Leopard gecko: Is the egg still good?

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Heidi15461

New member
My leopard gecko laid 2 eggs on 6/18. They have been incubating about 45 days now. One was infertile to begin with but I left in the incubator just in case. Til it collapsed and started to grow mold. No matter how much I cleaned it off it was always there. I stunk so I tossed it. But the second one was still pink and looked good. My question is how can I tell if it is still fertile? Should I see something in it when I candle it? Its still pink but should I be able to see a little gecko in there? I have it incubating at 81 for a female.
 
Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
For me, the number 1 rule of incubation is to always treat any egg as if it's viable until it does something to prove otherwise (like collapse or rot).
 
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Debbie7054

New member
And I have just had an example of that I was pretty sure one of mine had died it didn't look good at all but wasn't rotten and smelly. It had also been in the incubator much longer than all my others. I'd candled it and just saw a small black mass in the bottom which was how the matched egg had looked just before it started rotting. Then the other day Col looked in the incubator and told me it had collapsed my heart sank as I thought he meant like the other egg when it had collapsed and rotted but then he saw a little movement and there was little Mia. So don't give up on it until it rots please. From my experience candling can sometimes show the embryos with loads of veins as they have with my last two eggs. When I candled Mia's all it showed was a small black mass at the bottom with no veins that didn't look good, so don't rely on it.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
If its pink inside its good the blood and vein system gives it a pink hue. Good luck with your hatchlings Mia didn't hatch for over 100 days. The lower your incubation temps the longer they take to hatch, hopefully you won't have as long to wait as I did though. My other hatchlings didn't take anywhere near that long.
 
M&S-328

M&S-328

New member
If it has not collapsed, and it isnt molding, rotting, or stinking you to death - then dont throw it out yet. Keep checking on it and let it stay in for longer then what you think the full cycle should be... until you see any negative signs. That way you never cut short the life of a growing baby gecko.
Of course, if it starts to go on double the time it shouldve taken to hatch.. then theres probably something wrong.
 
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Heidi15461

New member
It isn't smelly or collasped, it looks ok. But when I candle it I don't see anything but the pink. Would I be able to see a embryo at 45 days? I've looked at different sites and some say they hatch at 45-50 days others say 60-80 if u are trying for females. I'm going to keep it in there still. I'm just wondering if and when I might see a dark mass of some sort in there.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
What you're seeing is right for the temps you have it at when you incubate at low temps they take longer to develop. If everythings pink you're doing fine, with some of mine I never saw a proper black mass ever.
 
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