You should never leave them in the cage for numerous reasons.

The first being that the females will lay the eggs in a substrate if they can. Mine lay in a hide box with moist substrate. In most cases, if the eggs weren't extracted within 48 hrs, the eggs would die due to too much moisture.

The second reason is that even if the eggs did hatch, you run a risk of the adults finding the hatchling first and making a meal out of them.



My practice?



I check the hide box when it is about time for the female to lay. I check the substrate in the box daily. When I find the pearly white eggs, I mark their tops with a sharpie before moving them so I know their orientation.



Next I place them in a deli cup half buried in moist perlite in it and keep them at room temperature. I figure the room stays between mid to high 70's. The higher the temps, the faster they hatch and notably smaller than a gecko that is incubated at lower temps who takes longer to hatch. Lower temped incubated are a little bigger.



Please realize that techniques vary. Some use hatch-right as an incubating medium and others use vermiculite. To each their own. But I don't know of ANY breeders who leave them in the enclosure with the parents. There is a lack of control in that method and the success rate has to be miniscule.



Hope this helps,

Severa

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]