Leopard gecko eggs?

Question

my two year old leo laid eggs and there were three eggs should i incubate all three or will they be infertile because of the unusual clutch of three

Answer 1

Incubate them

Answer 2

Incubate them justi ncase, they may be fertile, good luck!

Adam

Answer 3

Im a leopard gecko breeder

Laying Eggs

Females may lay several clutches of two eggs each during the breeding season; occasionally, single eggs are laid. Geckos which are very healthy and well cared for may lay as many as 8 times during the year, but fertility decreases with age. Very young geckos are also not as fertile. Older leopard geckos may stop producing any eggs during their last years.

The developing eggs will be seen as bulges on their sides. There are two ways to set up an egg laying place for them. One is to daily mist one area of the substrate so that the medium is slightly damp and check the area a couple times a day for eggs. Another method, and one that is a little safer for the egg, is to construct an egging container made of a plastic container half filled with damp (but not wet) vermiculite or sphagnum moss. Cut a hole in the side of the container just above the level of the damp vermiculite or moss; make it big enough for the gecko to enter and leave. (This is container is a great way to provide an area of humidity at all times for the geckos - it is also called a humidity retreat box. If you are already using one, check it for eggs when you see that your female is gravid.) The egg laying/humidity retreat box is better for the egg as it is less likely to dry out before you find it and it won't get accidentally stepped on by the geckos or nibbled on by prey.

Freshly laid eggs are slightly sticky. If the egg is fertile, it will firm up, becoming rapidly turgid, and will will feel slightly chalky to the touch.

Infertile eggs are thin and soft.

  

Incubating The Eggs

You need to strike the right balance between a properly humid environment and it being too wet. Combine 6 parts vermiculite with 4 parts water so that the vermiculite is just barely moistened. Without changing how the eggs were laid, place them carefully into the moistened vermiculite, half burying them in the medium. Place a small container of water into the vermiculite too to help keep the humidity up.

A second method is to cut a piece of foam rubber to line a plastic box. Pour enough water into the box so that the foam is saturated and water just covers it. Place small dishes, lined with dampened vermiculite or paper towel, on the wetted foam, and place eggs in the small dishes. Cover the dishes with a layer of dampened paper towels.

Once your egg incubation boxes are prepared, you must incubate them. A Hova-Bator, sold in feed stores for bird eggs, works well. Follow the package directions for setting the incubator up and adjusting the temperature. Any place where you can keep the eggs safe from being jostled or shaken and where you can keep the temperatures constant throughout the incubation period will work. You will need to be able to get into the egg boxes to check the water and add water periodically.

If eggs are incubated at 79 F, the majority of all hatchlings will be female. If incubated at 85F, you will get an almost equal number of males and females. If incubated at 90F, most will be male; at 92F, practically all will be males. Females hatched from these eggs are generally more aggressive than other females, and are generally considered unsuitable for breeding. If you are trying to guarantee a certain number of males, set up two incubation chambers, with one set up at the higher, male-producing temperatures, and the other at one of the lower female-producing temperatures.

Depending upon the temperatures used, eggs will hatch in 6-12 weeks, with the higher temperatures hatching sooner.

  

Raising The Hatchlings

House them separately in small enclosures (sweater box size is fine) complete with a *shallow* water dish and hide box. Adults and older geckos will intimidate baby geckos who may end up starving. Hatchlings will generally not eat for a week after hatching as they are still living off their yolk. After their first shed, they will they should be fed vitamin and calcium supplemented crickets. Do NOT feed large crickets - smaller ones, even though you have to feed more of them, are more nutritious. Mist several times a week (hatchlings generally need slightly higher humidity than adults) and keep a shallow bowl of water in the enclosure.

Answer 4

Oh boy.  I just spent 2 hr. trying to save another leo in trouble, and it's 3 hr. past my bedtime!  Sigh.

It is SO beneficial if you give us ALL the details!  Please go do an "additional" so we CAN help you.

Is she with a male?  Has she been in the last year (females can store 'sperm' in their bodies)?

Are you sure they are fertile?

I'm too tired to discuss incubation and candling with you, if she doesn't reside with an adult male!

IF she's with a male, or has been within a year... make sure not to rotate the eggs (mark the top of each with a Sharpie before you move it), and place all THREE in an incubator on Pearlite/Vermiculite (both come with instructions on how to moisten them properly).  Do NOT drown the embryos.  Make sure it's not TOO wet.  After making a depression and settling the egg(s), carefully bank the medium around the egg(s) to 1/2-2/3 coverage (keep them moist, but exposed, so they can breathe).

IF the eggs are in a 'mass' and stuck together - do NOT try to separate them!  Mark them, though.  Move them to the incubator in the cluster, keeping the mark up.  If you rotate the egg(s), the developing embryo(s) will die.

Bird eggs need rotating.  Reptile eggs do NOT.

If one egg is atop (like a pyramid) then gently raise some hatching medium from the edge of the container, and pack it around the exposed egg (the one up, and out of medium), but be careful to leave an exposed area on the two supporting eggs.  You will have to enter the container every few days/wk., and use a dropper (make sure the distilled water is the same temp. as the incubator temp.) to moisten the layer of medium on the lower eggs, and around the top egg.  Be VERY careful not to drown the two lower eggs (this is a "consult an expert/vet" situation).  The top egg will hatch sooner.

IF they are fertile, and one colapses/discolors... this is TOUGH to do with a cluster, but you must carefully, with an exacto blade or razor blade, remove the dead egg without cutting into the viable ones.  IF you have to leave a partial shell, or IF you get decomposing "didn't make it" on the other eggs: wipe them gently (and very quickly) with Hydrogen Peroxide on a Q-tip swab, and pat it dry as it bubbles (the eggs are pourous, and it WILL go through to the developing lizard - be QUICK!).

Anything short of that, for prevention, is beyond me, and you will have to wait for other posters, or consult your vet.

If the 'bad egg' is in the middle of the clutch - carefully extract it without damaging the other two.  You will then have two separate eggs, or two still tee-peed, marked for "up" orientation.  Reseat them (pack medium under the top egg, and cover it 1/2 way, but don't bury the lower egg), and watch VERY closely for signs of mold/fungus (white spidery veins/weblike growth) around the eggs, in the hatching medium.  IF this occurs - remove the eggs immediately (or the fungus can attach to the shell, and cause tearing trying to free the egg(s) from the medium).  Place it/them in new prepared and heated medium (I would suggest running an empty container of hatching medium in the incubator with the one containing the eggs), in a new container, and call your vet.  The fungal/mold infection will continue to proliferate, unless treated, and will kill the babies.

I'd help you out more, if I knew if she's just laying cause she can, or if she's been bred and has viable eggs.

This is sort of like saying, "My son has a bump on his face.  Can you help?"  Is he a teen?  And it's a zit... or is he 66, and a tumor started?!!

The research for temps., etc. is easy to google, so, though it wasn't much - I hope this has helped and answered the first real issue - "ARE they fertile?"

Make sure, even if the eggs are infertile, that you take care of the producing mother.  Egg laying is VERY depleting on a female Leo.  Are you properly gut loading her food, and providing extra calcium sources; UVB lighting,  etc.?

Have you done your homework, and are you aware a producing female can lay up to 20 eggs in a season - fertile or otherwise?

I'm sorry I'm so tired... the letter are blurring!

I hope this has been of help, in some small degree.

Good luck!