Our Leopard Gecko just laid eggs!

PontiusPirate · 04-02-2007, 08:04 PM

Woo! I am SO excited. She just laid a clutch of two eggs, and so far (although I haven't had a close look, she's still in the "nest" with them) they look fertile! Both male and female are hypo tangerine carrot-tails.

danalyn · 04-02-2007, 10:28 PM

wow!

realizing I could easily look up the info, but figuring I can also just as easily ask you: what's the gestation period for the eggs? if they're fertile, how long before you can expect your little ones?

PontiusPirate · 04-02-2007, 11:47 PM

About 52-67 days. We won't be able to tell until at least tomorrow if they are fertile. Of course, we won't know FOR SURE till they hatch.

Thamar · 04-03-2007, 08:27 AM

A pet gecko! How do you keep them? And do you hold them and play with them?

PontiusPirate · 04-03-2007, 02:30 PM

Good news! So far, it looks like the eggs are fertile. They are hardening up nicely instead of staying gummy and soft. I will wait about a week to do a light test. I just moved them into our makeshift homemade incubator. We'll see how it works.
Bebop (mom) is doing nicely. She's not lethargic at all, and only lost a little bit of weight.
I can't get her to eat a pinky mouse (which is fine with me), but she ate some mealworms and waxworms I offered her last night. Hopefully I can get her fattened up on those (with calcium) before she lays another clutch.

Quote:

A pet gecko! How do you keep them? And do you hold them and play with them?

We have two, a male and a female.
We were housing them in a 20 gal. tank when they were smaller, but we have moved them to a much larger 40 gal. (with a nice tight lid. Bebop escaped from the last tank and was missing for 3 days!) Alot of people keep theirs in 10 gal. tanks...and a "harem" can live in a 20 gal. (a male and a few females), but we like to give them as much space as possible. The larger tank helps to have a varied temperature. You want to have a warm side and a cool side. In smaller tanks, there isn't much difference at either end. We use a clamp lamp with a 75watt Red light for heat, and keep a thermometer on the end beneath the lamp to get an accurate reading. You can have the red lights on constantly, day and night, because it is not visible light to the geckos. They are nocturnal, and you don't want to disrupt their cycle. We keep the warm side 85-90 degrees. The cool side is usually about 10 degrees cooler. We have a rock hide on the warm side, and a neat wooden climbing/viewing contraption on the cool side (Joel made it). We have 2 (fake) plants, and a log hide with moss inside to keep the humidity and make shedding easier. We keep a food bowl with worms (meal, wax), a water bowl, and a bowl with calcium powder in the middle of the tank. We feed them crickets once a week to once every other week. Although it's not necessarily needed for leopards (since they're not really out during the day), we have a UVB light (on a timer) on during the day. Most sites/breeders/stores will tell you this isn't necessary, but I really think it has been good for our geckos. They have grown very quickly, and have been very healthy. We just barely put them on sand. We had them on aspen pellets, but now that they are full grown, we feel that sand is safe enough and is the best bet. I don't suggest sand for babies though.
Mmmmm....what else?
Yes, we do take them out and hold them occasionally to keep them tame and check them out, but we don't do it all the time. It can stress them out, as they are not as keen on being held as our bearded dragon is.

Thamar · 04-04-2007, 12:21 PM

Wow....you do know your stuff. That's a lot of work, but not too much for one who loves them!

The geckos we have where I come from are land (tree and house) geckos and they are a dull white colour (or transparent I think, because you can see their organs, at least some of them). Not my idea of a pet *grin*

PontiusPirate · 04-04-2007, 12:50 PM

It's actually not much work at all after you have everything set up. They're pretty much the easiest reptiles to have as pets. Haha.
That's cool that you have geckos where you live.
The reptiles we have here are either:
A) Poisonous
B) protected
or both.

Thamar · 04-06-2007, 08:33 PM

Cool! lol! My sister would not think so...she's terrified of them. We also have iguanas (sp) and they are endangered. They're not very close to where people live and I'm veeeery thankful for that.

Once you know what too do and how to do it things would go smoothly. And a love for your pet is the key!

How are the eggs doing now?

PontiusPirate · 04-10-2007, 02:09 PM

Iguanas are amazing, and there a ALOT of species that are endangered. But they are HUGE, haha...I think I would be glad they weren't around my house....maybe.

So far....I honestly can't tell with the eggs. There are signs that they are fertile, and signs that they aren't. It looks like we are just going to have to wait till they hatch. Even if they aren't, she will be laying another clutch sometime in the next two months, and it's quite probable that the later eggs will be fertile.
We'll just wait and see.

P.S.
Bebop's looking very good. She's eating well (but she won't touch pinky mice) and has gained quite a bit of fat back on her tail.

Gecko of Doom · 04-10-2007, 02:21 PM

Good luck with the eggs.

I've never been able to get my geckos to lay fertile eggs. I always thought it would be fun to have baby geckos, though.

PontiusPirate · 04-10-2007, 05:05 PM

Thanks.
How do you incubate yours? I think I need to make a little better of an incubator for the next batch.
Since these are her first eggs, It's not a big deal if they aren't fertile. It's pretty cool that she laid two her first time instead of just one, and she's in dang good shape as well. So, yeah. Not a big deal.
Ha.

Oh.
And how many geckos do you have?