Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This morning I awoke to my little girl, Dot, with two eggs beside her in the moist hide! (this is theirs and my first clutch.) I was not expecting eggs so soon since she is not even a year old yet and neither is her mate! I've been checking her too, but did not see what I was supposed to see. I have taken the eggs out, marked the top with a red sharpie, and placed them into a deli cup of their own in expanded compressed coconut husk material (ventilated), and set back upon the heat mat the parents share with my clivia seedlings.

Question:

#1: How long will it take them to hatch if they are fertile??

#2: What do you feed the newborn babies?

#3: How old/big do they need to get before I can find them new homes?

That's all I can think of now. Answers are appreciated. Thanks.

#1: How long will it take them to hatch if they are fertile??

Depends on what temp you incubate them at. The higher the faster they will hatch. Usually around 45-60 days. (more or less)

#2: What do you feed the newborn babies?

I feed them crickets when they are first born. After that I switch to a bowl for of meallies. They have to get their eye mouth coordinationj down before they will be successful hunters. Really that means they have aweful aim..lol! I started my hatchlings off by cutting open the butts of the crickets and letting them taste them and then the babies would grab the cricket out of my fingers.

#3: How old/big do they need to get before I can find them new homes?

I wait until they are 15g, about a month and a half.
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

"A herper's life is never dull" - ME

How much does she weigh? Keep an eye on her, just in case. If she's laid one clutch, she'll most likely be laying more. Keep on eye on her weight - get a scale, if you don't have it, and watch for sudden drops in her weight.

Don't take me wrong - I'm happy you got eggs...! But I also know that most breeders wait until the females are at least 50 grams so they don't have to worry so much about sudden drops in weight. So I just want to make sure you know what to watch out for, in case you didn't already know!

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

Thanks for the tought Dusty...I am planning to fatten her up again just because she is quite small for having eggs already. I feed them a mixture of mealworms, waxworms, and crickets that I gut load with tropical fish food. I don't do pinky mice b/c I just can't do it! They have that calcium sand they live on so they get plenty of that going. I do spoil them quite a bit so I think there are no worries Only worry is what do I do with all the babies?!?!

Thanks Katie! I had one more question too, but it has slipped my mind right now...will post if I remember it again

Ok I remember my question now...

How long will it be until her next clutch of eggs if she laid them yesterday, June 6th? Do they have an x amount of days in between clutches?

a lot of it depends on the leopard gecko. Usually about 2-4 weeks.

What to do with the babies? You can keep them or sell them.

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

whoa that's quite often! i think if the first clutch is successful I will have to ask the pet store I go to whether they'd trade me supplies for babies. Just got home with another 100 mealworms, 12 large crickets, and some waxworms...fed her lots of waxworms until she was full. she's eating so that's a good sign! crickets are munching on tomatoes at the moment. will feed them tomorrow.

waxworms and minerals are a good idea right now,post pictures when they hatch,and ask around about shipping,maybe you'll have some luck there,people here say they've kept some of thier first hatchlings,so you might just end up with a house full of lizards until Romeleo and Lizardette are seperated

where do i get a multi-vitamin? i've fed them a varied diet as much as possible (i'm new to leos). can i use the kind they use for birds that you put in water?

i might keep a female if i get one, but that's all. i'm trying for the mid-range to get males and females, but i don't know how to tell them apart before 5 months of age. if i can't keep the temperature mid-range i'm pretty much guaranteed females I'm guessing.

How do I post pictures?

Upload them to the "Photo Gallery" and hten when you go to post there's an option at the bottom of the page where you can select which pic to show.
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

"A herper's life is never dull" - ME

thanks! i'll go see what i can do.

btw, my girl's weight post-egg laying and post fill up on waxworms today is 48.20g and my boy is 68.04g.

Here they are with mom! This is how I found them.

Im really happy for your new (soon to be) babies! Good luck with them.

One thing i will mention because it seems no one else noticed it is you really should get them off calci-sand immediately. Although it claims to be safe, digestible and beneficial it is not. It clumps together in your leo's tummys and causes sharp jagged masses that can cause internal damage and impactions. I dont even know how many people i know of that have lost leos to this misleading substrate. If you want to have them on sand washed, screen, fine particle play sand is the best way to go (2$ for a 50lb bag at home depot). But even this can cause impaction, you can also use paper towels, newspaper, tile, linolium, non-adhesive shelf liner, or indoor/outdoor carpeting. Hatchlings should definately be housed on one of those safer substrates until they are 1yr of age, by then they will be better hunters and wont be getting huge mouthfuls of sand and their digestive system will be more apt to be able to handle the occasional sand that they do injest.

I cannot stress enough how dangerous calci-sand is. For your lizards calcium needs you can dust their insects and leave a dish of calcium powder in their cage for them to lick.

Here is a link to a thread of a recent case of impaction caused by calci-sand...luckily the owner caught it in time and it looks as if the leo will be ok.....

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=807899,807899

Good luck with the babies!
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Wow! Thanks for the heads up. I hate to take away their digging, but the stuff is expensive and it is getting ugly looking with the coconut husk stuff I use for their moist hide. What's a good alternative? I like how the sand makes it easy to clean w/o moving everyone around. Plus, the sand increases the heat of the heat mat to the temp they like. I've had them in that since they were both 2 months old and they seem to be doing ok. I always get turds after feeding

You can continue using sand if you want, just buy a big bag (50lbs) of washed, fine grain, screened playsand at home depot, it only costs about 2$. Just be aware that using any sand has health risks, but fine grain sand frequently causes no problems.
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats