Help with hatchling asap!!

[sarahjane85]

OMG...... :shock: I just found a hatchling laying on a leaf in one of my female felinus cages!!!!!!! I knew she was gravid when I got her at the end of June and waited. For the first month she pooped out a ton of extremely large calcium clumps and so I just assumed that this was what I had seen -- doubting myself after years of experience grading gecko follicles and eggs :roll: . And to top that off, she had lost a ton of weight and I was worrried that she was sick/stressed and wasn't going to make it (going from 32g down to 21!). The trio I have are all wc and were not previously housed together.
So..... obviously she had laid the eggs, and one hatched. I'm not sure how old, what it's been eating (if it even has been). Looks very healthy, etc... though.
I'm so excited I can hardly type. This is not only my first hatchling EVER at home, but also it hatched inside the vivarium!!
What should I do now?

Sarah.

 

[sarahjane85]

Here is a quick pic. I'm going to remove it now. Looks like it might have just hatched.

 

[GenAureliano]

I am guessing that your female exceted large urate crystals and not calcium crystals. This is usually a sign of dehydration and use of water that is too mineral rich (hard). When a gecko is constipated with a urate crystal and finally excretes the urate, it can lose weight really quickly in the form of water or feces that were stopped up behind the urate. Has your female put any of her weight back on?

I would sperate the baby out and make sure it is well hydrated. You don't want to spread any parasites to your CBB baby that the mother could be housing. Feed it appropraiet sized food items and you should be fine. Make sure you are keeping track of what foods item you are thorwing in there to make sure that it is eating for you.

 

[sarahjane85]

Gen, that's what I meant -- urates. I use RO/DI water so the person who had them for the first couple months must have used hard water. She's at 23.4g right now and I've noticed a big increase in her appetite the past two weeks.
Unfortunately, the hatchlings clutch mate didn't make it . I just found it -- the female was laying on top of it, under the cork. It weighed 1.8g and the survivor is at 1.7g. I believe this is a good weight from what I remember from previous posts.

The hatchling is in a shoebox size container with brown paper towel, sm. cork hide, thin bamboo sticks, live pothos vines, and I threw in 4 pinhead crickets.

Thanks,
Sarah.

 

[GenAureliano]

That sounds like a good set-up for the baby. If it doesn't eat the crickets over night make sure you pull them out. I usually feed my babies 2-week old or 1/4" crickets as I find pinheads to be too small. 1.7 grams is a good weight. Make sure you keep the paper towel moist as they dry out much quicker than the peat you have in with the adults.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Congrats Sarah! Sorry to hear that the sibling didn't make it. But at least the one that's alive sounds like it's doing well.

 

[sarahjane85]

Thanks Ethan. The other one had gotten the shed off of its head only.
Anyway, the hatchling didn't eat any of the crickets I threw in last night so I removed them. I am wondering if I should wait a few days? -- as with Leopard gecko hatchlings, I'd wait a full week after the hatch before feeding. Otherwise, I might try two or three 1/4" roaches either tonight or Monday night.
Mine aren't locale specific, but it's possible that in the future I'll purchase another 1.2 as I'd also like to contribute info to the locality database, etc... that Marlies has taken on.
I'm still just so ecstatic inside (could hardly sleep) :lol:

Sarah.

 

[kenya_1977]

They can take several days before eating, maybe even a week, so it's not unusual that it hasn't eaten yet. They usually pass the shed before really eating.

They can also eat a little larger prey items than pinheads, probably up to 1/8th".

Anytime you see a dramatic weight loss like that on a female, she's usually laid eggs. Fish around in the tank next time.

Good luck

 

[sarahjane85]

Thanks for the reassurance Crystal. I really need to stop doubting myself so much. At that time, the female had passed two 1/2"X3/4" urate chunks and although I saw no blood, I did not think she'd make it much longer. I mean, these were hard as a rock and with sharp edges. I think is was her size, svl at almost 5", that allowed her to pull through.
These were very stressed out animals and I also didn't want to disturb them for at least a 3 month period other than the nightly misting, their 3Xweekly feedings and periodic weigh-in (every 10 days).

As for the hatchlings, well, I've never had a gecko actually die in my care. So, I'm both sad (unknowingly losing one of the hatchlings) and slightly worried (about the other hatchling surviving). Though I'm sure my fretting will dissipate once it eats.

I will be checking for eggs now (although it will be very difficult in their vivariums) as I placed the male in with the other female 3 nights ago. She had layed two infertile eggs last month and she now has 1/2" follicles and seemed receptive to him.
Sarah.