Removing eggs from the lay box...

[Gecko Newbie]

Okay, so...Lola laid her SECOND clutch of eggs last night - I found them when I came to school this morning and she was half the size she was when I left her last night (one of the eggs is HUGE).

The original clutch went home with a student who had gone home and told his mom we were going to "give Lola's babies away to a pet store!!!!" He was very upset that her babies wouldn't be with someone from our class.

SO, now I have another clutch being incubated with a home-made set up my boyfriend rigged after I saw her getting fat again. I fed Lola this morning - she was active and her old self. When I put the lay box back in her tank (after taking the eggs out) she went inside and now she hasn't come out.

Is it possible that she's upset the eggs are gone? Was I supposed to leave them in there a little longer? These eggs were softer than the ones from the first clutch, so I'm guessing she had laid the first ones on a Friday the last time and I didn't find them til Monday. How maternal are geckos?

I don't think she has anymore inside to lay because one was HUGE - almost double the size of the ones from the first clutch AND the other one from this clutch. Could she just be SUPER tired from all that? I coated her worms with calcium to make sure she's getting replenished, but she's not bouncing back as fast as she did last time...... Did I go in her tank too soon?

Advice?

Thanks!

 

[acpart]

Just take the eggs out as soon as you find them. They are not maternal but they often spend a bunch of time in the lay box after laying. I usually take the gecko out of the lay box, take the eggs out, return the lay box and put the gecko back in. She'll come out when she's ready.

Aliza

 

[Allee Toler]

This doesn't have anything to do with it, but since you posted I'll let you know here.

The superworms didn't survive the move. =[ Apparently the u-haul sat in the sun for too long. I opened up the package (all set up and labeled for shipping) and they were these scrawny died up things. Haha. Poor worms. So sorry about it. =[[

I'm going to start a roach colony, and when I get too many, they may come your way. ;]

 

[hyposhawn]

Make sure to not flip or turn the eggs in any way.

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Thanks!

Alrighty, well... She still isn't back to being social yet, but... I'll just let her be.

Thanks for the reassurance.

I've done a BUNCH of research on the whole breeding thing.... So I know all the rules and things to do... I'm just worried about what to do with the babies after they've hatched as far as homes are concerned. I can't have 4 geckos and the pet store isn't interested anymore (apparently they've got a bunch...). It'll be summer vacation in 2 weeks, and I'm guessing she's not done laying eggs, so.... Any ideas?

 

[SaSobek]

Make sure to not flip or turn the eggs in any way.

This is SO not true at all :biggrin: I have had eggs roll all over the table. if they are good eggs they will hatch. I wouldn't be flipping them over every day or anything but taking them out of the lay box and putting them into the incubator. It dose not matter if they get rolled over.

Okay, so...Lola laid her SECOND clutch of eggs last night - I found them when I came to school this morning and she was half the size she was when I left her last night (one of the eggs is HUGE).

The original clutch went home with a student who had gone home and told his mom we were going to "give Lola's babies away to a pet store!!!!" He was very upset that her babies wouldn't be with someone from our class.

SO, now I have another clutch being incubated with a home-made set up my boyfriend rigged after I saw her getting fat again. I fed Lola this morning - she was active and her old self. When I put the lay box back in her tank (after taking the eggs out) she went inside and now she hasn't come out.

Is it possible that she's upset the eggs are gone? Was I supposed to leave them in there a little longer? These eggs were softer than the ones from the first clutch, so I'm guessing she had laid the first ones on a Friday the last time and I didn't find them til Monday. How maternal are geckos?

I don't think she has anymore inside to lay because one was HUGE - almost double the size of the ones from the first clutch AND the other one from this clutch. Could she just be SUPER tired from all that? I coated her worms with calcium to make sure she's getting replenished, but she's not bouncing back as fast as she did last time...... Did I go in her tank too soon?

Advice?

Thanks!

first off i would leave the lay box in the cage. if you have one clutch you are going to get more usualy any were from 3 to i have seen as many as 10. and that could be 1 or two eggs at a time. if you take the laybox out and she needs to lay eggs and cant find a spot. that could make her not lay them and that can cause problems. so i would leave the lay box in the cage.

females will stay in the laybox after laying. they are tired. wouldnt you be? i would be after loseing about 1/6 th of my body weight pushing out 2 baby sized things from my body every two weeks :biggrin: usualy when leopard geckos lay eggs they lose about 8-11 grams every time they lay a pair of eggs. then gain back most of it in the 2 weeks between clutches they usualy dont get all the weight back. After the season is over they should rebound and get all their weight back if not more. but durring the "season" they will steadily lose weight after every clutch.

as far as the babies go. that is one thing that is more ethics, that i wont touch.
All i will say is that if you are breeding. you should count on finding homes for an average of 8-10 babies per female.

