help with gecko eggs!

[stephaminopolis]

ok so heres my story. I got my cresteds maybe 4 months ago and started breeding them. I messed up once and didnt find the eggs until it was too late, and my other female kept laying infertile ones. She finally layed some fertile eggs and theyve been growing for over a month and look healthy. the issue is, i had to take the other female out of her tank last night because she didnt look so good, and the only tank I could put her in was the tank that I currently have the eggs in since my hatchrite purchase was lost in the mail and now im waiting for another one, so yes I have a full tank dedicated to two eggs...well i put her in there last night and she dug up the eggs during the night and flipped them. I did not mark them because stupid me figured it would be ok and last time I marked the egg, it collapsed where I had marked it. so my question is...how do fertile growing eggs look on top? or you know, the way they were layed. the eggs had a pocket on one side, and a group of veins and a little black spot on the other. i put the side up that had the black bump and veins...i know this post is a little jumbled but im trying to type it out as fast as I can and get it out here so i can get this all figured out.

[jtmoney]

Originally Posted by stephaminopolis

ok so heres my story. I got my cresteds maybe 4 months ago and started breeding them. I messed up once and didnt find the eggs until it was too late, and my other female kept laying infertile ones. She finally layed some fertile eggs and theyve been growing for over a month and look healthy. the issue is, i had to take the other female out of her tank last night because she didnt look so good, and the only tank I could put her in was the tank that I currently have the eggs in since my hatchrite purchase was lost in the mail and now im waiting for another one, so yes I have a full tank dedicated to two eggs...well i put her in there last night and she dug up the eggs during the night and flipped them. I did not mark them because stupid me figured it would be ok and last time I marked the egg, it collapsed where I had marked it. so my question is...how do fertile growing eggs look on top? or you know, the way they were layed. the eggs had a pocket on one side, and a group of veins and a little black spot on the other. i put the side up that had the black bump and veins...i know this post is a little jumbled but im trying to type it out as fast as I can and get it out here so i can get this all figured out.

Ummm ... Get that female out of the tank with the eggs and put the eggs in a deli cup with a lid with vermaculite. Put them on a counter or a closet or somewhere that is warm and humid. I dont know if they will make it because usually if eggs get flipped they dont make it. There is no way to tell where the top of the egg is if you did not mark it. You do not want the eggs in the same tank as a gecko for a few reasons.

1. They have a chance of getting dug up
2. When they hatch the hatchlings could get eaten
3. Crickets/insects could get into them and eat them

[nicolenadia]

I'm going to agree with JT. You may be better off just scrapping these and waiting until you get more eggs and your incubator set up. I know it sucks, but it may be better than dealing with deformities or rotting, dead eggs.

[KristinaRogers]

OKay heres what you need to do.

Go get a small container, some perilite without anything (fertilizer) added to it. Mix the perilite with enough water that you can squeeze a handful and no water drips out. It should be moist, not sopping wet. Usually 2 parts perilite to one part water. This will keep them humid enough so they don't dent in.

Place your eggs 2/3 of the way into the perilite, put the lid on it and leave them up on a shelf or in a closet where it will stay between 72-76 degrees. Then open the container about once a week or so for about 30 seconds and give it air exchange.

Now as far as the egg that is already dented, mist the egg lightly. It should pop back out within 24 hours. NEVER throw an egg out unless you are 100% positive its bad (smells really bad, caved in and moldy) I have had eggs dent in and hatch out no problems.

Also there is a way to tell where the top of the egg is. What you want to do is get a small led light, or tiny maglight. Go into a dark room and candle the egg (shining the light behind the egg) look for the "cheerio" or red circle of veins, that is the top. Place that upward. From now on always check for that ring and mark the top. Now sometimes that ring won't appear for a couple weeks, so its best to just mark them as you found them.

The embryo will not attach itself to the egg wall for about 24 hours, so you have a little wiggle room if you find the eggs right after the female lays them.

[bleeding_sarcasm]

#1. Dont breed species that you dont have any experience with.

#2. It doesnt matter if they get turned. Ive dumped an incubator box, and still had everything hatch out fine.

#3. dont ever spray eggs directly with water.

[KristinaRogers]

Why not lightly, and I do mean very lightly mist the dented egg with water?

I am not talking about saturating it. I guess most people would mist around the egg?

I was told to actually mist the egg though.

This is all just out of curiosity, not trying to start a debate. I wouldn't consider my self and expert on breeding cresties, I have kept them for almost 2 years, its just my first season breeding them.

[bleeding_sarcasm]

Because you can drown the embryo, and water on the egg can cause soft spots which will basically cause the egg to "spring a leak" oozing out yolk and fluid. It also increases the chances of your eggs molding.

I am in the midst of my 4th season.

[KristinaRogers]

Makes sense, thanks.

Since I had luck with the two that dented in that I misted hatching, I won't push my luck.

So besides making sure my egg container stays moist enough. If one does happen to dent in should I add a little water? Avoiding the eggs completely of course.

[stephaminopolis]

ok id like to make a few points here. #1...i noticed LAST NIGHT around 9 that the female was not doing very well. during the day and the day before she was fine. i was not sure if she had injested something or what, so i put her in the tank with the eggs until the morning when i could take her to the vet and figure out what was going on and i did not want the other geckos to stress her out. at the moment the only tank I had prepared was the tank that the eggs were sitting in until i got in my hatchrite.

#2 im new to breeding them, not the animals themselves. ive had 3 cresteds for 2 years, each were bought as babies. i did not want to breed the three I had but i am studying to be a zoologist, and my professor suggested I study genetics and I thought cresteds would be perfect for it, so I bought a few breeders, read up on what to do, talked to the breeder that I recieved them from, and presto, there you go... i messed up a few times but im getting the hang of it. i really just came on here for a little help, I am still learning. I did not expect for her to dig them up, i just wanted to know if there was a way to tell which side was which. i was uneasy about marking the eggs because when I marked the other one, it caved in completely where I marked it and the egg began to grow mold after two weeks. someone said to candle them, and I thank you for that. im sorry if i was not clear in my first post about the situation, it was jumbled because i was in a rush and worried not only about the eggs but the little girl. i do not keep my geckos with the eggs, i know the dangers of this. ive owned different reptiles my entire life and know how testy they can be with anything smaller then themselves and how they enjoy to eat the smaller animals. i really just wanted help with this situation. thank you to the ones who gave me a clear answer, such as the candling.

[John_E_Dove]

Originally Posted by KristinaRogers

The embryo will not attach itself to the egg wall for about 24 hours, so you have a little wiggle room if you find the eggs right after the female lays them.

Not trying to hijack this thread but had to post a sincere thank you for this useful information that messes up an experiment I did last summer with skink eggs.
I thought the time line was 4 or 5 hours and deliberately shifted the positioning in a clutch of skink eggs to see if the no turn rule applied to skinks, I knew it did turtles and many other but not all reptiles. All of the twenty some eggs hatched and I surmised that the rule did not apply to Great Plains skinks.
Now I'll have to perform the test over again allowing at least 24 hours before turning any eggs any degree.
Now back to the gecko egg question with my apologies for the off topic comment.
IMO every egg should be incubated in vermiculite until it is clearly dead.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion