I'll preface this by saying I have yet to successfully incubate any eggs...
I have two Coleonyx brevis eggs which were laid July 7th. Yesterday, one of the two eggs shrunk/shriveled to about half its size. I figured that meant hatching would be "imminent," but the egg had collapsed to the point where the baby gecko inside appeared practically shrink-wrapped.
I slit the egg open this afternoon and removed a fully-formed baby gecko which appeared to be dead--no movement, breathing, nothing. Is this a case of the gecko dying in the egg before pipping, or did I just jump the gun and inadvertently kill it by removing from the egg before it was ready? I assumed if I had killed it, it would've at least moved or otherwise shown signs of life after removing it from the egg.
The other egg is still full-size and firm, so I plan on being more patient with that one in any case.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
