Egg incubation question

Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
My female is starting to look a bit gravid to me. I have a few questions about day gecko eggs and incubation. If I find eggs, I assume they can be easily moved-- but are they like crested gecko eggs in that you need to keep them at the same orientation that they were laid in? Or can they be moved more like a chicken egg?

I do not have an incubator. Could I incubate the eggs in the parents cage in their own small "deli cup" container? I assume that if the parents are doing well the eggs likewise would do well at ambient temps/ humidity in the parent cage?

Here is the female this morning. She's starting to look much "chunkier" than she did when I first got her.

DayGecko_Female3.jpg
 
TheLastCreature

TheLastCreature

New member
I've read up a lot on day gecko eggs and they are easily removed but the eggs themselves are stuck to each other I think so it would be easy to keep their orientation. I'm pretty sure their like cresteds and cannot be rotated but I'm not sure, best to incubate on a suspended platform over water to keep high humidity but prevent the eggs from touching an actual substrate like vermiculite, not sure about incubating it in a deli cup in the parents tank but I don't see why not
 
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acpart

Well-known member
Some day geckos glue their eggs and some don't. Here are some possible things to do:
--wait till the eggs are laid. Tape a small plastic cup over them. Incubate them in the cage
--before the eggs are laid, tape a florist tube (small plastic cylinder that florists stick rose stems into) near the top of the cage and hope she lays in there. You can leave the eggs in there (maybe put a bit of mesh over the opening) or put them in an incubator if you decide to get one.

Good luck.

Aliza
 
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Ambubadger

New member
Aloha and congrats! I've removed my laticaudas eggs easily from the substrate, and the only thing they were stuck to were each other. I thought they were duds, so I placed them off to the side without regard to orientation. The first two that hatched were in the same viv as their mother, and we're lucky not to be eaten. When I cleaned the cage out, I removed the four remaining eggs and placed them in a pot with moss inside, misting them daily. Two hatched, and I'm waiting for the other two to pop. I think if you can't remove the eggs, shelter them from the mom and keep an eye out for the hatchlings. Otherwise, wait a day or two for the shell to be hard enough, and carefully remove them. A deli container works just fine. Also, the humidity in the egg tank was probably slightly higher than the mommy' screened viv, but I otherwise didn't do anything special.
 
Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
Okay, thanks. I would keep the humidity slightly higher because of the dampness of the substrate-- but temps would be similar.
 
mkschaefer

mkschaefer

New member
I wouldn't worry about rotating them initially. For species that do not glue their eggs to the surroundings (i.e. laticauda is one of those), I will roll them out of bamboo or put painter's tape on a long instrument and remove. I have even removed hollows and bamboo out of enclosures, only to find a few clutches deposited after finding hatchlings. Phelsuma laticauda is a very hardy species and they will produce a lot of offspring. You can also set the eggs on top of the enclosure near the lights for additional heat. If your humidity in the room or enclosure is fine, they will do well. Even if it is low, these are resilient eggs and hatch in a variety of conditions.
 
mkschaefer

mkschaefer

New member
You can also use vermiculite, perlite, or another medium. Pour water into it and then hand squeeze the water out. If you then put the eggs in a container lid (Gatorade bottle, for example) with some dry substrate, set that on top of the damp substrate in the larger container. This works pretty well if you are concerned about hatching them.
 
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Ambubadger

New member
Looks good, now for the wait! Laticaudas seem pretty tough, and it's wonderful when these little hunters start following their instinct and running down fruit flies on their own! What kind of substrate are you using? It looks like some kind of soil...
 
Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
I have the eggs sitting in dry orchid bark- bed a beast. They are in a small deli cup. Around them is damp vermiculite. This is what a breeder on Gekkota told me to do. I always incubate my Crestie eggs directly in the vermiculite.
 
Hypancistrus

Hypancistrus

New member
I have not been able to find a consistent suggestion as to how long the incubation period is for these guys. Does anyone know?
 
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Ambubadger

New member
I'll get back to you in the morning, I'm at work now-- but I remember mine being >45 days, I was starting to think they were duds! My girl should have it written in the calendar.
 
M

Martinreij

New member
New here. My 7 months old laticauda girl laid her first two eggs a few weeks ago.
I've placed them in a small daily cup with damp moss. Humidity and temperature are ok.
Eggs are pink-ish. My only concern is the mums age. Anyone experienced with young females laying eggs?
 
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