Chat Week on Kingsnake.com
Sunday, December 8, 2002
Kelli Hammack
Leopard Geckos
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matt2: Tonight is Kingsnake.com's 4th annual Chat Week
matt2: our Guest tonight is Kelli Hammack
matt2: Albinoleo
AlbinoLeo: What has been your success with your PA...breeding project?
KelliH: welli have been quite successful with that project, i produced several patternless albinos this year
KelliH: they have done fantastic for me, no problems of any sort
KelliH: our very first pa's hatched in 00 by accident actually
KelliH: they popped out of our het rainwater albino group, it was a very nice surprise
JerryLewis: Can you descibe the natual habitat of the LEO and I see my Leo eat " SANI CHIPS " once in awhile LLL uses SANI CHIPS to, they help sponsor this site. is it ok for leos to eat sani chips once in awhile
KelliH: leopard geckos occur in pakistan , afganistan, in desert areas with some rocky areas
KelliH: jerry, you may want to remove the sani chips and use either paper towels or perhaps washed playsand as a substrate
JerryLewis: i heard playsand was the worst because of impaction is this true?
KelliH: leos have a tendancy to ingest their substrate when they are feeding, i would be worried about the chips causing an inpaction
KelliH: jerry, i used washed childrens playsand for years and i had zero impaction problems
JerryLewis: ok what kind of sand do they live on in nature?
KelliH: so i would have to say that playsand is ok
JerryLewis: k ty
JerryLewis: for any size leo?
KelliH: your welcome...next
matt2: horneytoad
hornytoad: kelli how are you ?just wondering what you house your leo's in ?
KelliH: fine, thanks for asking! i house all of my leopard geckos in rack systems
KelliH: they are all heated with heat tape hooked up to a thermostat
hornytoad: sweater boxs
KelliH: i set the thermostat at 90 degrees
KelliH: my adults are kept in blanket boxes and sweater boxes, hatchlings and juveniles are kept in shoeboxes
KelliH: i use paper towel for a substrate, adults are given a hide box and a humidity chamber (nest box)
JerryLewis: what do you use as substrate in those boxes?
JerryLewis: nm
KelliH: paper towel
MattJ: do you house hatchlings individually then?
KelliH: matt j - i raise clutchmated together until they reach around 15-20 grmas, then each goes into their own box
KelliH: next
hornytoad: thanks
matt2: meltone2:
meltone2: ... I was wondering if you have ever hatched out the so called "blue" or "bluish" albino leos that are purportedly out there?
KelliH: meltone2 - no i have not unfortunatly, i would love to see what one looks like! i have heard that ron tremper is working on a blue line of albinos but i have not seen them yet
KelliH: sounds very interesting though
KelliH: next
Rakell: What do you think about the way the market of leopard geckos has fallen in the past year? Do you believe prices will continue to fall or do
KelliH: rakell - i think the market is very unpredictable right now
KelliH: i know that this year i was having to wholesale lots of normals, jungles and high yellows for $7 a piece and it really bugged me
KelliH: there are just so many people out there breeding leos right now, the market is just flooded with them
KelliH: i do feel that the more valuable varieties such as hypo tangerines and hypo carrottails will continue to hold their value for the next couple of years at least.
KelliH: next
LeoEyes: Do you think that leos can actually bond with their owners, I have this one male (Apollo) who insits on coming out almost ever night and sitting on my shoulder, sometimes he even falls asleep there.
KelliH: LeoEyes, I have had leopard geckos that definitely seemed to bond with me, especially at feeding time, so i think it is true that they associate their owners with food
KelliH: i used to keep my adults in vision cages with glass fronts that opened and they always ran up to the front of the enclosure at feeding time
KelliH: next
wahberee: ok, question, "how much do you think patternless albino's will cost in 2003?"
KelliH: wahberee, i think that they will be right around $250 - $300 at the beginning of the year. The prices will drop a little as the season progresses but with patternless albinos being a double recessive trait, they are a bit more difficult to reproduce in significant numbers
KelliH: so i think they will hold their value well for at least a couple more years
KelliH: next
PAULIE: I noticed my leos get nervous together . One time they fought . Should I keep only 1 leo in my 20 gallon long or can i buy a 2nd leo for it. I put my other leo in a 10 gallon
KelliH: PAULIE - i believe that leopard geckos can be kept in colonies of 2 or more as long as they all are getting enough food and not fighting excessively. a 20 gallon long is fine for 2 female leos, or even a male and 2 females if you prefer
KelliH: never house more than one male together of course as they will fight
KelliH: next
WaxWormFan: What are your feelings on the inbreeding that frequently occurs with this species by private breeders?
KelliH: excellent question!
KelliH: i have been breeding leopard geckos for several years now, and i always believed that inbreeding was perfectly fine (per Tremper and the Leopard Gecko Manual)
KelliH: however as time went on i began to notice some problems with hatchlings ie. weak hatchlings, eye deformities, etc.
