Hello all....my newly acquired viper geckos had a surprise for me this morning! So far I can see one egg perched nicely in one of the hides. I have plugged in my hovabator and am now looking for some advice. Have not had any geckos drop eggs before, so am kinda new to this! Any advice on incubation temps? Also, should I transfer the egg to a deli cup with 1:1 vermiculite:water? and finally, should I use a deli cup with hole like the ones we all see the geckos in at shows, or a sealed one? Thanks in advance for your advice!
Help, my viper geckos laid eggs!!!
- Thread starter scigeek69
- Start date
monremonda
New member
DO Not put them in vermiculite and water!!
You want to put then on sand or some other dry medium. Too much humidity will kill them. I incubate them at about 82F and they hatch in about two months. You want the humidity to be about 30% to 40% max. I usually put a separate cup about half full of water in the incubator to make sure it does not get too dry. It just sort of depends on the conditions in your area. You can use a cup with holes or without, whatever you want. Just make sure that either way it has a lid, and that if you do use holes they are very small so the hatching can not escape. Honestly, the hardest part with them is not hatching them out, but keeping the hatchings alive. Their small size means that they dehydrate very quickly and they need either pinhead crickets or fruit flies. They seem to do better on the crickets. Do not over feed them as they tend to be afraid of their food at first and if they are swarmed by too much food they may never eat. Otherwise you can keep them just like the adults, although I recommend keeping them on paper towels until they are big enough to safely digest sand or whatever you keep them on.
Also, if they are laying eggs be prepared for many more. These are extremely prolific little geckos. The only way I could get mine to stop breeding was to separate them and take all heat away from the female and greatly reduce her food. Just separating them does not work as the female can store sperm for quite a while.
Hope that helps.
You want to put then on sand or some other dry medium. Too much humidity will kill them. I incubate them at about 82F and they hatch in about two months. You want the humidity to be about 30% to 40% max. I usually put a separate cup about half full of water in the incubator to make sure it does not get too dry. It just sort of depends on the conditions in your area. You can use a cup with holes or without, whatever you want. Just make sure that either way it has a lid, and that if you do use holes they are very small so the hatching can not escape. Honestly, the hardest part with them is not hatching them out, but keeping the hatchings alive. Their small size means that they dehydrate very quickly and they need either pinhead crickets or fruit flies. They seem to do better on the crickets. Do not over feed them as they tend to be afraid of their food at first and if they are swarmed by too much food they may never eat. Otherwise you can keep them just like the adults, although I recommend keeping them on paper towels until they are big enough to safely digest sand or whatever you keep them on.
Also, if they are laying eggs be prepared for many more. These are extremely prolific little geckos. The only way I could get mine to stop breeding was to separate them and take all heat away from the female and greatly reduce her food. Just separating them does not work as the female can store sperm for quite a while.
Hope that helps.
thanks for the advice mike! so far i have only found 2 eggs this past weekend. one was dented so i assumed it was a dud while the other was nice and solid and is now in the incubator. how long until she lays again? every few days, weekly, etc? keeping my fingers crossed that they actually hatch out for me...
monremonda
New member
I had a trio and a pair. With the trio, the females would lay about every 11 days, and with the pair the female would lay about every 6 days, and sometimes she would triple clutch! Meaning tree eggs at once instead of two.
i have a trio in one tank and a tinier juvie in a separate container until it gets a bit bigger before adding it to the group. i will keep my eyes open for the next clutch (perhaps this weekend) and just keep adding the eggs into the incubator as they come. thanks for your advice! seems like there aren't too many people around who keep this species....feel the same way when i try to chat about my helmeted geckos. either way i think they are both great smaller terrestrial species that may be a bit under-appreciated at this time. at the same time, i am also glad that they are not everywhere as the current "trendy" species that everyone wants (if that makes any sense)...will keep updates as to my success with incubating these eggs...