Another new first time breeder

[SciFiFan42]

Hi Everyone,

I know my post is one of many, but I'm another new "gecko mother" with a few questions.

My female raptor and male sunglow were introduced on June 18th. I've been following my female's progress, and knew she was due to lay her eggs any day now (I've known for the past two weeks, actually). I kept her moist hide moist, filled it with a bit of extra moss, etc. For the past three days, she was constantly in there digging, and made many trips back and forth from the moist hide to her regular, heated hide.

Sometime between 2:00 and 4:00am early this morning, she laid her eggs...but not in the moist hide! She laid them outside of her other hide near the heater. They were far enough from the center of the heater that they were only slightly warm, but when I found them at 7:00am this morning, they had a few very small dents in them (probably two or so a piece). Also, they had stuck to the bottom of the paper towel that I use for bedding.

I carefully removed them from the paper towel, placed them in a container filled with Hatchrite and placed this (closed and air tight) into my Hovabator which is currently at 84 degrees. Before I did this, I "candled" the eggs, and both had a red ring / bull's eye at the top.

My questions are as follows:

1. Despite the dents, the eggs are bright white and have a bull's eye. I'm sure they were only sitting outside the moist hide for about 5 hours. Does it sound like they could still be fertile, despite the lack of humidity?

2. Due to their less than optimal laying position, should I add a small teaspoon of water to the Hatchrite? I know many posts (and the bag itself) claim that no water is needed, but will eggs like mine need a little bit to fill in those small dents? I dug small holes in the Hatchrite medium, so that the eggs are about level with the top of the Hatchrite material (i.e. about 1/2 buried) and sealed the container (no holes). I do have a small baggie of water in the Hovabator as well, as per some posts on this forum.

3. The bottom of the eggs may still have a small amount of paper towel attached. Is this okay, or should I attempt to do something about it?

This is my girl's first time laying eggs, so perhaps she'll do better next time and lay them in the moist hide, but I sure hope these little guys make it. It's my first time breeding, too, and I'd like it to be a success.

Thanks in advance for any answers / help you can provide!

Sarah

 

[Kristi23]

If you see a bullseye, then the eggs are fertile. It's hard to stay if they'll stay good and hatch. You just have to wait and see. The small amount of paper towel should be fine.

I don't know anything about hatchrite, so I can't answer that question for you.

Good luck!

 

[SciFiFan42]

Thanks!

Thanks for your help Kristi. One egg is doing just fine, with no dents that I can see through the container. The other one dented in quite a bit, so I put a small moist paper towel over it and placed it in a separate container. It doesn't seem to have recovered yet, so it may have gone bad. If so, I'll hopefully still have the one good egg.

The only problem with that first egg was that it had a slightly grayish, translucent looking spot on the top in addition to the bull's eye. Could that be trouble? I hope not, as it seems like my best chance at the moment!

Sarah

 

[Kingofdeath]

Even though Hatchrite may seem dry so far ive hatched out 4 healthy geckos. But what i did when i first got it i put some water in the bag itself and mixed it up abit.

 

[vicente828]

How much water did you add to the bag?? and as i understand the eggs dont need humidity?

 

[mynewturtle]

The best thing now to do, is set your eggs in the incubator and forget about them! Best way to incubate.

 

[SciFiFan42]

Hatchrite

Thanks for the contribution KingOfDeath...I actually have a baggie of water in the incubator next to the egg containers. I heard a few people on these boards recommend that. I hoping that provides surrounding humidity, although I can't see what good it will do when the containers are air tight. Can't hurt, I suppose.

MyNewTurtle -- great advice. I'll definitely try to follow that, although I think I've been in the room where I keep the incubator nearly 20 times today! :main_laugh:

 

[Kristi23]

Thanks for the contribution KingOfDeath...I actually have a baggie of water in the incubator next to the egg containers. I heard a few people on these boards recommend that. I hoping that provides surrounding humidity, although I can't see what good it will do when the containers are air tight. Can't hurt, I suppose.

MyNewTurtle -- great advice. I'll definitely try to follow that, although I think I've been in the room where I keep the incubator nearly 20 times today! :main_laugh:

The baggie of water will help keep the temp more consistent with less flucuations.

Eggs do need humidity. There are quite a few people here who have used hatchrite, so hopefully they can offer some advice.

As for the greyish spot, it may or may not be an issue. Try giving your female more calcium and see if her next eggs look better.

Good luck!

 

[fOOlsgOld]

I had my girl lay two eggs on 6/5 and when I came back from a weekend out of town I saw that one of the eggs was dented quite a bit. I cut a square out of a sock (ya I know but I was out of paper towels rofl) wet it in the sink and laid it over the egg. Kept it there for 4 days, spraying the sock and AROUND the egg (not on it) and it swelled back up and is actually the bigger of the two eggs now.
As far as hatchrite I can not give you any advice on this as I have used perlite. GL though, totally understand the 'new (gecko) momma' feelings lol. Going through my first season this year too. Waiting for my first clutch to hatch around the end of the month.

 

[SciFiFan42]

Still good, I think. Heart?

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the tips! I think both eggs are still good as, merely two days after laying the bull's eyes are still as bright as ever (I know, I shouldn't be checking and I will stop soon). Also, on the dented egg, the paper towel seems to have helped it solidify a lot. Yesterday, I happened to notice that, at the center of the bull's eye in the dented egg, something very small was pulsing. From reading another post on this forum (http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=38453), I realized it was the heart -- so I knew the little guy was okay. I checked again tonight, and I couldn't see it, but I'm hoping that's because it's already begun to shift a bit out of my field of view.

I couldn't see a pulsing object at the center of my other egg, but that egg is strong and white and still has its bull's eye as well. Hopefully, everything's going smoothly.

The Hatchrite does seem to be working, as I'm seeing condensation on the bottom of the containers (another post mentioned that this is normal, so long as it's not above the Hatchrite level or on the egg, etc.

Now, I think that I can rest a bit easier, put aside the "new gecko mamma" syndrome, and leave the little guys alone for a while. If I can resist the urge to once a week (when I need to open the containers for gas / air exchange), maybe I'll have even bigger developments to report!

Thanks again for all of your help, everyone!

Sarah