KelliH: i feel that inbreeding is ok for 2 or 3 years max, then one shoudl bring in new blood to strengthen their colonies.
KelliH: now i try to bring in a couple of unrelated males every year or two, and i have found that my hatchlings are stronger and seem to grow quicker also
KelliH: outcrossing is always a good idea when breeding reptiles in general.
KelliH: next
AskKelli:
snmreptiles: I'm curious of your thoughts on the "Giants", and if you plan on breeding them?
KelliH: i think the giants are a very interesting project. i toyed with the idea of investing in some this year but i am still a bit unsure on the genetics factor with those, whether it is a simple recessive trait or more of a selectively bred trait. as more hobbiests start producing these it will be cleare, and i will most likely get into them at some point. i for one would love to have a giant carrottail or patternless albino!
KelliH: next
royalgoldreps: What do you know about the compatibility of the different strains of albino when combined with the other recessive traits? Are there any that are just not possible to create double homozygous with?
KelliH: i have heard from some other breeders that some of the traits are not compatible, although i have never experienced this firsthand.
KelliH: i am working with double hets (Bell albino X Rainwater albino) that are 50% het patternless, should be pretty fun. i did hear from others that they were having an extremely hard time hatching out blazing blizzards
KelliH: i think mark bell had hundreds of double het x double het eggs incubating and only hatched a small amount of blazing blizzards, like less than 5!
KelliH: next
Gibby: Will Blazing Blizzards really start to hit the scene next year, and if you think so, how much do you think they will run?
KelliH: i am not sure if they will really start to hit the market next year or not as i believe that there are not many in exhistance at this time
KelliH: if they are available next year i would guess they will be at least $750 if not more, but prehistoric pets sort of controls the market on those so it's really just a guess on my part
KelliH: next
Kinglover: What do you think is the best substrate for them? What do you think about calci-sand?
KelliH: kinglover- i think paper towel is the best substrate for leos. lots of people feel that washed playsand is not a good substrate because of impaction issues but i have never experienced that. i personally dislike calci sand mainly because when i used it for a short time i noticed it was turning the geckos feet and stomachs the color of the sand.
KelliH: that bothered me so i discontinued using it. i think if you want to use sand as a substrate washed kids playsand is your best bet, and it's very inexpensive also
KelliH: but i do feel that paper towel or newspaper is the best substrate
KelliH: next
Reptiluvr: hi kelli, what do you use for vitamin/mineral and calcium supplementation? Have some been better than others? I know Corey Sawyer uses Osteo-Form, ever used this?
KelliH: I use MinerAll and have for several years now, with fantastic results. i have never used Osteo-Form myself, i believe it is a calcium supplement for farm animals... not really sure on that one
KelliH: i have had nothing but good luck with MinerAll so that is what i recommend
KelliH: next
SirRandal: kelli, you are doing a great job
CassieMacD: my son wants a gecko for Christmas, but I'm afraid this is not appropriate for his age. He is 12. Do you have any suggestoins on where I could learn more?
KelliH: randal, you are too kind
KelliH: CassieMacD - a great place to start is by asking questions in some of the online forums, like the Leopard Gecko forum here on kingsnake. also you should consider purchasing "The Leopard Gecko Manual", it is a really good book on leo husbandry
KelliH: Also, call a reputable breeder and ask them anything you need to know.. i feel that leopard geckos are one of the easiest reptiles to keep in captivity, and they make great pets
KelliH: next
MattJ: I had a pair of hatchlings earlier this year, one of which had very ad problems with walking and semmingly could not stand up, always moving on its elbows, so to speak. It never grew past hatchling size, and eventually died because it would not eat. The other one grew very healthy and is doing great, but I seem to notice it occaisionally falls in teh same way teh other did. What do you think this is?
KelliH: matt - that sounds like a calcium defeciency to me, when leos aren't supplemented with enough calcium they can develop metabolic bone disease
KelliH: if you were supplementing properly it could be that the babies were just genetically weak (goes back to the inbreeding issue) and would never have thrived.
KelliH: next
CrazyCorn: are you working on any new morphs? And why Leos?
KelliH: crazycorn - my goal within the next few years is to produce a solid orange albino. right now i am working on that and also working with patternless albinos, super hypo tangerines and carrot tails mainly. i also have a small colony of blizzards and some nice striped jungles, as well as the Bell line of albinos
KelliH: i work with leopard geckos because i love working with them, i enjoy hatching out babies, raising them to adult size, breeding them, holding them, i love everything about them!
KelliH: next
Gibby: Are there any definite triple het leo morphs out there, or maybe even leos homozygous for three different traits? Do you have anything on the "DL" you might want to unveil?
jeffb: welp, we're up on the hour..our thanks to Kelli hammack for taking of her time to be here tonight
KelliH: i am working with some triple het (patternless, albino, blizzard) that i hatched this year. these should be a lot of fun to breed because (statistically) i should get blizzards, albinos, patternless, patternless albinos, blazing blizzards and banana blizzards.
KelliH: thanks so much for having me as a guest, i really have enjoyed it
