First Leopard Gecko 9 Days Later 2 Eggs. Whoa!

JDriver

New member
Greetings,

Didn't think my first post on these forums would be in this section, but here we go! I have never kept any reptile before. I kept my hands wet in aquariums for years and decided it would be a great experience for me and my 4 year old son to keep a Leopard Gecko. March 2nd we went down to our reptile shop and got everything and picked up a female adult tangerine morph leopard gecko. My son named her Cutie :lol:

She lives in a Exo Terra 24 X 18 X 12 with a hot moist hide (she loves it) and a cool hide on the other side. Her hot side ranges from 90-92, and the cool side is about 74 with it falling a bit at night. Humidity is about 35% and falls to the high 20's at night. Husbandry we clean her poo's daily and her water bowl is changed out with some RO water.

She acclimated very quickly the 3rd day she was eating from my hand. She ate about 2-3 mealworms a day until Thursday she refused to eat. Friday night I noticed she was a bit wide in her stomach and to be honest I was a bit worried she might have a impaction. I only had mealworms and wanted to add Dubia roaches and butterworms for a weekly treat. I picked up butterworms but they were out of stock on the roaches. I offered the butterworms hoping this would entice her appetite and she still turned her nose the other way. Anyways, fast forward to today I come home and find two eggs in her hide! A quick Google search to see if these were fertile was "...a veiny red circle with a red dot..." used my my camera phone light and well and behold a veiny red circle with a red dot in the middle on both eggs. Questions...

What do I do now? I don't know much of her history just her morph. I am literally unprepared and have nothing to take care of these little eggs. I was going to call my reptile store as I am sure they would take them in. Also, she seems okay afterwards she walked around when I had her hide off. I did offer some more butterworms and she still doesn't want to eat. I'll give them a good calcium dusting and put them back in her dish for tonight. She has to be low on cal cause these eggs are huge! I am still shocked I couldn't believe my eyes! Really cool.

I've attached a picture of her and her egg. When i took the picture i thought it was only 1, but she is laying over another one.

IMG_20190311_123147.jpg

Jeff
 

Geecko123

New member
you need to make an incubator if you want to try and hatch them, I hope someone who has experince comes on because I have never breed leopard geckos, but I think you need 3-4 inches of vermiculite in a container with a heat source and you need to keep it moist, I am pretty sure that is how you make it.
 

acpart

Well-known member
Get a gladware container. Put vermiculite or perlite in it and add water until it's moist, not wet (for perlite it's recommended 0.8:1 water to perlite ratio by weight, for which you'll need a gram scale). Lay the eggs on top of the substrate and put the cover on. For now, find a place in your house that's reliably a steady temperature in the 80-88 range. That may end up meaning you'll put the sealed container on the warm side of the enclosure. For best results you probably should contact your reptile store to see if they'll incubate more reliably, or if they can recommend someone else. See if they have any idea which gecko she mated with or what her morph is. Be aware that you may get 2 more eggs in a few weeks . . .

Aliza
 

Geopard Lecko

New member
To add to aliza's post if I may.. I have read that the top of the water heater can make due for a few days.. incubators can be had fairly cheap an fast on amazon ($65~$85).
[MENTION=3989]Elizabeth Freer[/MENTION] know anyone with one for sale?
 

JDriver

New member
Thank you for all the replies. My reptile store will incubate them for me, phew. I'll take them in tomorrow. For the mean time I left them in her hot hide. She's eaten 2 butterworms so far!
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
She lives in a Exo Terra 24 X 18 X 12 with a hot moist hide (she loves it) and a cool hide on the other side. Her hot side ranges from 90-92, and the cool side is about 74 with it falling a bit at night. Humidity is about 35% and falls to the high 20's at night. Husbandry we clean her poo's daily and her water bowl is changed out with some RO water.

Welcome aboard, Jeff!

That was quick work for Cutie's eggs! Will you be getting the hatchlings back from the store?

Even when I lived in Seattle I always used tap water for all my geckos. Since I moved to the beach, I do likewise. Here's some info regarding distilled and RO water writtten by a knowledgeable GU member who's no longer active.

 
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Newbreeder

New member
Homemade incubators are really easy to make. I made 2 for around £30 and they have been really reliable so far. If youd like i will list everything i used, where i bought the parts from and how i put it together later when i have time.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
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