Pore Development

[SarahW]

About 5 months ago, I underwent a personal quest to discover at what age/weight a gecko may "develop" pores, or if they were present from hatching.

I have been closely monitoring a group of 8 babies, all around 1 gram in size at acquisition, for pore development. So far, out of those 8, I have determined 3 to be male. All three were seen with pores at exactly 3 grams of weight. The 5 remaining juveniles are at this moment looking female still. All geckos are at least 4 grams or above now, and those that I have determined to be male are still showing pores. I am louping these geckos with a 30x loupe.

Has anyone else been monitoring their hatchling's sex development? The Rhac Bible has written that pore development goes hand-in-hand with hemipenile bulge development, but with the number of geckos that I have successfully sexed male and female without unexpected "sex change" surprises past 3 grams, I would have to say that in this case, the Rhac Bible is false *cringe*.

Discuss?

[dcarter]

While I do agree pores show well before the bulge begins to become apparent I have had geckos develope pores after the ten gram mark hence my national lets drop a bulge day blog, lol. I got two hatchlings from AC who were about 5 grams and at the time neither showed pores for sure (used microscope), I hand louped them around 10-12 grams and at that time I thought I could see pores on one, but that one is very heavily spotted so I wasn't quite sure. The other though showed no signs of pores until this month when upon a cage cleaning I saw what looked like a bulge and relouped both to find very obvious pores I also have seen pores on geckos as small as 3 grams too so it must vary a lot.

[zuk450]

BLASPHEMY!!! lol maybe the rhac bible meant the pores may be present at an earlier age/weight, but not developed enough to actually function untill around hemipenile bulge develpoment?

[dcarter]

The pores don't function though really. I think it is agreed pores are seen before the bulge for sure but i would like to see if anyone else has had them develope so late.

[Salzy]

Sarah, I am currently doing the exact same thing every week with 13 crested geckos under the 5 gram mark. I am also closely paying attention to 1 chahoua and 2 gargoyles under 8 grams. Right now I've got my ideas of what is male and what is female, but I'm not saying anything is absolutely clear at this point. I'm even using a lighted lens, and can see much better than with my 30x loupe.

I did this with offspring from my '07 crossings as well and was 100% accurate (not bragging, probably just lucky at that time) on gecko's genders under 5 grams. So, I do feel that people can accurately tell what sex a gecko is down to a certain weight range, but there is always some variability and good chances of being wrong also.

[Salzy]

I thought I would dig up this thread and give a quick update on a finding I made today.

I weighed and louped one of our juvies today that hatched on 5/10/09 (just under 4 months old as of now). The gecko weighs 2.8 grams today, and I am able to clearly see pores. There is an entire dark line of them, not the spotty patches sometimes seen during pore development. There is no mistaking that this one is male. This is very interesting, because I think it's the smallest and youngest crested gecko I've seen with distinct pores. I've seen a few of them showing potential to be male at this size, but nothing absolute until they were a bit larger and older. This one is still quite young and tiny, so it blows my mind to be seeing this already.

[CaledonianExotics]

I have always taken it that a crested can for sure be a male at any weight, e.i. you can see pores. A female crested on the other hand can only be for sure over 20 gram range. Usually by that point its for sure, but had some close pull a switch on me.
I had a "female" crested that showed no pores until about 16g's. I was sure at that point that I had a female that I was setup to by a male for but 2 weeks later I noticed a bulge start to develop and what do you know a male with developed pores.
I always shy away from people that say female on a 10 gram crested. I think there is no for sure until its at least 20 grams.

Just my .02
JR

[Kris]

I know sexing relies heavily on the weight and SVL but can anyone give me an average age as to when the pores and bulge start developing?The gecko I am getting is about 3 months old and about 3in SVL.I'm not getiing him/her until Sept.13th so have not been able to look for pores but there is no sign of a bulge yet.

[murkyturtle]

Kris,
A 3 month old gecko will not have a bulge; but with a 30x loupe, you MAY be able to see pores (if you can get him/her to hold still long enough to get a decent view).

[Kris]

Thanks for the info.I have the equipment and will check for pore development when I get him/her.