Several days ago, I was startled to find that one of my CBB Amel females had dropped 2 fertile eggs and was in the process of laying more. What was startling about this was that she had not gone through the common pre-shed process which usually alerts us to a female that is getting ready to lay. Yes, she looked a little big and I had recently bred her about a month prior, but she wasn't bulging (she only laid 5 eggs) and I had been keeping my eye on her and not once did she go into blue nor shed.
I've only had this a couple of times with a wild caught female who never lays viable eggs regardless of whether I actually breed her or not. So I've always chalked those instances up to her not being able to propagate properly.
But this Amel female gave me a decent viable clutch (10 eggs) earlier this year that had a 100% hatch rate and had gone through the pre-shed process then.
I have read about past instances, but it seems like a rare occurrence, at least in captivity.
Has anybody else had females that laid fertile clutches that did not go through the pre-shed process?
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles
