Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is it possible for cresteds to have false pregnancies? i have a female that - despite never being paired with a male - has started exhibiting signs of pregancy. in the last week, she has gained 4 grams, suddenly looking very fat in the midsection, and she has started burrowing into the cypress substrate, something she has never done before.

what's even more strange is that when i had her out the other night and she was perched on the edge of her cage, it looked like you could see the outline of two small eggs.

From my understanding, there is no such thing as "false pregnancies," but rather a virgin female can cycle eggs even if she's never been in a cage with a male. If she has indeed never been with a male, you can bet that any eggs she lays will not be fertile. Some factors that trigger egg production is age and simply being in a room with a male.

Is everyone REAL SURE that virgin females' eggs are infertile? I only ask because SOME species of lizards can lay fertile eggs in the absence of a male, and the resulting babies are male. That is presumably nature's compensation for a lack of partners in a particular environment. It happened to me once, and I didn't think to try incubating them (just to see) until too late. The female was spectacular too, a pink and cream fire, and she died before she ever laid fertile eggs, so I would have been happy to have a male w/her genes.
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Terri
6:10:21 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, White Lips, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Randy, Squeak, Bling, Squeaker, Stripe, Redhead, Speckles, Harrys, Penny, BonusBaby, Fudgefire & BlackCherryMarble, and AAAaaaggghhhh 9 new babies since Weds, 7/20.

You're correct about some species of geckos being parthanogenic and not needign a male for fretile egg production. the mourning gecko is the one that pops into my mind. Cresties, on the other hand, are not one of those species. I will admit that I may be wrong here, but I think that fertile eggs will only come from a pairing with a male. Eggs from no pairing should be infertile. I am no expert here, but those are my thoughts.
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-Idiotshot
6.3.5 Crested Geckos (Marty, Skitz, Flip, Splash, Siren, Boomer, Houdini, Domino, Pica, Peep, Chomps, Treetop, Doodles)
0.1.4 Leopard Geckos (Dart, Hoops, Frenzy, Cliffhanger, Sasha)
0.0.1 White Spotted Gecko (Russ)
2.0.1 Ball Pythons (Oedipus, Achilles, Olympus)
0.1 Spotted Python (Echo)

Since lizards can withhold sperm for quite awhile, are you sure that it was NEVER with a male? Maybe it was mated to a more mature male while too young to reproduce but had retained some of the sperm?

Just a thought.

-Bonnie

Interesting premise. At my house, at least, the youngsters are kept in separate quarters from about 3 months on. Right now I am doing a completely unscientific experiment with saving eggs from 2 females who continue laying monthly even though their mate has been out of their cage since April 23rd. At some point the eggs will no longer be fertile and then I will have an IDEA of how long a given female might retain sperm. So far the eggs they laid in June are growing and looking good, but 2 months would probably be expected to be alright. The real test will be the eggs they lay next month, assuming they keep it up.
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Terri
6:10:21 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, White Lips, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Randy, Squeak, Bling, Squeaker, Stripe, Redhead, Speckles, Harrys, Penny, BonusBaby, Fudgefire & BlackCherryMarble, and AAAaaaggghhhh 9 new babies since Weds, 7/20.

sounds lieka good idea. Ive had this happen to me also. The thing is my female was never paired with a male but she was in a cage with another female and people told me that it is possible another gecko could have stimulated(sp?) her into laying eggs. She only has done it once but i know what ur talking about. The eggs where infertile.

Big P

So you DID incubate them, just in case? That answers a burning question for me right there! I'd wondered whether their eggs could possibly be viable without a male! Now I don't feel so bad about the pink & creamfire virgin's eggs I let dry out! (After she died, I always wondered whether her eggs could possibly have hatched.)
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Terri
6:10:21 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, White Lips, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Randy, Squeak, Bling, Squeaker, Stripe, Redhead, Speckles, Harrys, Penny, BonusBaby, Fudgefire & BlackCherryMarble, and AAAaaaggghhhh 9 new babies since Weds, 7/20.

Well i found 1 egg too late it dried out but the wierd thing is she had the other egg in a differnt part where there was some moss and more moisture. Dont ask me how the other got to the other side. Well i took it out as as fast as i could and got it to an incubator but after a couple days I knew it wasnt any good cuz it started to go all lumpy, it smelled and grew some fungis so i dont think it is possible for a female to lay an egg being fertile with out a male but we have women with a penis so it maybe possible to have a female crested to have a hemi penis or descised(cant speel at all) as a male, thats just a dream and thats as common as an albino crested but anything is possible now adays. Be carefull cuz ur crested female could become a male happens to leopards.

Big P