The demand for our new Breeders Bundles has been so great we’ve decided to increase the selection by adding our new Morph Maker Breeders Bundles. These amazing new bundles have the ability to create several different morphs within first generation breeding. We’ve selected from of our most extreme morphs to give you a bundle that offers great value and exciting opportunity. These are available in both the regular and new junior Breeders Bundles sizes. With a developing interest in reptiles from the public we are seeing an increasing demand for Leopard Geckos. We attribute this to their entry level status, charming appearance and investment appeal. These amazing creatures continue to attract pet owners, hobbyist and breeders alike and we are thrilled be working with such a special group of them. Customers from all over the globe put our geckos in very high demand and as a result our availability pages continue to sell out quickly. In an effort to meet this demand we have just updated our web site with over 100 new Leopard Geckos for sale including 20 new Breeders Bundles. We invite you to take a moment to view some of the amazing geckos being offered. When you see one you like be sure to contact us right away so you don’t miss out. Click here to view the available Leopard Geckos.

Click here to view the available Leopard Geckos.

Egg preparation.

We often get e-mails and phone calls asking what is the best way to prepare eggs for incubation? Although we have covered this in a previous issue it’s clearly a hot topic and one that we feel deserves being discussed again. Getting eggs is an exciting step in the breeding process but for those that are not familiar with proper egg preparation methods it can be quite stressful. Now that your geckos have handed this part of the process over to you, the last thing you want to is to let them down. Here are 5 simple steps that have been successful for us in preparing our eggs:

Items that you will need:
• A large container for mixing
• Medium grade vermiculite
• Access to luke warm water
• A plastic Tupperware container approximately 2” deep with a tight fitting lid
• Strong hands

Step 1: Using your mixing container, fill it approximately 2/3 full with medium grade vermiculite. Then using luke warm water fill the mixing container ½ full with luke warm water and then mix it all together.	Step 2: Using your hands, take fistfuls of the wet vermiculite and squeeze as hard as you can until no more water is dripping from the bottoms of your fists.	Step 3: Add the squeezed vermiculite into the Tupperware container and fluff it up. Repeat steps 1 through 4 until the Tupperware container is approximately ¾ full. Gently tap the container against your work surface so as to tamp the mixture down.	Step 4: Using your finger make a small divit. Remove the egg from the nesting area and position it within the divit so that half of the egg is below the surface.	Step 5: Place the Tupperware container in your incubator and set the temperature at 80F to 82F to produce females and 88F to 90F to produce males. Using these incubation temperatures you can expect males to hatch in approximately 48 days and females in approximately 60 days. During the incubation period open the lid twice a week to allow a fresh air exchange and also be sure to wipe excess condensation away from the lid. Last and but not least good luck!

The 2008 breeding season is in full swing here at The Urban Gecko. In our last newsletter I mentioned that egg production had started – well now our incubators seem to be the hub of activity at the facility all day long. The day usually starts off with us checking the nesting containers of our breeding females and then moves to checking the egg containers in the incubator. Pulling the new hatchlings seems to be the job of choice these days – everyone wants to be the first to get a look at the new babies! We have several first time pairings and all of us here can hardly wait to see what is produced. In fact, one of our most anticipated hatchings is our Albino Patternless Fat-Tailed Gecko project. These are due to start hatching in the next couple of weeks. Behind the scenes we have been continually building and expanding our business – not just in geckos but also in pythons, colubrids, bearded dragons and chameleons. And while a lot of these projects didn’t take up too much room as babies – as adults they are quickly growing us out of our current facility. So we are in the midst of planning an expansion into our second building. Although I’m not looking forward to all of the headaches the construction always seems to bring – we can hardly wait to have the extra space. It will give us the opportunity to take our business to the next level. It is definitely a very exciting year for us!

Till next time. Lori