Holy cow! SHOCKED!! Any advise appreciated

[Anakan2]

A little history...my 10 yr old daughter purchased 3 baby leopard geckos on 1-18-10[male],1-19-10 [female]and 1-27-10 [male]respectively. (sex undetermined at the time) 2 came from one petstore chain (1-18-10 and 1-19-10)and the other came from another pet store chain.(1-27-10) Since they were all weighing in at approximately the same weights, after a 2 month quarantine, we house them all together for their comfort, in a much larger aquarium. So, I found during my research a chart that tells you what the age of the leopard gecko is according to weights. It said a new born weighs approx 3 grams; 3-4 months weighs 20+ grams and males at 8 mos weigh approx 45 grams and females at 1 yr weigh approx 50 grams. I know that it can be all over the place but since we didn't breed these little cuties we used that information. So, they were 9.6 grams, 8.5 grams, and 5.66 grams. That would make them, based on the above info somewhere between new born and 3-4 months old but closer to newborn, maybe 1 1/2 to 2 months old. That is what we were guessing. That would make them currently, oh 6 - 7 months. They weigh 31.1844 gms, 34.0194 gms, 36.8543 gms, respectively.
I clean there cages weekly and change their moist hides monthly. I found 2 gigantic eggs in the hide a hour ago. I just about had a heart attack!! I didn't see any signs AT ALL.
We had trouble determining the sex immediately after purchasing them and hadn't checked in a while. They were living happily with no signs of aggression or mating. They are still babies! After careful inspection tonight, it would appear that we have 2 males and one female. Their living arrangement quickly changed. We do not know for sure who the father is. One of the boys was purchased at a different location than the other male and female but it is possible that the 2 that were at the same store were the 2 that mated. We might never know. If they were siblings, will we have a problem?
The eggs candle with a bullseye. I just do not know for sure how long the eggs were there and their moist hide is the cool side.
I am just freaked out that this happened.
Any info is appreciated. (not that we can do much at this point other than incubate and hope for the best)
Thanks for hearing me out. I am so freaked out and excited and worried about the females young age!
EEK. Thanks again and stories/info welcome and needed.
Jenny

 

[PetVet]

So the female that laid was around 34g if I am reading this correctly. It's not the best weight, normally 40-50g is good but seeing as it wasn't intentional there isn't much you can do. I would recommend separating everyone. For one to ensure the female that laid does not become stressed, and two because if you do have two males and a gravid female...this can result in severe injury and even death. Males will fight for territory and females as soon as they begin to mature. You can probably correctly sex them at their age now by flipping them over and looking at the base of their tail. If there are very obvious V shaped pores above the base), it is a male. If the pores are not that apparent then it's a female. There is no problem if they are related, this is called line breeding and some breeders will do this on purpose. I would make sure your gravid female has plenty of calcium and access to food. I once adopted 2 males and 2 females that were housed together and were very young. Both females were gravid and the older male had attacked the younger male who is now a 3 legged leo and has a regenerated tail. The females each had 5 clutches and have since packed on lots of weight and my tripod leo has recovered fantastically. Just be sure to sex and separate if possible. Hopefully the eggs will be fertile though. The best of luck

 

[acpart]

If the eggs are the result of sibling mating it is not a problem for leopard geckos.

Aliza

 

[Keith N]

Its o.k. to have them at 35g usually don't do it but accidents happen. If you post a pic of the eggs most can tell if they look viable and may be able to help you out on on that.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Ideally you would separate all three of them. Most people are under the impression that Leos won't breed until they're around 40g but it's pretty common for females to start ovulating around 25g. All of our girls go through one ovulation period before they're big/old enough to safely breed. They can successfully pass fertile eggs even when they're undersized/aged it's just bad for their bodies. They're passing on nutrients to the embryos that they need for their own growth. Make sure she's getting plenty of food and calcium! Get her away from the males immediately so they don't rebreed. Hopefully she won't retain much sperm and she'll get finished with the egg laying quickly.

