High Mortality Rate With Mourning Gecko Hatchlings

[Styx]

Incubated between 70 and 85 degrees for an unusually long period of time, 6-8 months. I am not exaggerating, I marked each egg and wrote down the date I discovered that clutch. I recently had about six hatch out, and every last one of them died.

For the life of me I can't figure out why. They looked healthy, and all died within a week of hatching. I kept them at about 80% humidity as 80-85 degrees (hot spot). They looked good, normal, healthy. Not thin or shriveled or shaky or weak. I would just find them dead suddenly, one by one as they each hatched out. They even looked fine in death, not weird or anything.

It completely baffles me and I really, really hate that I’m losing them all. Any ideas? What should I do? Could the strangely long incubation have anything to do with it?

 

[Kevin McRae]

Did they feed?

 

[heiser]

Keep the babies cooler and wetter. While I hatch my L.l. in-situ, I often take the babies out of the terrarium and raise them seperately. I keep them in a kritter keeper at room temp of 74 to 76 daytime 4 degrees nighttime drop. The "substrate" is paper towel that is kept wet (soaking). I put fine mesh nylon screen between the keeper top and botton to keep fruit flies in and the babies as well (the little ones can squeeze through the kritter keeper tops).

At the same time, I raise a ton of them in-situ. I have a 40 breeder with 3 to 5 adults (depending on when and how much I "cull" the tank). The main tank has dart frogs, clown tree frogs and thumbnail frogs as well and never gets higher than 76 F. It has a false bottom with 2 inches of water and then cocofiber substrate that is well planted so the tank is HUMID...dripping wet. The cover is glass with two five inch screen portions at either end for ventilation. I have two four foot UV reptisun 5.0 runing the length of the tank (of course the UV is only good at the screen ends of the tank but the plants like the light even through glass). In both cases (tank and keeper) keep as high humidity as possible and I would not go above 78F for hatchlings, they dehydrate very easily. They also eat quite a bit. Feed them daily for a month or two, until they double in size.

That said, it is also possible that the health of the adults is affecting the health of the hatchlings. Make sure the adults get plenty of calcium and fruit puree for vitamins. The other possibility is the humidity of the eggs is not being kept high enough, but this I doubt. My lugubris all lay their eggs at the corners of the tank byt the top where the screen is. This is where there is the lowest humidity (although still very high) and highest air flow. I have found at times the lugubris will lay a few eggs near the bottom of the tank in/on a plant. Here the humidity is probably 100% and the hatch rate is poor to none. But they rarely lay there.

Regards,
John

 

[Styx]

Kevin, Some did, I know two did not.

heiser, thanks a lot, I will try all those things. My adults are very healthy and eat quite a lot for being such tiny geckos, so I can't imagine it's them. I'm just so frustrated.

 

[Nicke]

It really seems strange.

I keep mine at temps of about 95 degrees Fahrenheit during the day(hotspot) and about 70 at night. Humidity goes between 65-100% depending on how much i mist the enclosure.

All eggs are incubated in situ and the hatchlings stay with the adults in the viv. So far I have not lost one single juvenile and I find this species to be extremely hardy and forgiving.

To me it sounds more like some kind of infection or possibly a lack of some sorts. I really hope it works out for you though. Good luck.