First Egg - Wasn't expecting!!

[kati_v123]

I am posting on behalf of my other half. He/we have two leopard geckos. We got them from a friend who could no longer look after them. One male, one female. We've had them now for about 8 months.
I haven't had much of an interest in them so haven't really done much research on them. So here i am..

We came home today to find an egg at the entrance to their hide. Very soft, pure white. Obviously males and females do these sorta things but my other half hadn't planned or even considered this at all.. daft i know

What now... i've done as much research as possible but how to determine whats best out of so many different answers is unreal.
We moved it slightly so they weren't turning it over as i read that it can 'drown' the embryo. Apart from that we are clueless any pros with help, hints, tips would be greatly appreciated.
Egg is still soft been a few hours now.. (trying hard not to poke and prod but both very curious )

Thanks in advance

Kati

 

[Loui1203]

Egg care

I have a pair of breeding leos and this is what i do for thier eggs:
First i got a plastic shoe box ( ie. rubbermade) and filled it with vurmiculate substrate. Then moisten the substrate about 6 parts water to 8 parts substrate. Next move the eggs into the subtrate (of course without turning them over) and close the top. Keep the temperature b/t 77 and 89 degrees within the incubator (digital thermometers work best). If the egg is kept under 85 it will mostly likely be female, over it will probably be male. My incubator is next to the adult cage and so gets warmth from the adult's heat lamp during the day. For cold nights i use a cable/wire heater and it does the job without melting the shoebox. To keep a high humidity i put a jar top full of water in the incubator. The egg can dehydrate if not kept in a moist ( but not too wet) environment. If this is her first egg, it is most likely infertile but its best to take care of it just in case. It will take 2-4 months to hatch and once it does it will only eat pinhead crickets and the best substrate for a new born is paper towel (sand can be dangerous). Good luck!
-Louisa

 

[TokayKeeper]

if you want to do something on the quick, but somewhat pricey, from an incubator standpoint you can do the following...

one 10 gallon tank
2 bricks with holes (the holes are used for inserting rebar into, in the case of this app they'll allow for water flow)
1 submersible aquarium heater with adjustable temperature
1 sterilite shoe box (they are the 13.5x8x4 inch tubs...the new redesign is slightly larger in height I believe, possibly 5 inches high now)
bag of incubation media (media can be large grain vermiculite, peat moss, sphagnum moss, or ground coco fiber...there are other options but these will be the easiest for first timers)
1 piece of glass, cut to fit the inner plastic lip of the 10 gallon tank.
1 indoor/outdoor digital thermometer
1-3 gallons distilled water

You place the bricks within the 10 gallon tank, then place the shoe box on top of the bricks, the bricks should be spaced to evenly support the shoe box. Fill the tank until the water level is about 1/4-1/2 inch below the shoe box. Set the temp on the submersible heater from 82-88° (lower temp = females, higher = males, middle = mixed sex) and place the submersible heater along the back wall of the tank, with suction cups on the bottom (the heater will be on the bottom of the aquarium, but along the back wall). Plug in heater. The glass will function as a lid and needs to fit between the plastic lip of the 10 gallon longways from left to right, but cut to exceed the length short ways (front to back) so it can be opened and allow for room the heater cord (most tanks have notched corners in the plastic lip to allow for cords) and some slight air exchange.

Egg box (shoe box) setup will be as follows:
Drill ventilation holes in the sides of the box, about 1 per inch on all sides. Moisten whatever incubation media with warm room temp water and squeeze ALL excess moisture out. Fill egg box about 1/3-1/2 full with media. Bury egg(s), gently, about 1/2 way into media. Place outdoor probe from in/outdoor thermometer into egg box center, cover egg box with lid. Place egg box into 10g tank, cover tank with glass. Thermometer should be placed outside of the tank, with only the outdoor probe contained within. It is ok to have temp fluctuations, but you want to be between 80 and 90°F to remain safe.

I'd let the incubator at least run for a few hours before placing the egg within. Incubator needs to run fully setup, egg box and all. The egg can remain in your geco's moist hide provided the cage is remaining warm (in the 80s). From a more planned situation and for future knolwedge, I run my incubator for a full month ahead of any planned eggs that way I can monitor humidity and temperature levels are consistant.

