parasitic twin

[russe306]

On april 30th my female layed two eggs. Just the other day one of the eggs hatched and i have a healthy super snow leo. Its clutch mate didn't hatch for two days. Then the egg started to look too still. After waiting 12 hours, i checked the egg and was sure that it was dead. I opened it up to see what happened and i found two babies attached by the head. Check out the pictures

Is this something others have heard of with leopard geckos? I know twins happen sometimes.

I have posted the pictures of it and its healthy clutch mate.

 

[russe306]

Sorry, it didnt attach right.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

It happens, rarely. Are they alive?

 

[justindh1]

Wow that is something weird for sure! I have never seen attached leopard geckos in one egg but twins do happen. Are they still alive? Is the last picture the clutch mate?

 

[russe306]

No, the twins did not survive. The third picture is the healthy living clutch mate.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Wow that's unfortunate.

 

[Adinar]

Sad but chances of it living had it hatched are probably pretty low anyway. Probably for the best. Grats of the healthy clutchmate.

 

[im faster]

sucks but its pretty cool

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Fascinating. I know that even un-conjoined twin leos usually do not survive either.

 

[sausage]

Wow thats amazing iv never seen that in leos.
iv seen many bearded dragon twins/ conjoined twins that have survived.
so sad they didnt make it but probably for the best.

 

[russe306]

Yeah, I was glad that it pasted away before it hatched. I would hate for it to go through all the struggling just to day shortly after. I still have 5 eggs in the incubator and my female might give me two more. So far only two bad eggs.

 

[Thorgecko707]

Are you going to preserve it? A little something for the mantle?

 

[AmberJean86]

Wow, that is really cool to see pics of! Sad they didn't make it, but I think I agree it's for the best.

 

[Thorgecko707]

http://jmgreptile.com/oddities.html

Experiments.

 

[strhunter2]

Sorry, it didnt attach right.

that has to be 1 of the strangest joining's i have ever seen

 

[sausage]

http://jmgreptile.com/oddities.html

Experiments.

that top picture is just nasy :S what a mess.

Have you had more disfigured hatchlings then??
i think you should see how the other eggs hatch than make the decision weather to breed her in that pairing again. they probably arnt genetically compatible.

 

[Darcpixie]

Twinning like this, as in, conjoined twins, ISN'T genetic, it's developmental. Hence why it happens in just about every species.

If nothing else, if anything like this hatches again, you would have to chalk it up to weird luck.

 

[bohannbj]

I've had it happen and I can say they have almost no chance of making to term/living long. It's pretty simple, the egg only has limited yolk to provide for the developing fetus and when it's split it just isn't enough. That's why mammals can have twins that survive. If memory serves, genetics do play a role in identical twins, but not fraternal twins.

 

[russe306]

I have 6 healthy babies from the same pairing so it is not a genetic paring concern. I have great super snows and mack snows.

 

[Destiny]

I hatched a super snow today! I am waiting on the clutch mate... did I just jinx my self? Lol!! I would freeze it and scare away door knockers with it.