Egg Binding caused by male?

[Josh P.]

Hello everyone,

Last season I lost a female with egg binding. This season, another female that was bred with the same male as that female last year is gravid but taking a long time to lay and losing weight which I think may be suffering from the same issue that the other female had last year.

Is it possible that there is something genetically wrong with the male that is causing the females to develop egg binding? I asked the vet but he clearly didn't know. I am looking for the opinion of someone more experienced in the community with such cases. Thank you.

Also, all husbandry conditions are maintained with great care and responsibility.

 

[indyana]

I would not think so, no. It's apt to be husbandry/environment, breeding females too young, etc. You could just have really bad luck with females, I suppose, but if something similar happened to me, I would be examining my setup and making changes.

 

[Josh P.]

There is nothing that can be changed in the setup. Temperature gradients are kept flawlessly through digital thermostats, measurements are taken by different probes as failsafe and checked several times a day, supplementation is done using Repashy Calcium Plus and Vionate as used by most top breeders in the community. There is really nothing that could be wrong with the setup. Also the female from this year is over 2 years old and already laid eggs last year from another male, so it can't be from age. Also weighted 65g before this happened so a great weight for breeding.

I'm really inclined to believe there is something genetically wrong with this male.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I don't think a male can influence egg development. They mainly influence fertility and possibly the development of the embryo if their sperm is funky but not the mechanics of eggg building and laying. That's controlled 100% by the female. He could, however, prevent her from having access to her lay box if he's a jerk and cause them to hold onto eggs longer than is healthy. Are they living together? I might try separating them if so. Another thought might be if the females are related? It could be something in their genetic background that predisposes them to egg binding. The only other thing I can think of is really super bad luck like Indyana has said.

 

[Josh P.]

Thank you both for the replies but that is exactly why I can't understand what is happening here. They don't live together, I only introduce the male inside the female tub for copulation and then remove him. All females live alone in a rack system. Also the females are not related, both came from entirely different breeders in different locations of the globe.

Although females control egg building and laying are you entirely certain that some weird condition of the male sperm can't influence misshapen embryos that would consequentially create large eggs or something that could increase the risk of egg binding on the female?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

When the eggs are laid the sperm and egg have joined and the embryo is no more than a few cells.It only takes up a pinpoint of space within the egg and grows as the egg incubates much like a human baby would in the womb. I'm not sure how the size of the egg is determined but I don't know how a female would know whether a baby would be giant or not and compensate for the eventual size. I would think the female would make the egg and a giant baby would hatch out at the biggest size it can get. Also, eggs grow and expand during incubation so that may be how there's enough room?

I don't doubt your when you say your setups are perfect but just to rule them out, what are your lay boxes like? Maybe provide a picture of their setups? What are the temps you are setting the thermostats at?

 

[Josh P.]

My lay boxes are plastic containers with a lid and a hole on top where they can enter (all geckos spend quite some of their daily time inside them so there are no issues going in and out). They are filled with moist coco fiber. They are big enough for a full grown gecko to lay down inside without needing to be bent or anything.

As for temperatures the warm hides stay at around 32ºC / 90ºF (ground surface temperature).

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I keep my females that are laying a couple degrees warmer than the rest around 91-93 but that definitely shouldn't cause other issues. I also leave them a bowl of RepCal without D3 just in case they feel the need to show down on more.

I've read that egg binding occurs more often in obese females. Were your gals on the hefty side when they started laying? That's the only other thing I can think of other than husbandry/nutrition issues.

 

[Josh P.]

Last year's female was definitely not obese but this year's female is a bit larger but still not obese. Also all females are kept with a dish of pure calcium inside their tubs which they do consume on their own.

Additionally to this female with egg binding the same male was also bred this year to another female which was ovulating and started to develop eggs which she then reabsorbed and haven't produced any other clutches after that. It is really strange and unusual. That's why all of this seems to point back to the male as I can't find any other possible issue.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Have you gotten any good eggs from any female you've bred to him? Are you breeding other females to other males that are doing fine?

 

[Josh P.]

Other females are doing fine. Females bred to this male never produced offspring (last year and this year were the only two times he was bred). Last year's female that ended up dying from egg binding did lay one single egg before becoming egg bound with her second clutch but it was infertile.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

The only other thing I can think of is that he's infertile. I believe females somehow know when the eggs they are carrying are good or bad and the bad ones have a higher instance of being held longer and causing egg binding. I don't think there's anything going on that's caused by his sperm though.

I sure hope your gal pulls through! Sucks that your male isn't working out as hoped!

 

[Josh P.]

So best course of action is to retire this male permanently right?