Question about hatchlings

Negator

New member
I got a pair of tokays and female laid a pair of eggs long time ago. Today, after waking up I noticed that one egg hatched, but as I hurried to work, I decided to leave hatchling be - he\she was near his mother by then. After I got home I found him dead with some wound on his side and without a bit of tail.
Question: Can male or his mother kill him? Out of huger or other way. They are well fed and by than time some little crickets were alive(i.e. parents were not hungry). I don't think hatchling could've harmed that way by falling - I got soft substrate and no sharp elements in the tank.
Also, I didn't expect this eggs to hatch at all - first clutch of two eggs were infertile so I thought this one is infertile too. Besides, overall room temperature here(in Russia) is lower even with 75W heating lamp at the tank.
If you can, please share your experience with potential threats to newborn hatchlings.
Thank you for answers.
P.S. Both tokays are not agressive and allow me to handle them freely.
 
Last edited:

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
Normally the females are quite protective of the babies. But the certainly doesn't mean they don't ever kill them. A territorial male might kill a baby.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Negator ~

Very sorry that you came home only to find your brand new tokay hatchling injured and dead. How disappointing.........
 
Sorry to hear about the baby. In about 3 years of breeding tokays I've never had a parent harm a hatchling. Of course that doesn't mean it never happens. And especially after the stress of importation and being moved into a new enclosure, I would expect abnormal behaviors could emerge. If the second egg hatches, I'd obviously get the baby out of there as soon as possible!
 

Negator

New member
Too late, found him dead already after getting from work.
I suspect something wrong happened with them during hatching process.
I guess another time.
 

thehotchik1000

New member
Ive seen a hatchling or two just disappear soon after birth. I dont know if there was some problem with them that mom or dad knew about and I didnt but ive had two babies disappear for seemingly no reason. I was thinking maybe the cage was crowded and mom or dad felt threatened in some way, because I had 4 other babies in the same cage. Or i thought maybe there was some defect with that clutch. I wasnt quite sure. What I started doing was to take out the hatchlings right after birth and house them in a separate container. I have quite large cages for all my tokay pairs. And it was just this one cage and that 1 clutch that dissapeared. Ive also had 4 months of babies backed up in another cage and mom and dad had no problem with it. So needless to say....Yes all is possible with these guys. Mom and dads are generally quite protective and good with their young but...there could have been an issue that they noticed and you didnt. Also Ive seen girls that eat the eggs right after the young hatches and Ihad a baby that was sitting in the egg still and mom went to go snack on the shell and baby made it out in just the knick of time. Anyways if you really want to preserve the young you could put something over the eggs to prevent that or watch them carefully and take the young out as soon as theey hatch. Good luck hope this helps.
Morgan
 

ExoticGekko

New member
I have had between 12-18 running my adult cage at one time without one problem. Its hard to say what would of made them do it.
 
Top