I had a clutch of blizzard eggs incubating at 81-82 degrees, and when they still had not hatched in over 10 weeks, I started to worry. The eggs still seemed fine, and when I candled them with penlight, I could make out the dark head and eyes, and the internal organs, but couldn't tell how developed they were. Curiosity got the best of me, so I took an exacto knife and cut a tiny little slit in the top of one of the eggs. Usually, if the egg is good, clear fluid will form a droplet, and I will patch the hole with a tiny piece of torn paper towel and put the egg back in the incubator. Well, this egg had some thick, weird grayish-yellow stuff come out, so I thought the baby inside had died. So, I cut the egg the rest of the way open to see what happened to it, and there was a very small, but nicely formed little gecko. When I touched the little thing, it moved!!!! I had nicked the umbilicus and yolk sack with the exacto knife, and that is what I saw oozing out of the egg!
I quickly got a deli cup and folded a piece of paper towel in the bottom and moistened it. I placed the little one on it, and returned her to the incubator. I checked on her about every 2-3 hours before I went to bed, and I clearly expected her to die by the morning. She was still alive, though! After 2 days back in the incubator, she started to move around a little although her eyes were still closed. I offered her a tiny drop of diluted Rep-Care on the end of her nose, and behold! A tiny little tongue came out to lick it!
After 5 days on a moist paper towel in the incubator, she started holding her little head up and opening her eyes. She was scooting around the deli cup, so I figured she needed to thermo-regulate so her GI track would kick in, and put her in one of the boxes in my rack. I knew she would be OK when she opened her little mouth and screamed at me yesterday! Well, last night her clutchmate hatched... perfectly healthy. Although this wee little preemie has not shed or eaten yet, and certainly not out of the woods yet, she seems to be doing better each day!
I just wanted to share... here's a photo of the two sisters.
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com