 

[Irathe]

If your not able to properly take care of or find good homes for the babies it is probably best to destroy the eggs as soon as they are laid (and seperate the male from female). As far as ethics go on destroying the eggs if it is done immediately before any growth has occured i see nothing wrong with it... waiting till an embryo develops then destroying it is another matter entirely. That said expect her to lay eggs monthly for a good 5-6 months or longer until she stops.

 

[SaSobek]

If your not able to properly take care of or find good homes for the babies it is probably best to destroy the eggs as soon as they are laid (and seperate the male from female). As far as ethics go on destroying the eggs if it is done immediately before any growth has occured i see nothing wrong with it... waiting till an embryo develops then destroying it is another matter entirely. That said expect her to lay eggs monthly for a good 5-6 months or longer until she stops.

i would say every 12-20 days

 

[hyposhawn]

This is SO not true at all :biggrin: I have had eggs roll all over the table. if they are good eggs they will hatch. I wouldn't be flipping them over every day or anything but taking them out of the lay box and putting them into the incubator. It dose not matter if they get rolled over.




first off i would leave the lay box in the cage. if you have one clutch you are going to get more usualy any were from 3 to i have seen as many as 10. and that could be 1 or two eggs at a time. if you take the laybox out and she needs to lay eggs and cant find a spot. that could make her not lay them and that can cause problems. so i would leave the lay box in the cage.

females will stay in the laybox after laying. they are tired. wouldnt you be? i would be after loseing about 1/6 th of my body weight pushing out 2 baby sized things from my body every two weeks :biggrin: usualy when leopard geckos lay eggs they lose about 8-11 grams every time they lay a pair of eggs. then gain back most of it in the 2 weeks between clutches they usualy dont get all the weight back. After the season is over they should rebound and get all their weight back if not more. but durring the "season" they will steadily lose weight after every clutch.

as far as the babies go. that is one thing that is more ethics, that i wont touch.
All i will say is that if you are breeding. you should count on finding homes for an average of 8-10 babies per female.

Everything I read says NOT to do that.

 

[hyposhawn]

I listen to you because you have had so much sucsess. Thanks for taking that stress off me.

 

[acpart]

In general turning the eggs over is not good. However, in the first day or so after laying before the embryo implants it's generally thought that if it happens it will be OK.

Aliza

 

[acpart]

As for finding homes for the babies, it takes a bit of energy, but is very possible. My first year I produced 13 babies, 10 of which I was able to sell/give away. Here are some suggestions:

--post on the forums for local pick-up if you don't want to ship
--publicize in your school
--give the babies away on craigslist
--read craigslist for people looking for a gecko (I find those situations at least every month in my area)
--publicize to your local herp society
--see if a breeder will take them to a show and sell them for you for a share of the revenue
--talk to everyone you know about how you have these cute geckos . . .

Aliza

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Oops babies...

Thanks for all your advice, everyone. No worries about Lola's laybox being taken out - it doubles as her humid hide, so it's always in there - gravid or not.

I WOULD like to say, though, just so it's clear - I didn't breed on purpose. I took Lola and Tony from a parent who didn't want the geckos anymore (she can barely take care of her own kid - I don't know why she ever bought 2 geckos for him...). She gave them to me in one 20 gallon tank, I knew nothing about geckos, so it was a week before I separated them. But it was too late by then - I suppose another "season" had started already. I don't know what the previous owner did about the eggs before, because she'd had them for at least a year in the same tank...poor Lola. But, whatever, they're my responsibility now, so I've gotta take care of them.

Don't worry, everyone out there in gecko land - I religiously read about geckos for a month straight before I stopped visiting the forum multiple times a day. I still check in a few times a week to look for new info and ask questions. My geckos are well taken care of and I'm not irresponsibly creating new geckos... I just need to take care of this last "season" - I figure I've got a few more clutches to deal with and then Lola will NEVER be gravid again.

Thanks for your suggestions, acpart! I'll see what craigslist has listed.

 

[Phantasy]

Instead of just dusting her food to replenish her calcium stores I'd just leave a dish of non-D3 calcium in the tank at all times. I was totally surprised how much they lap up during egg production. My female just started and she has been licking the calcium up like crazy, haha.

Much respect,
-Matt