Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The females in one of my breeding groups consisting of 1 male and 3 females have inexplicably stopped using the nest box! They leave the eggs on the repticarpet where I find them in the morning, thankfully before they get a chance to dry out, but why would they do this? I have inspected the nest box thoroughly, including smelling it, and it seems perfectly fine to me; 1" of damp peat moss covered with 1.5" of damp sphagnum moss. They've always used it before this month; now not!
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Terri
5:10:7 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Randi(y), Squeak, Bling, SqueakII, and 3 as-yet-unnamed beauties from Randy May (maybe Stripe, Redhead and Speckles).

I had/am having this very same problem. look down a little bit and you can read my post. the only reason i could come up with on my own was that they saw me taking out the box every night and looking for eggs so they layed themelsewhere to hide/keep safe their eggs. i dont know that this is at all right but the only explanation that i could come up with in my own. the one response i did get said to be carefull not to have the egglaying medium to wet/moist. i think this may have been my problem. ive since tamed down the water ratio and well see if that works when they lay the next set of eggs. maybe you are having the same problem with yourse being to wet?
sorry i cant be of more help
good luck and ill let ya know how/where mine lay thier next clutch.
vicious

Yes, I saw your post now. The medium isn't too wet--I'm careful about that because the last thing we want is mold in the cages. I keep it only damp enough that they like to play in it, especially the males!! And I only take the nest boxes out to check in the morning if it looks as though it has been disturbed, so they are sleeping by then and shouldn't notice me doing that, or maybe they sleep with 1 eye open like mothers everywhere? Don't know, but definitely do set the eggs-I always do. I figure you have nothing to lose and maybe they will hatch! If they are bad, you will figure it out soon enough and learn from that what unsalvagable eggs look like. Thanks for your ideas!
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Terri
5:10:7 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Randi(y), Squeak, Bling, SqueakII, and 3 as-yet-unnamed beauties from Randy May (maybe Stripe, Redhead and Speckles).