At a later, less rushed time you can attempt to make a more elaborate DIY incubator (http://www.kingsnake.com/salceies/Incubator.htm) or you can buy a commercially available reptile incubator (hovabator, etc).

The above 10gallon design I just typed was my first incubator. I hatched 89 or 90 leopard gecko eggs in 1997 using it; egg #2 was a full term baby that died in egg while trying to hatch. It was sibling to Triton, my first leo I ever hatched (Triton can be found here... http://geckoforums.net/showpost.php?p=622022&postcount=4). Good luck! It's a complete blast of genetics fun!

 

[TokayKeeper]

It will take 2-4 months to hatch and once it does it will only eat pinhead crickets and the best substrate for a new born is paper towel (sand can be dangerous). Good luck!
-Louisa

Pinheads are way too small, smaller than fruitflies (at least Drosophila hydei). I feed 1/8-1/4 inch crickets, or 2-3 week old crickets to my hatchlings. Pinheads are more suitable for species like electric blue day geckos (Lygodactylus williamsi), smaller day gecko hatchlings (like Phelsuma laticauda), or hatchling banded geckos (Coleonyx brevis, C. variegatus, C. mitratus, or C. elegans).

 

[Loui1203]

Pinheads are way too small, smaller than fruitflies (at least Drosophila hydei). I feed 1/8-1/4 inch crickets, or 2-3 week old crickets to my hatchlings. Pinheads are more suitable for species like electric blue day geckos (Lygodactylus williamsi), smaller day gecko hatchlings (like Phelsuma laticauda), or hatchling banded geckos (Coleonyx brevis, C. variegatus, C. mitratus, or C. elegans).

Right, i know they are like ant size, but i've always heard hatchlings can't handle anything larger. But what's could go wrong with feeding them a tiny cricket?

 

[TokayKeeper]

Right, i know they are like ant size, but i've always heard hatchlings can't handle anything larger. But what's could go wrong with feeding them a tiny cricket?

Not to hijack the original portion of this thread, but it still applies as a big picture should the OP have success with their egg.

As I said, pinheads are tiny. A hatchling leopard gecko is small, but not that small. 2 and 3 week old crickets (about 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch) are about the perfect size for hatchlings. Feeding pinheads, assuming the hatchling leopard gecko would be interested in them, would about the equivalent to us eating half of a pea or a shelled sunflower seed. It would take quite a few to fill us. Furthermore, if I had to feed pinheads to hatchling leoaprd geckos I'd never get far. Pinheads are delicate, requiring a moist environment to keep from dehydrating. When I've ordered pinheads I've had some shipments come in completely dead and that's with overnight delivery from a reliable, large-name cricket supplier. It's part of the reason why I maintain a fruit fly colony now for my gecko species that produce 1 inch or smaller young.

 

[roger]

I am posting on behalf of my other half. He/we have two leopard geckos. We got them from a friend who could no longer look after them. One male, one female. We've had them now for about 8 months.
I haven't had much of an interest in them so haven't really done much research on them. So here i am..

We came home today to find an egg at the entrance to their hide. Very soft, pure white. Obviously males and females do these sorta things but my other half hadn't planned or even considered this at all.. daft i know

What now... i've done as much research as possible but how to determine whats best out of so many different answers is unreal.
We moved it slightly so they weren't turning it over as i read that it can 'drown' the embryo. Apart from that we are clueless any pros with help, hints, tips would be greatly appreciated.
Egg is still soft been a few hours now.. (trying hard not to poke and prod but both very curious )

Thanks in advance

Kati

or u can just freeze it and dicard it if u dont want babies.I would rather see u do that then have it hatch and for it to be a burden for u to look after it

 

[Theinfidel]

Right, i know they are like ant size, but i've always heard hatchlings can't handle anything larger. But what's could go wrong with feeding them a tiny cricket?

There's plenty of breeders that feed their hatchings medium to large size crickets/superworms/mealworms and their fine. You'll be surprised what size food they can eat.