 

[Anakan2]

thanks so much for the words of encouragement. In the beginning we didn't know the sex but now we do and have moved one of the males out. Who knows if we moved the 'father' of the eggs out or the other male but I would hate to have one lose a leg or worse in a fight. Oddly, there was no fighting that we saw but I guess that isn't saying much since we didn't even notice any mating going on!! They are sneaky little babies. I am THRILLED that we do not need to worry about inbreeding. THere is a possibility, however that no inbreeding occurred. One of the males came from an entirely different place. I am not certain even that the male and female that came from the same pet store are siblings. I guess I could call the store and find out how their breeder(s) handles that situation. Thanks again for all of the great info.
Now I can't wait for the eggs to hatch.
Jenny

 

[Anakan2]

I am now reading that I better get the other male out too. EEK, I am running out of room. It is time to go buy another aquarium. OMG. My house is turning into a gecko palace. (much to my husband's dismay)
Thanks again for any and all information!!
Jenny

 

[Anakan2]

okay, we rearranged some things. Luckily, some of our new geckos have been quarantined for 5 months so we feel comfie putting 3 of our girls together and that allowed us room for the boys to be separated. Perfect. The ONLY problem is that one of our girls (super snow leopard) came to us eggnant and we didn't know it and neither did the breeder even though when called, he confessed that she was housed with a male for about "a week or 2" before the reptile show where he sold her to us. He seemed surprised but I don't know why he would be. It only takes 5 minutes. So, if I find eggs in the moist hide, I won't know for sure, whose they belong to, unless I catch her in the act of laying them, which NEVER seems to happen for me.
Knowing that both girls could be holding sperm and therefore laying more fertile eggs, is there something else that I should do? Maybe set up more than one moist hide?
Thanks for listening and for all of the great info!
Jenny

 

[ariana]

set up more than one moist hide for sure. good luck

 

[RadReptiles831]

i had a few females and two male that were all juvies in one enclosure and sure enough nature happend and one female and one male mated. only one egg survived out of 3 clutches. i soon made a rack system for everyone to be comfortable and to put me at ease. my female turned out fine just that she is a little smaller then the rest of my leo's. she weighs in at a healthy 45g now as an adult. so good luck with you leo's and you new babies on the way.

 

[GeckoMomNewbie]

I was shocked last night to find two new eggs in with my female geckos. . . excited but shocked as they have not been with a male in 4-6 weeks. I was unaware that they could do that. Is there anyway to determine which female laid them as neither one was looking gravid. Is it possible to guesstimate by how long they were separated from the male?
I will have 4 clutches this year, I am excited.

 

[Anakan2]

I removed both males and the females are all getting along swimmingly. I had another female who was living alone, due to her quarantine period. I put her in with the other girls and moved the male out and into her old enclosure.(after a thorough cleaning).
As for the eggs that were laid. Despite their original healthy appearance, including strong bullseye markings, one egg has deflated almost completely. The other is holding it's own. I have it in an home made incubator (critter cage, sand on bottom of cage, light heater under the tank and the eggs in perlite in a plastic take along type container. The heat is on a steady 80 degrees) I am hoping for the best.
I do have another egg, in a seperate cage, getting ready to hatch, I think. It seems to be in it's very early stages of sweating. (fingers crossed). Last season, we successfully hatched 3 eggs, all male. This season, we haven't had any luck yet. Most of the eggs have turned icky and rotten. We are working with cooler temps this time in an effort to produce females. Maybe that is the problem. Just don't know for sure.
Wish me luck and thank EVERYBODY again for all of the great info.
Jen

 

[GeckoMomNewbie]

Good Luck Anakan2.

I think for the most part these little guys know how to take care of themselves!

 

[Northstar Herp]

Anaken, that deflated egg just may be good still. I had one that was pretty dented the entire incubation time, and it hatched out small but healthy. In fact, not that there's any connection whatsoever, but it was the clutchmate of the conjoined twins.

 

[Anakan2]

geckomomnewbie,
I do not know how to tell which female laid them. I am likely going to have the same thing happen now that I have 3 females together (had to get the males out after finding that they mated at such a young age) 2 of the 3 have laid eggs and are likely going to do it again. I have more than one moist hide for them to lay in but wouldn't ya know they all use the same box! I really don't know what to do aside from set up a camera but that would be crazy with my little video camera. Also, do not know for sure when they will lay. One seems to lay every month and I have NO idea what this little gal is going to do next. If you find out anything, I would like to know too.
Jen