Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this has been a problem some of you have encountered before, but this morning I was upset to find my that my henkeli egg had hatched half way and the little guy passed away before he could finish. I've heard people say that it most likely was not strong enough and even if I had found him in time to help him, he probably would not have been strong enough to survive anyhow.

Is this true? I just feel really, really bad and hate thinking it may have been something I did wrong. Even moreso, the same thing happened earlier this summer with my first phantasticus hatchling. I have had healthy henkli hatch many times before, but it just discourages me that this happened twice in a row with two different species.

This is how I incubated them: mainly kept around 75 F in a ventilated tupperware container, about an inch or two of moist vermiculite, and a sponge resting on the moist vermiculite with depressions carved out for the eggs to nestle in. I just recently started using the sponge technique versus having the eggs in direct contact with the moist vermiculite and it seems to work well. I check them every day and adjust the mosture as necessary.

So what do you think? Could it have been something I did? Or have I just been unlucky and had weak babies?

Thanks so much for your responses!

Jon

you never know exactly what it is that caused the hatchling's death. ive had healthy hatchlings survive a few months then crash. same with satanics. this past few months has been horrible for me, i've had about 50% mortality with my hatchlings...which is just unheard of compared to past experiences of mine. it's hard not to get discouraged when things like this happen.
-----
-Mike Martin
North Carolina

Thanks for the reply Mike. It makes me feel a tiny bit better knowing it's not just me, but I still wish we could figure it out. Do you incubate your eggs on a sponge over the moist substrate, or do you put them directly on the substrate? Thanks again.
Jon

i incubate them directly on top of the perlite, and ive always had a near 100% hatch rate as long as the eggs were good...however recently the hatchling mortality has gone through the roof.
-----
-Mike Martin
North Carolina

That is a shame, I have not heard from any of you guys for quite some time (been quiet on here) been super busy myself. I was wondering how everyone and their critters were doing.

As you guys know I also went through the very frustrating and extremly sad time last season incubating my henkeli eggs, only to find dead fully developed babys there. Terribly SAD.

So I certainly can understand the lousey feeling you BOTH have about the lose of your hatchlings.

Sure hoping better days are coming for the little gecko kids.
-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve