Full term hatchling mortality........

[Country Gecko]

Hello,

Are there any known reasons why hatchlings die fully developed at hatching time? I have had a few this year where the egg collapsed and when nothing came out after a few days, I carefully opened the eggs to find a dead, but fully developed baby inside? In another incident, I had one that was sticking it's head out of it's egg when I got home from work. Then, after a few hours I checked on it again to find it dead with it's head still sticking out no further?

Does anyone know why they make it this far into developement and then die?

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[fallen_angel]

This is our first year breeding, so I don't know everything there is to know about incubation yet.. but we had one go bad because a clutchmate hatchling turned five other eggs over before we found them. The eggs had one week before hatching, and that one got moldy and deflated, and I found a dead, fully-developed baby inside.

I do know that temperature fluctuations can also cause this, along with the incubation medium getting too dry.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

As a medium-scale breeder, I lose a couple of full-term babies each year... and I'm sure that most breeders do as well. We really don't know why this happens, but somehow it's Mother Nature's way of taking care of weak and/or non-thriving geckos. Survival of the fittest, so to speak.

 

[Country Gecko]

Thanks Jess and Marcia,

I just kindof thought of it as a few weak hatchlings, but I never had this many with this exact situation before. There have actually been 5 or 6 of them in the first 20 eggs (hatched or due to hatch) this year!

Thanks for the replies!!!

 

[elphani]

One reason I know is a rapid increase of humidity at the end of the incubation period, for example when the substrate is moistend again. The waterpression rises and because of that the Oxygenpression falls and thats why the babies may die, they suffocate. Thats the reason I leave the substrate when it is a little bit to dry... or when the egss began to dent I moist it very carefully with only very little water that I inject in a corner near the bottom of the box, far away from the eggs!
With this Method I had no fully and normally developped dead hatchlings.

sorry my bad english!!! I hope you understand what I mean!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Sandra, this is very interesting input for all of us!

 

[Baker14]

Ima first year breeder,and already I experienced this. On my second hatchling(or almost ) It came half way out of the egg, and when I went to check on it, I found him like that flipped over and dead. Not sure what happened.

 

[Country Gecko]

Sandra,

Thanks for the info.!!! That could possibly be the problem. I would ocassionally spray the inside cover of the egg containers after opening them to quickly return the humidity level to what it was prior to opening. I have also had a few eggs start to dehydrate and bumped up humidity in this way as well.

If I'm not mistaken, a problem I notice with the hovabators (especially if you do not bury the eggs enough or at all) is that since they heat from above, they gradually drive the moisture down into the substrate therefore allowing the egg to gradually dehydrate.

Thanks again,
Glenn

 

[fallen_angel]

Very informative Sandra