BABY HAD A BABY

[whkrazyk]

hi guys/gals,
ive heard that leos will make eggs and lay them even if they are not introduced to a male, the egg just wont be fertile, but one of my baby geckos, shes only 33 grams, laid 2 non-fertile eggs yesterday, is it common for them to do that, her clutch mate is 44 grams and hasnt laid any eggs, and i have 2 more geckos born in the same week, and are both over her weight and havent laid any eggs, and the eggs were very small. thanks for your input..........kyle

 

[whkrazyk]

anyone?

 

[italipinos8]

I would say just give her lots of calcium and food. Are you sure it was her who laid the eggs?

 

[Dan K.]

female leo's will lay egg's even though no male is around my cousin's dose about once or twice a year and she has never been with a male

 

[whkrazyk]

im sure it was her, i keep all my females seperate, i knew they would lay eggs without a male, i just wasnt sure they would do it so young, she was 35 grams last week, now shes 33 after laying the eggs, i just found it wierd that one of my youngest and smallest geckos laid non fertile eggs, while the bigger ones have not done so

 

[lillith]

My bratty enigma princess (Citrina) is doing the exact same thing, she's a virgin (so to speak), and has never been introduced to a male.

I was SO happy lately that she was finally putting some fat on her tail, since she started out so very very small and skinny when she arrived. She's still smaller than everyone else her age (and younger! some of my hatchlings from December are almost as big as she is by now!)

After she shed last weekend, I was doing the weekly tank cleanout and was scoping out how she's coloring up nicely (yes, I'll get some pics up sooner or later), to my horror I noticed eggs developing!

Have I been feeding her too well!?? is there any way to switch her off? I'm so afraid she'll lose too much weight right when she needs it the most. She's my finicky eater, she won't eat it unless it isn't crunchy. This means just-shed mealies and waxies for the most part.

Should I increase the waxies in her diet temporarily until she lays to prevent weight loss? It looks like she's ovulating a second set, I really hope I'm wrong.

 

[RampantReptiles]

Definitely dont switch her over to waxworms. You can still feed them occasionally but if you go full time that will just make things worse. They can get hooked on them and you will have a hard time switching back over.

Might just have to grin and bear it so to speak. Like the other person said, increase calcium uptake and let nature take its course. There will always be time later to fatten her back up.

 

[Kristi23]

I had a female do that last year. She was only 35 grams or so and had never been with a male. She only laid one clutch of slugs. This year I have an 85 gram female who has laid two clutches of slugs without being with a male. Most of the time they don't lay them though.

 

[whkrazyk]

I hyave about 6 females now laying slugs, they are all around 35-40 grams, its frustrating cause im trying to get them to breeding weight and here they go wasting it all lol.

 

[lillith]

Okay, so I officially weighed her, she's 39 grams right now. Brat.

Maybe everyone on this thread could kind of keep tabs on it/give updates on how their girls are doing? It would be useful to me to see how other smallish females react to this sort of thing.

It might be helpful for future reference (maybe??)

On another note, when I first got her she would not eat anything for almost a month. I was really freaked out because she was so very very small (last fall my original scale got soaked, I just replaced it tonight...I know...BAD gecko mommy!); my guess is she was around 22 grams and just over 5 inches...and she was 9 months old. I gently coerced her into gecko slurry at that point because I really was afraid she'd waste away otherwise. I tried mealworms after 2 months of daily to every-other day slurry feedings. Nope. I tried crickets, roaches, superworms. I went to waxworms out of desperation, I know they aren't a good staple. She will eat those, snarfed them right down like that was what she'd been waiting for.

I've conditioned her to eat just-shed mealies over time; but I think it will be awhile until I can get her to eat just plain old crunchy mealies. I mentioned this in another thread recently but I'm trying to explain the rationale behind why I think it might be good to temporarily up her waxie percentage to 30-40% of her diet. I don't know how else I'm going to get enough calcium into her.

Does anyone here know of a liquid calcium that can be directly administered that won't cause constipation or unpleasant side effects? I'm thinking some smidge of supplementaion besides dusting might be called for.

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

I don't know if you want to try this, but I've read that phoenix worms are GREAT for calcium. I was looking them up this weekend... Here's the place I found:

http://www.mulberryfarms.com/phoenix.htm

 

[whkrazyk]

One of my sunglows was 39 grams when she layed her slugs, went down to 36, but was back up to 39 within a week

 

[lillith]

Thanks, Kyle. That's reassuring.

 

[Alusdra]

One of my younglings, Laurel, went from 41 grams to 26 grams! She's eaten 3 Ca/D3 dusted newly molted adult male B. dubia and is back up to 37 grams. If she goes another round I contacted my herp vet and he says that he can spay her for me. Not an option if you want to breed the animal, obviously, but will work in my situation as Laurel is an Enigma with serious issues, so I can't breed her anyway. How cool is that as an option, though?

 

[lillith]

I had no idea you could spay a gecko. How much does that go for?

In other news, my gecko's egg spots are not so distinct; they aren't growing bigger...I think she might be reabsorbing them. I'm not sure yet. They're just under the size of a dime, and not elongated yet...

The scale is wavering between 40-41g, depending on how well she's holding still.

 

[Saphira]

I am using a calcium spray by Zilla...I don't know if it is good or not. no one answered my question.