Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was just wondering how long it takes to know if an egg is unfertile. Last year i had all unfertile eggs. Last week my girl laid her first two eggs of the season. One is molded a bit, but not dented at all. The other seems fine, but i cannot see any pink when i candle it. However, because of the peat moss and vermiculite coating the shells, I cannot candle them very well. Any thoughts???

with leopard gecko eggs I personally have never seen any with mold on them be fertile eggs. I have hatched out some moldy cornsnake eggs were the neonates were just fine. Really there is no need to pick up an egg to see if its fertile. After transfering it to the container for incubation and marking top dead center. Get yourself a pen light or other small fairly bright flashlight. Pen lights and the really small BRINKMAN metal key chain lights work well. Place the light source very gingerly right up against the egg in question and flick it on. Even right after laying you should be able to see a pinkish red cluster somewhere inside the egg. Veins will start appearing later on. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thank you for your input. I'll see what happens. Would you leave the moldy egg? or will it damage the other? Just a thought.

a fertile egg won't mold! But yeah I would probably discard the moldy egg.