Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The first eggs have finally arrived. The female that I didn't think was gravid laid two eggs yesterday! She has substrate in her tank and was digging in it the day before. Yesterday I went down and her head was in the substrate and I could see an egg.
So, I took them out carefully and put them in moistened perlite in a incubating container.
Questions:
One of the eggs was kind of upright in the substrate and I laid it down in the perlite - was that not good?
At what point after hatching does it make a difference what way the egg is lying and why? Do they drown in fluid if not the right way?
How do you candle an egg? I would love some detail on this please and thank you!

BTW - when I say I didn't expect she was gravid it is because I put her with the male for one night and she really made lots of noise and ran - tail up in the air, shaking and nattering. I figured she just wasn't ready so I took her out and put her in another enclosure and voila! She also doesn't look any thinnner or weigh any different. I assume she is the one that laid eggs because she was the one that kept going back to the spot and sticking her head in the substrate. Substrate is also going - paper towels are going to be better I think - and a nesting box.

Of course these may be dud eggs!

If you extracted the egg within 24 hrs of laying and you laid it flat in the perlite, it should be fine. I “thought” that the time allotted was within 36 hrs. Obviously the sooner the better. I always mark my eggs on their tops with a small dot from a sharpie even before taking them out from where they are laid noting their orientation. The ink is non-toxic and I have never heard of any embryos born with a black eye or caused dalmatian spots due to the ink.

If gecko eggs are anything like snake eggs, once they have been laid and are exposed to air, the embryo is triggered to attach itself to the inner wall of the egg. Blood veins then spread out from the attached embryo and they crawl along side of the inner wall of the egg. The veins are pulling air in through the walls of the egg and taking it to the embryo. If the egg is turned after it is attached and the veins are established, it can drown. How? I do not know. Maybe it constricts the blood or maybe it can’t pull enough air from the wall if that wall is not exposed to open air anymore but rather under the substrate.

I tried to candle my gecko eggs last year with little success. For one, I don’t like messing around with the orientation of the egg in order to put it up to a candle. Another thing is people like me shouldn’t play with matches. I use a mag light on my python eggs. It is as simple as doing an ultra sound on a belly. I just glide the small mag light over the surface of the egg and marvel at the veins and eventually the movement of the embryo inside. But, unfortunately ciliatus eggs are small and a mag light beam seems to not penetrate it where I want to.

There is a flashlight attachment called a “bore sight” and it is a thick fiber optic/plastic tube. People use it to look down gun barrels when cleaning their guns. It concentrates the light into a beam. I have been wondering if this would work better in candling smaller eggs. If I give it a shot, I will let you know how well it works.

So how do you know if your eggs are fertile? In my experience, eggs yellow if they aren’t fertile however Sleepygecko said that she had infertile eggs that did not yellow. One thing for sure is that if the embryo grows, so does the egg.
You can do a thread test on it. Take a 3 inch piece of string and measure the middle diameter of the egg. Mark the length on the string with a sharpie where the thread meets itself. Re-measure the eggs diameter in 2 weeks or so with the same thread and see if it has swelled any larger.

If the egg was bad, I would think that if it doesn’t sink in on itself it will eventually dry out in the center or if it was moist enough…..mold. I haven’t had a bad ciliatus egg yet so I don’t know what they do. I definitely wouldn’t think they would swell though. Whatever gasses from decomposing with in the egg are given off, should escape through the walls.

Just in front of the back leg joints towards the abdomen…that’s where I notice the difference in weight after they lay. It will be sunken in for a couple days. If they are hanging on the glass upside down/ head facing down, it is very noticeable.

I hope these are fertile for you! I am an addict when it comes to seeing someone experience something like this who are really passionate about the hobby! There is nothing quite like it!

Sorry the post was long but I hope this helps a bit.

Best of luck!!!!!!!

Severa

Thank you for the enthusiasm in responding. I marked the top of the eggs tonight with a sharpie
Next week I am going to the "gun guy" next door and borrowing the type of light you mentioned - He'll have it I'm sure.
I'm really excited about the eggs, but won't get my hopes up too too high. Mom is still sticking her head in the substrate where she laid them. I moved her over earlier to clean up a little mess and she went right back and stuck her head in. I'm now hoping that this will be her laying area and I can leave the substrate.
I didn't think he had nailed her a few weeks ago - well surprise!
Thanks again and I'll see what I can see with the light.

Just out of curiosity, can you tell me exactly how long ago that they had their "fling"?

I am curious to know how long it takes for egg development after initial courtship. I know that there are other factors that are involved i.e temps or viable sperm or even how long she holds onto it before fertilization is allowed.

Thanks,
Severa

it takes about 3 weeks, and any light can be used for candling with some success.cresteds also retain sperm, so they only need one good go at it to lay clutches for a few months. you could expect your next bunch within a month. also ive hatched eggs inside the tank with a cup over them, and now hatch them in my sock drawer with very high success. keep the eggs at 68 to 70 for best results. im waiting now on my newest breeders, well older breeders, newest idea, a blonde harley and a pure red male. i got a feeling these babies are gonna be gorgeous.

i made that confusing 3 weeks is how long it takes for the sperm to fertelize the eggs on average. mosty of mine lay 2 1/2 to 4 weeks after the initial mating

It was probably a month ago - I didn't even think of writing down a date. She was not a happy camper around him - shook her body, rattled her tail and nattered away. I was worried about her getting too stressed so I only left her with him for one night. She was psyched when I even put my hand in the terrarium after that.
I was cleaning out one terrarium last night and put him in hers for a few minutes and when he went near her she didn't even acknowledge him.

Thats crazy. She laid her eggs in the same time after courtship as she would have between clutches. She must have not wasted anytime fertilizing those eggs! I have been able to pin down 6 1/2 weeks from introduction of the male to the first clutch but I do not specifically know the date of courtship.

Severa

Not sure what is crazy here?

Its crazy because I expected her to take longer to produce her first 2, thats all. In one months time she fertilized and layed. Kind of remarkable.

mine always lay around 3 weeks to 5 weeks after fertilization, i do do things a little different thoguh. ive found if you cool them for a short period theyll stop breeding, and then raise the temp again to get them back in the mood. its a drop to 72 from 77 then back up 2 weeks later, then a raise a few months later from 77 to 81 for a week to get them back. also they get extra misting when im raising them back up, and they lose some when im dropping the temp.

Of course the first couple of eggs may be infertile and they were ready to be expelled before they were together. I also am not sure if they actually mated so this may be her virgin egg drop. We'll find out.