Leopard gecko photobook...ovulation to egg-laying..hopefully daily photos. :)

[tb144050]

This is a (hopefully day-to-day) journal/photo-book for Rosey. It will start with ovulation (Day 1, last night @ 11:00pm, March 9, 2014) on the day she mated with Creeper (a very anti-social kinda-guy that cautiously roams when he thinks no one is looking...hence the name ).

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Day 1 Photos. Ovulation (although she has had much more visible ovulation during the last month...today is the day she mated...so we will use today's photo). Rosey x Creeper: Jungle Tremper het Eclipse x Tremper Eclipse (ruby-eyes) "patternless" (a.k.a. RAPTOR).


Rosey:
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Creeper:
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[tb144050]

Day 2 (18hours later @ 6pm, March 10, 2014)....better pics of Rosie's ovules, 18hours after mating:

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[tb144050]

Day 3 (8pm, March 11, 2014)

Please remember that I am a first time breeder who has done alot of research.... but this is a learning experience for me and I still have questions:
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In the last photo,

--what is "A"? (I know the normal egg locations are "B" and on the opposite side, low by the leg/vent area.....roughly where my middle fingertip is).

--Is "B" actually forming into an egg? (If so, any idea how far along it is?)

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[tb144050]

Day 4 (4:30pm, March 12, 2014)
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[sausage]

A and B is the same egg, one egg will always be higher the the other in the abdomen. your leo has two eggs, the one on the left is the higher one

 

[tb144050]

A and B is the same egg, one egg will always be higher the the other in the abdomen. your leo has two eggs, the one on the left is the higher one

lol...I didn't realize that was just ONE large egg on the left side of the photo...I thought it was 2 separate masses..lol.

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Day 5, (2:00pm, March 13, 2014)

You can see the egg/ovule on the lower right side a little better today.

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[Leonsleos]

Creeper looks exactly like my male Megatron! Where'd ya get him if you don't mind me asking?

 

[tb144050]

Creeper looks exactly like my male Megatron! Where'd ya get him if you don't mind me asking?

I got all my Raptors (including Creeper) from Pacific Gecko.

 

[sausage]

The dark patch is most likely veins on the oviduct, my females looked just like that to when they were gravid.

 

[tb144050]

The dark patch is most likely veins on the oviduct, my females looked just like that to when they were gravid.

Oh WOW!! That means that the egg on that side was already more than 3/4" when I took that pic the other day!!.....and that was only Day-3 (since mating). Can't wait for todays pic!! I'm sure it will be infertile, but I am really anxious to see when she lays.

 

[tb144050]

Day 6 (March 14, 2014, 11am)

She very clingy today..wouldn't really let me get a good pic. She looks like the Pillsbury Dough-boy giggling when his belly gets tickled.

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[tb144050]

Day 7 (March 15, 2014, 9:30pm)

I am a little late posting this (at 1:15am on March 16, 2014) because I have been prepping a GEO cup and watching Ruby digging in the LAYBOX (13 days after mating)....gonna be a late night. Ruby is now laying in the hole she dug.

Rosie is staying on the warm side all day&night, but she does leave the warm floor to sleep an equal amount of time ON TOP OF the warm hide.

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[tb144050]

Day 8 (March 16, 2014, 11:50pm)

Finally starting to see a noticable amount of the top of the "egg" on the left side (of the pic)? I recently learned that the dark space separating the 2 white masses (both on the left side, one over the over) is actually the "oviduct" blocking the view... (??)


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[tb144050]

Day 9 (March 17, 2014) 9pm.....(yesterdays photos)

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[tb144050]

Day 10 (March 18, 2014 @ 9:40pm)
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Once again, I am late (after midnight) posting pics..lol Today, in person (not really noticeable on the camera pics), it looks like her eggs are not-so-far behind Ruby's egg-development, but Rosie was mated 1 whole week AFTER Ruby. I suppose it is probably that Rosie's ovules were more "ready" to form eggs, but I think it is going to further increase the probability that Rosie's first clutch will be infertile (because eggs were too far into production to add the male's "genetic material" to this first clutch??). I will observe both females and record data to determine if there is truth behind this theory.

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[tb144050]

Day 11 (March 19, 2014)
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-Rosie was repeatedly entering and circling-inside the laybox last night between 1am-4am, which is a place she rarely goes. (I went to sleep at 4am). Her preferred location for the last week has been inside/behind the hot-hide, warming her belly while sleeping.

-She is again in the laybox at 5:45pm. There is no hole dug, but she has her head up, belly&chest down, and her hip is pressed against the side of the laybox (with her rear leg propped up on the side of the laybox in "poop position".
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I will be watching her more closely to see if she lays sooner than expected, and to see if her behavior matches Ruby's pre-labor behavior.

Note: She finished shedding (cleanly on her own) 2 days ago on March 17, 2014....so I am pretty sure she isn't there for moisture...

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-After leaving the laybox at 7pm she wandered to the warmside, so I choose to feed her while she was awake. She ate plenty, and went to sleep in the warmhide.

I took today's pics @ 7pm also. I might be crazy: I think I see red veins showing up on the left egg already (when looking at her belly), but I really still can't see the bottom-right egg. If you see the bottom-right egg, please comment and let me know that I am just blind...lol (I am expecting to see atleast just a little spot showing of a WHITER mass..that looks, to me, like a "normal dull-white mass" in the bottom-right of these pics.)

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[tb144050]

Day 12 (March 20, 2014, posts starting at 2am)
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-Rosie finally woke up from the warmhide about 2am and went to lay in the laybox. I am up late tonight watching Ruby dig in her own laybox across the room. Maybe I get to watch 4 eggs get laid in 1 night? It would be an awesome experience for a first-time breeder.

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-Rosie came out from sleeping in the Laybox around 7:30am and ate a few crickets that I offered for "snack time" between meals.
-Rosie went to the warm hide until 11:30am...then back to sleeping in the Laybox.

Note: I have not seen any sign of Rosie digging (or atleast I can't remember in my sleepy-state right now) at all yet. Time for me to get a nap in also (12pm - 3:30pm)... I am sleeping about 3 hours/night & 3 hours/day studying patterns/behavior and just waiting on my first ladies' eggs.

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-Rosie left the Laybox around 4:30pm and went back to the warm hide to sleep. Now at 7:20pm, she is sitting with her nose at the front entrance...probably waiting on "dinner time"

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Today's pics:

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-Rosie came out of the warm hide to eat..we took pics..and she went back to the warm hide.

10am update
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-still sleeping in the warmhide.

 

[tb144050]

Day 13 (March 21, 2014, pic @ 7:20pm)
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-Rosie spent the first half of the day in the Laybox
-spend second half of the day on the warmfloor behind hide.
-Right now she is wandering and probably waiting for me to feed them.

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[nibv8]

I love this post, great info for first time breeders and great pics showing ovulation. Very interested in seeing what you produce, good luck to you.

 

[tb144050]

I love this post, great info for first time breeders and great pics showing ovulation. Very interested in seeing what you produce, good luck to you.

Thanks!! I acknowledge that I am OCD, but I do enjoy trying to serve a few purposes.
1) Keep detailed record of behavior (for future comparison)
2) Provide a detailed account for gecko owner's of "what REALLY to expect from your gravid female."
3) Hopefully after this season I will have confirmed a few common suspicions...

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Day 14 (March 22, 2014)
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-Rosie has been sleeping on the warmside (both in and out of the hide) since eating last night.
-Went to sleep in the Laybox @5:00pm.

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