So to start out…
In the middle of October I started decreasing hours of heat and temperature in my breeder leopard geckos. This is the first time I have intentionally tried to slow them down and guide them into brumation. I did my research and plenty of it using sites I trust. I took them off food weeks before to prevent undigested food from rotting while they were “sleeping”. By the beginning of November they were down to about 66 degrees and I put them in the area I prepped. They’ve been there for almost a month. When I bring them back out I will slowly bring the temp back up and essentially just reverse the process. I wrote all of this to give you an idea of what I did so that you could maybe answer my next question a little easier.
Everywhere I look for this information, it will explain brumation with a decent amount of detail EXCEPT for when to breed them afterward. I’m asking how many weeks should I wait after bringing them out of brumation to pair them up. I’ve bred them before but never out of a real brumation. Do I have to wait for them to lay a clutch? Please help me figure this out.
I can’t give you a direct answer as to leopard geckos as I’ve never had them breed before, however I know bearded dragons are normally good to go around 1-2 weeks after after coming out of brumation.
Also I’m just double checking, your gecko is in its second year of life right?
Just like nearly all animals, breeding too early can cause problems either instantly or over time.
So basically with leopard geckos you need to wait until the female is “ovulating” (it’s not actual ovulation, what you’re seeing are the follicles building but everyone in the leo hobby calls it ovulation…) before introducing them. If the female is not ovulating she will usually reject the male and they can be fairly aggressive when doing so. Leopard geckos don’t need to brumate, it’s really just for the convenience of syncing up the ovulations so you have a more set schedule of when eggs are being laid. I’ve never cooled my leos but I would guess they’d start ovulating within a month after warming them up. I’d just check your females once a week for signs of follicle growth, which is what I do w/o brumating once January rolls around each year. Let me know if you have any questions about breeding them in general 
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Thank you very much.
Ya I’ve never had them brumate before but I’m starting to get serious with my breeding projects and I wanted to sync the females up as much as I could. Once again, thank you!
How do you check for follicles? I know how to look if they are gravid with eggs, but I never looked for follicles.
Honestly, checking for follicles accurately can be difficult and isn’t really generally necessary (similar to brumation). I am much more familiar with mammals, so my explanation might need correction (anybody- feel free to correct me):
Follicles are tiny sacs of fluid that contain the ovum before it is fertilized & becomes an embryo. Once the follicle releases the ovum, it enters the reproductive tract & that is where it is (or is not) fertilized and then develops into an egg.
So spotting follicles, if you see them, indicates that your female is reproductively active & that it’s likely a good time to try and breed her. They look sort of like small pink blobs that are generally smaller than the whiter blobs you see with eggs or fat bodies.
All that said, it’s not really necessary to be able to identify follicles. Leopard geckos generally reproduce pretty easily (the difficult part is the raising of the babies), sometimes even outside the breeding season. Constantly checking for follicles might stress out your females, so I don’t generally bother unless mating is unsuccessful.
The female will usually chase away the male if she is not fertile at that moment. So, instead of checking for follicles, I watch to see if the female is receptive to the male’s courtship. If she is not & chases him away, I separate them & try again 2 days later.
There are many different ways to successfully breed leos. I can only tell you how I’ve done things, but there are lots of other methods that can work.
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Why do you say the difficult part is the raising of the babies? That’s personally my favorite part.
I meant difficult as in ‘challenging,’ not as in ‘unenjoyable labor.’
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