Leopard Gecko Eggs: Are these eggs OK?

[Heidi15461]

So a few days ago I posted asking of my leo was prego. Those who replied said yes. Thank you. I set up a homemade incubator. I use a rubbermade sweaterbox I had laying around, up a UTH on one side and filled it w Vermiclite ( sorry if spelled wrong) and then in a small deli dish I filled it with moist vermiclite ( just enough water to hold it together and it doesnt drip when I squeeze it) I found this on another web page. So I think I set everything up ok. Just so happens the next morning I checked on her and there were no eggs yet. I was gone about 3 hrs came home and there they were 2 eggs. This is my first set of eggs so my questions are...did I set the incubator up right, do these eggs look normal? They are kinda long and stuck together. She laid them in the humid hide in the tank. One is a little translucent on the bottom side. I marked them so when I moved them I put them back right, she laid they on saturday 6/18. Should they be real hard? They arent squishy, they are kinda leathery but still slighty soft, not hard like a bird agg. There are no dents. I'm trying to keep the temp lower for females but it fluxuates between 80 and 87. Am I doing everything right or should I worry about the eggs? I attacted a photo. The first pic is from 6/18 after I moved them, they other 2 are from this morning. Is the humidity ok also?

 

[psychmylife]

They are not like bird eggs, so they should not be really hard. I think the general rule is about 80% humidity. I'm also not sure if a fluctuation of 7 degrees is very good... it certainly means you won't be able to control the male/female thing.

Give the eggs a week or two, watch for deflating and/or mold. If they still look good, candle them and if you see red on the inside they are probably fertile. Your eggs look very skinny and narrow compared to any that I've hatched, but that may not mean much.

 

[Allee Toler]

Temp fluctuation can cause major deformities.

80-90F is the incubating temps. Lower in the range is females, higher in the range makes males.

If the temps remain in flux, you need to get a thermostat and hook it up to the heat pad, placing the probe inside the DIY incubator.

 

[Saskia]

I agree 7 degrees of fluctuation is too much!! I always incubate with a range of 3 degrees tops! In my humble experience, whenever I have had not-hard eggs they dont hatch.... my eggs are usually hard like bird eggs, not super hard, but definitively not soft, always solid hard... this doesn't mean that yours won't hatch.... I have only been breeding for 2 years, and there are many thing I haven't seen.... I just share my experience of hatching 8 beautiful healthy geckos so far

 

[Heidi15461]

How can I fix the temp fluxuation? I read to hook a thermosate to the heating pad but how do I do that? This is my first set of eggs so I probably did things wrong. Since there are no dents or anything how long til I can tell if they are infertile? Is it too soon to do the "candleing"? I tried and the one looks yellowish and i know thats not good. So if these arent any good. What should I do when she lays eggs again. I's really like to hatch some. But I didnt want to invest in a 100.00 incubator if the breeding just want for me. I also saw my leos mating again this morning. How long before I can tell if it was a sucessful mating? Also all day today the temp has stayed around 85, which I know is too warm for all F. But it might now matter much now.

 

[Saskia]

This is a very good incubator for leopard geckos, it cost's 39,95:

NEW HOVABATOR INCUBATOR 1602N ALL HATCHING EGGS | eBay

For what I have read you should wait about 2 weeks before candeling the egg, also, if your female is gravid (which she obviously is) you should separate her from the male, if they mated again she is well-enough pregnant at we speak, she will probably lay more eggs soon (in a couple weeks for sure you'll have more eggs), if it is within your possibilities, get the incubator.... if you can't I am really not the best person to recommend how to biuld a proper incubator..... if you have the possibility to get that one I sent for 39,95, do it and you just have to plug it in and wait for the temperature to stabilize, that model usually doesn't fluctuate more than 2 degrees.... good luck!

 

[Heidi15461]

Ok, so this morning when I went to check on the eggs they were both dented, I know thats not a good sign. So I didnt the candling thing again and in one egg a see a pink ring but in the other nothing. Should I give up on these eggs and try again next time? I did go buy a incubator from my local trackor supply and have it warming up now to the right temp. I did see on 1 site it said there could be not enough humidity to put a moist towel over them, but because of them being slighlty transpartent it says there could be too much. I'm so confused. Hopefully these are just beginners mistakes and I get better at this or it gets easier.

 

[natami]

They look very healthy and fertile.

 

[psychmylife]

~80% humidity is good, you definitely don't need any more humidity than you have.