Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I work at pet valu plus pets and lately the pictus geckos have been laying eggs. Im quite knowlagable with reptiles but never had to dela with babies yet. So I kept these eggs in a tupperware container with vermiculite and now they began hatching. 1 so far...I gave him some 1/8" crickets and he ate 2 last night. Made sure he was misted a bit just keep him hydrated. Kept him in a tupperware container with a heat pad. This morning I opened it up to see how he was doing and feed him and he ran over to the other side of the container strectched out with his mouth open and layed there...later at lunch I found him dead...So what did I do wrong cause theres 8 more eggs to hatch and I dont want to screw it up. ps-looked like he had a heart attack. Thanks-MaTt
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-MaTt

Ouch, that sounds like a terrible thing to witness. Sorry for you. I wish you the best of luck with the rest of em. Please inform how it goes with the other ones.

p.s: are you also knowledgeable in golden geckos (G.ulikowski)?
I would like tips on breeding them, and talking care of eggs and hatchlings. Thanks

Matt:

Sounds like the little guy may have overheated. I keep my babies in shoebox sized tupperware containers with about 20 airholes. I start the hatchlings on moist cocofiber, and then after about a week on heat tape (a 3" strip on the back 3" of the box), it becomes necessary to mist them daily. The daily removal of the lid allows for plenty of fresh air to get in the box.

Temperatures in the 80s (I keep mine between 80-88F) and high humidity are crucial to hatchling pictus growth. When I was just starting out breeding these guys, I lost a lot of babies to shedding problems which undoubtedly came from a lack of humidity. A lot of people use paper towels on hatchlings but I have found cocofiber to be more natural, and hold humidity a lot better than paper towels. Also since I switched to cocofiber, I haven't lost any hatchlings.

Hopefully this will help you out for those pictus that are soon to hatch. If you have any more questions, feel free to e-mail me directly.

Andy Ghertner
Captive Bred Geckos
http://captivebredgeckos.com

I have been breeding pictus for many years now and have found that humidity is very important to them as hatchlings. I start my babies off in a 6"x6" tupperware container with one 1/8" airhole on each side. The are kept on coco fiber, which hold humidity alot better that paper toweling. Since they are kept in a sealed container, misting is not really need as the condesation all over the inside of the container will provide them with enough water, although I do keep a milk cap in there with water in it. They are offered appropriate sized crickets every night just about, usually as many as they will eat. The containers (1/4) is on 3" heat tape. That's all there is to it. They are fairly hardy. Good luck. Leland-D.W.Geckos