Burmating Geckos in Cairns?

[mummabear]

Geckos of breeding age is still a season or 2 off but my mind is wanting to know all the ins and outs. My main addiction is geckos. Particular the Rough-Knob Tails. My question to all my fellow keepers is, "Who have brumated and not burmated their breeding geckos?" What has been the observations in success rates of breeding either way? If not cooled will they still breed but not to their full potential?
Other question I have is i live in Cairns. How do you cool geckos in such a warm climate? Who has done it and is it possible? What did you do? My outside overnight temps seam to get down to 16-18 but my day time temps are mid to high 20s.
Who feeds thought the cooling period and who doesn't? Don't the geckos know if there is not enough heat to digests not to eat? Can you still feed them and let them choose if they are hungry?
Will i just be admiring my beautiful, fascinating animals or will i get the see the miracle of hatching?
Looking forward to the wealth of knowledge and experience out there.
Mummabear

 

[mummabear]

I will experiment with cooling (as much as is possible in Cairns) and not cooling but would still like to hear from someone with past experience. Anyone with observations and experiences?

 

[Waterrat]

Give the guys at Cairns Tropical Zoo a call. They bred geckos there for years.

 

[mummabear]

Cheers Waterrat. Will give them a call.

 

[warren63]

For brumation for my geckos, i use 2 methods. first one for thicktails, leaf tails & some local species of oeduras which do not have any heat throughout the year, i just allow the natural ambient the whole year and offer no heat during winter. Here on the Gold Coast the coldest i have recorded my gecko tanks is 6 degrees and none suffer any ill effects. Currently the coldest temperature i have recorded this year is 19 degrees. Currenlty the ambient temperature is between 19-20 degrees, but assume today that is lower as its freezing !! Once it starts to warm up again from about August i put their nest boxes in. From about May i have reduced feeding both quantity and regularity. They are still active but still turn their noses up some nights if i place in some crickets. The other method i use for my other Oedura, Ringtails etc which are kept on heat is to reduce the temperature from the beginning of May and also reduce feeding as previously mentioned. During the months of June/July the thermostat is set about 18 degrees so if the temperature drops below that then the heat will turn on. From August i start to turn up the heat a few degrees every couple of weeks till im back to about 29-30 degrees. Hope that helps. Even though you may think winter isnt that cold in Cairns your herps will notice the difference in the temperature and adjust accordingly

 

[mummabear]

Thanks warren63 for your input. Ive notices the temps dropping so I'm sure my little fellas do too. My thicktails have reduced their feeding slightly over the last month. I have recently put them by a window at night so will be interesting to see how their behavior and eating patterns change. I know they like the cold. I felt a little guilty bring them up here. But they did OK through our summer.