Pictus lays eggs all over the place.

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sschind

New member
Well, not my current one as she is too small yet but when I had a group of them a few years ago it seemed that the females never laid eggs in the box I provided. In fact, thats one of the reasons I got rid of them. One male and three females and after about 6 months I only found about 4 eggs in the box. I got rid of the geckos and dumped the sand and found about 20 eggs scattered throughout the cage.

Is there any way to get my new female to lay in a nesting box more consistently. I had damp vermiculite in the box and fine play sand in the rest of the cage. Should I be using different substrate in the box. I plan on using coco fiber as the substrate for the geckos this time instead of sand, maybe I'll mix some sand in but it will be mostly coco fiber. I mean, now that I know its not such a big deal as I can look for them but I know they won't be like my S. sthenodactylus where if a baby hatches in the cage it will be OK. I'm pretty sure an adult pictus would not hesitate to make a snack out of a baby.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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rcobourn

New member
I've yet to get my pictus (1.2.2) to lay where I want them to either. I've lost eggs not realizing they were hidden in the coco fiber somewhere... when I took the tank out for cleaning, ants got to a pair while it was waiting for my attention. Ouch! The only solution in my opinion is to clean their tank every couple of weeks, while sifting out the eggs as best you can. Some consolation is that it really doesn't seem to me that pictus eggs are particularly sensitive about being kept in their original orientation... or I've just been really lucky in that regard.

From what I've read, a pictus ready to lay is looking for a combination of 4 things: undisturbed soil, temperature, humidity, and security. Not necessarily in that order. I'm trying to make sure I have a humid hide at just the right conditions, but no luck so far. Both of my females look gravid, so I should see if I've hit the right combo soon.
 
Hilde

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
Since they lay hard shelled eggs, they don't have to be so picky about where to lay them. I've found eggs all over the enclosure, completely dry substrate, which hatched without problems. The best method for me was to keep the substrate layer very thin throughout the enclosure, and only build up one area to about 3" deep. If that's the only place to bury eggs, chances are she'll use that spot.
 
S

sschind

New member
Hilde said:
Since they lay hard shelled eggs, they don't have to be so picky about where to lay them. I've found eggs all over the enclosure, completely dry substrate, which hatched without problems. The best method for me was to keep the substrate layer very thin throughout the enclosure, and only build up one area to about 3" deep. If that's the only place to bury eggs, chances are she'll use that spot.
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Makes a lot of sense, I'll keep that in mind when I move them out of their quarantine/grow up tanks and into their permanent home.

One more question. I currently have a pair. I am considering getting 1 or 2 more females. Not so much for the egg production but to possibly lessen the stress (due to male attention) on the single female I have. Do you think adding a couple of more would do the trick? Sort of like diffusing his energy. Or would he just be three times happier with two more females? I plan on having a standby cage to remove the male every couple of months. for a month or so.

Thanks

Steve
 
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rcobourn

New member
sschind said:
Makes a lot of sense, I'll keep that in mind when I move them out of their quarantine/grow up tanks and into their permanent home.

One more question. I currently have a pair. I am considering getting 1 or 2 more females. Not so much for the egg production but to possibly lessen the stress (due to male attention) on the single female I have. Do you think adding a couple of more would do the trick? Sort of like diffusing his energy. Or would he just be three times happier with two more females? I plan on having a standby cage to remove the male every couple of months. for a month or so.

Thanks

Steve
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I think 1.3 or even 1.4 is probably ideal for pictus... when I had 1.1 the female was definitely having trouble keeping weight on.
 
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