep with it once a yr and your female will live a long and healthy life and you will be glad to have her around longer