Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please Help!

Put the eggs in a deli cup half filled with damp vermiculite. Put that deli cup on top of a stereo receiver or VCR which generates enough heat to incubate the eggs. They will hatch in about 2 months....no lie!
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Andy Ghertner
Captive Bred Geckos
http://www.CaptiveBredGeckos.com

I'm not too sure about the VCR or Stereo.. Those are going to be receiving a lot of vibration from loud noise (if you're like my fiancee who is far from deaf can't hear the TV at full volume while sitting 5 feet away...!)

I've also heard that you can put them (in the cups as suggested) in a small, secluded area that stays warm - the top of your closet, for example. Somewhere that doesn't have an A/C vent blowing cold air on it.

If at all possible, get some sort of thermometer so you know what the temperature is.

Did you leo just lay eggs?

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
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~~The Gecko Barn~~

>>I'm not too sure about the VCR or Stereo.. Those are going to be receiving a lot of vibration from loud noise (if you're like my fiancee who is far from deaf can't hear the TV at full volume while sitting 5 feet away...!)

I just used a small see-through deli cup and vermiculite. I'll take you through the steps I took.
First, mark the top of the egg gently with a pencil. You must make sure that you don't turn the egg over when moving it. Depending on the size of the deli cup you're using, put about 6 small air holes around the sides of the cup, up towards the top lip (make sure they are above the vermiculite level). Take a handful or 2 of "Scott’s" vermiculite and put it in a bowl (Scott’s worked best for me). Fill the bowl with water until the vermiculite looks muddy. Then take the vermiculite out by the handful, and squeeze out as much water as you can in one good squeeze. Place that vermiculite into the deli cup. Keep doing this until it is at least 1/2 to 3/4 full. Before placing the eggs in there, make a small indentation in the vermiculite with your thumb for each egg. Carefully move the eggs, keeping the marked side up, into the indentations. I placed a humidity gage and a thermometer directly in the vermiculite between 2 eggs. Place a heat source over the eggs and make sure that your temp is where you want it. The moisture in the vermiculite will rise from the heat and collect on the inside of the lid, then drip back down, ultimately recycling itself. I had to mist about 2 times towards the end of the incubation period to replace some lost moisture. And that's it. I've had a 100% success rate, and it was very cheap. Here is a pic. Good luck!

I just wanted to add - a blunt permanent marker might work better. I hate writing on soft things with pencils - you have to either mark it a LOT or mark it hard to make it dark enough to see. With a permanent marker, you can just brush it across the top and voila!

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

Tis true, writing with marker is much easier and I have seen many, many poeple use them on their eggs. I was always afraid of the ink getting absorbed through the egg...then again, if anything does get absorbed, pencil can't be too great for it either..lol!

Yeah.. All that lead YUM Markers are MUCH easier to use, though.. I've never seen anything leak through to harm the baby...

But HEY here's an interesting theory.. Maybe the marker ink is why so many babies aren't hatching this season???

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

You may be on to something there...anything's possible right? HEY OUT THERE!...How many of you have had a low success rate with your eggs and have been using marker on the tops of them?
Maybe we should poll it. The results may be surprising.

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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

If you don't have the $50 to buy an incubator, how are you going to have the money to properly take care of your hatchlings. My advise would be to save your resources and take care of the animals that you have.
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You can never have just one gecko. Actually it is almost impossible to have two
www.crgeckos.com
marty@crgeckos.com