Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a four year old female who is starting to scare me. She bred on April 14th and 16th which means it's been almost seven weeks. Everything I have read says 2-5 weeks for laying. She is huge... and her behavior is erratic. Normally, she hides on the cool side of her cage for most of the day, emerges around 6-7 pm and hangs out on the warm side of her cage for the whole night, a couple of inches from her highest heat area (which hovers 90-92F). She goes back into the cool side in the morning around 7-8 am.

Last week she stopped coming out of her cool hide (which is about 78F). I raked her cage so I would be able to see tracks if she came out at all, which she did not for four nights. That meant no water or anything. I figured she was feeling vulnerable so I covered her cage with a cloth. She immediately came out and drank (I left the end open so I can spy on her) then settled on the warm side of her home and has been there for two days now. She hasn't tried to dig in her nesting box at all.

Is she just taking her time or is she egg-bound? I have been keeping geckos for ten years, but haven't bred any since my first couple of years keeping them. (I'm not good at selling my animals and so just ended up with a bunch of geckos; I only bred Boudicca b/c I plan on keeping her babies as personal pets) She is an awesome gecko, but I don't want to overreact and end up with a jacked up vet bill. What is really worrying me now is that her front legs have lost their tone. She hasn't eaten since the week after she bred.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer, and if any of you know a good reptile vet in Orlando, FL, I might need the number.

Sierra
2.1 horses (derby, pele, & nikki)
2.0 boas (freshie & other)
1.1 bulls (diamond & mrs potts)
3.2.1 leos (trip, roxy, boudicca, obie, play, & squirrel)

Sierra,

I might be tempted to say that your gecko is simply taking a while to lay down yolk and shell the eggs, but in my experience seven weeks is quite a bit longer than this process normally takes. The fact that your lizard is refusing food is not a good sign though. When I kept leos (admittedly this was years ago now) my lizards would normally continue to eat sometimes until the day of egg laying, or they often would stop only a day or so before. I am not a vet, but your gecko being egg bound is a very real possibility.

If I tried to look on the sunnier side, I might say that since you mentioned your lizard spends a lot of time at or around 78 degrees, that she is simply taking longer than normal to develop the eggs. Maybe you could try to put an egg laying container on the cooler side of your enclosure.

As far as finding a good vet, I don't live in Florida, but you could look up the Association of Reptile Vets (that may not be the exact name of the organization, but their website has a list of vets in your area) or I have in the past called the nearest zoo and asked the herp dept. to recommend someone nearby.

Good Luck