Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a female u. henkeli (Levi) that is about 6 1/2 years old. I have never bred her - she has always lived alone - and she has never laid any eggs. She had a slight problem with a shed so I took her out of the cage for a little soak and to help her out a bit. When I went to put her back in her cage, I noticed what appears to be large calcium sacs on the underside of her neck. My female day gecko has had large calcium sacs for years, but I never noticed it before on Levi. Is it normal for a non breeding female to have large calcium sacs? It seems odd that I would have never noticed them before, but I don't handle her on a regular basis, so I suppose I could have missed them. She seems otherwise healthy, but she is getting older so I tend to worry more. Also, I've read that 7 years is an average life span. That's scary ... does anyone have experience with them living longer?

Thanks,
Lisa

I apologize for the bad quality of the pics. I had her in one hand and the camera in the other and I was trying to gently get her in the right position without stressing her out... Not an easy task!

Geckos (apart from the Eublepharians) are unique amongst lizards for their heavily calcified eggs. Producing these shells requires a huge reserve of calcium so many geckos have endolymphatic sacs where they can store excess calcium in preparation for egg development. A female who is on a calcium-rich diet, and not producing eggs will accumulate very large amounts of calcium like you are seeing in yours.

What are you feeding her? How often are you supplementing and with what supplements? Lessening the quantity of calcium in her diet should allow her to use up some of those reserves and bring her chalk sacs back down to a more normal size. Or introduce a male and see if she'll use some of it up for egg production

Zach