Late Bloomers - Is It Male or Female?

Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)

Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)

Chahoua Hatchling
Messages
89
I have a chahoua that is about 1.5 years of age and weighs around 60 grams. I bought this gecko as unsexed and have raised it since it was maybe 15 grams. From the time I have had it, I regularly louped the Chahoua to try and sex it. Up until about a month or so ago, I had thought it was 100% female. No doubt about it. Now, with the naked eye, and even more so with a loupe, I can see some pores. Like maybe 20 or so. When examined closer, the pores look like legitimate male pores. Tiny greyish/black dots in the center of the scale, kinda like a blackhead. Nothing like a psuedo pore which I have seen before on a couple different New Cal. Species. The weird thing is is that the gecko is 60 grams, not really showing any sign of a male bulge, and the rows of pores are broken and not full rows. The pores are more prevalent towards the underside of the hind legs where the rows nornally branch out towards and not so much above the vent in the center of the geckos body.

What I am wondering is what is the longest it has taken for a chahoua to show male signs for you? How old was the gecko and how much did it weigh? I have easily sexed male chahoua at 6-10 grams, but I have noticed that some don't show signs until they are a little older, but never this old. I am hoping that some of you member's can chime in on this topic with your personal experience. Sorry for lack of pics, but the pores are hard to capture on camera. Any information is appreciated.
 
Michael

Michael

The Chahoua Chamber
Staff member
Messages
381
Location
Atlanta, GA
So... just to be sure... your gecko is a female, right? :ROFLMAO:

I've had some late bloomers, but none that late. I think the latest I had a male drop pores was around 25g, and before that, I would have absolutely said "confirmed female."

If I recall correctly from my previous years of breeding leopard and fat tail geckos, there was a concept of "hot females" which was used to describe females that were incubated closer to temperatures that usually produced male geckos. (Yes, I know those species are temperature sex dependent and chahoua are not.) The reason I bring that up is some "hot" females were noted to have pseudo pores and they generally were harder to pair up with males. The unofficially official thought was that they had more male hormones/testosterone than normal females.

I wonder if every now and then, something happens where a gecko's sex is determined in a way that yields some confusing visual cues? Or if there can be a hormone imbalance during development?
 
Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)

Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)

Chahoua Hatchling
Messages
89
Well as of right now I can't confirm. Could be a hermaphrodite 😂. I am honestly leaning towards female at the moment just because the lack of the bulge for its weight and age. I guess time will tell.

The "Hot Female" is a really interesting concept. It seems possible that somewhere along the line during incubation, some sort of factor played a role in interrupting/influencing hormones, resulting in a more masculine female that shows some male characteristics. I would like to know more about this and if it happens in other species of gecko, or reptiles in general.
 
Frogmom

Frogmom

Chahoua Egg
Messages
21
I have never seen the line of male pores ‘ broken ‘. You can also shine a light on male pores and you will learn to recognize a bit of shine that you don’t see with pseudo pores. It’s the waxy secretion coming out. I suspect this begins at full sexual maturity of males . I would venture a guess at 18 months ?
 
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