I had an amazing season last year, this season has sucked for me. I only have a few pairs so I don't have nearly as many, but last season one pair laid 4 clutches, all but one egg was fertile, another pair (my oldest pair) laid 3 clutches, all but one was infertile, the newest pair had 2 clutches, again 1 infertile egg. This season I have 2 clutches from my power house pair from last season, my oldest pair has laid 2 clutches one set being infertile and she is gravid again, and the newest pair has laid 2 clutches. I've had a couple pip and die. Now I had eggs laid in March which was a bit later than in previous years, I had trouble warming up the gecko room so that may be the cause for delay when normally I start finding eggs at the end of January as they naturally start going before I really heat the room up. So next year I am going to try and heat up in January and bit the electric bill bullet.
I keep my pairs together, they get along I don't want to ruin a good thing, and thus so far I like the babies they produce so I don't want to split them. I do know I will likely split up a pairing in a couple of years unless I find a different male sometime between this year and next year. I have an available male for that female but he isnt exactly what I would pair with her, and I plan to put him with a different female once she is old enough. So that will be my first time splitting a pair.
As far as what determines my pairing, the first pair, well was the only female I could get my hands on lol. The second pair I bought them as a pair, they complement each other so well. They didnt produce for their previous owner but they obviously have for me and their babies turn out with with really nice color. The last pair I am pairing based on pastels, and pastels running in their line. I kept one kid, an early 2019 hatchling from the 2018 season, so I cant wait to see how she turns out. Like I said I don't have a lot of pairs, but my plot will be much like the other species I work with, I look at the lineage to see how consistent the lines are and compare it to what I have and when I plan to produce. For me white collars are not my biggest concern, color is more of my top priority, I however have a white collar in each of my pairings so I still produce a good number of those also.
I do want to note though when we look at temps we have to remember where those temps are taken, and we also have to take into consideration the air pressure also. Ever wonder why hermit crabs act the way that they do when its high tide and you live nowhere near an ocean? Because they feel pressure changes. Breeding is stimulated by photo period, air pressure, and temps, people often forget it is more than just temperature. I think my biggest problem was I let the room stay at 70 degrees, but with their basking light it was around 72. This season I am going to push the daytime the daytime temps to 72 and that will push the chahoua up to around 74.
Not enough research has been done on the wild population of these guys, I think we pretty well touched base on that with the PI/ML is keeping locales separate post. I think we are missing key information, could be dietary, could be husbandry, really no idea since nobody has spent enough time there yet to do a several year study on them.
