Why the incubator?

Becca may have been the only one to see this, but we have found two more eggs since getting our leos from a friend less than two months ago.

I was surprised by this, since my friend told me it will happen only 2x a year. How often do gecko pair produce eggs?

This time, instead of laying the eggs in the hide where they will get stomped on, Lola chose the TOP of the hide (flat surface) to lay her eggs. She has not left their side since laying them.

When we removed one to relocate it to an incubator type set up, she seemed quite disturbed. She sent a clear message by practically sitting over the remaining one. Broke my heart really...

So my questions:

-- why remove the eggs? Are the geckos not naturally decent parents? Will the eggs never hatch unless incubated? Why not let nature take its course? If we are not trying to breed for profit, why interfere with nature?

--- now that we have touched one egg (but we didn't put it in the incubator set up, instead we put it in a bowl of moist moss near the heat source), will she accept it if we put it back where she wants it?

--- the egg was white, soft and sticky. Is this typical?

Thanks for answering my questions. I really do appreciate having this forum as a resource to guide me in pet care.

Josie

They can lay up to ten clutches a year. BUT, the breeding season has come to an end so you shouldn't see many more.

-- You don't have to remove the eggs, but they will very UNLIKELY hatch if left in there. You can of course let nature take its course, but those of us who want to see cute little hatchlings incubate for that reason. No point putting the gecko's through the stress of the breeding if there is no outcome or benefit. AAnd, no they are not decent parents naturally, as you said, they trampled on your last eggs

-- Not really. Most females will lay then move on, some will guard it until nearer the end stages... and THEN just move on. Either way, they don't really care for their hatchlings.

-- Yes it was literally just laid. But it should be hard after a few hours or laying.

lol I know how you feel, when I picked the 2 eggs up from my female a month ago, I felt really bad. She didn't seem upset, but she was totally laying next to the eggs until I moved her.

Eggs need pretty optimal conditions to hatch, with high humidity and such. You usually only find that condition inside the moist hide. But even we know the only reason the moist hide is staying most is because we keep it that way. So you kind of have to play God in this situation and step in, because 2 eggs laying on the flat surface with no cover would highly unlikely to hatch in the condition the tank is in.

Some people have experienced where if a female lays the eggs outside of the moist hide or laying medium, then they are likely eggs that are infertile. It's not always the case, but it's common. So for now you'll want to incubate them and wait to see.

By the way, in nature geckos have much better hide spots and soil they can dig under to hide their eggs with. So while in nature they may be able to hatch eggs the natural way, the conditions we keep them in while in captivity don't really mirror the conditions they get out in the wild. So don't feel bad, if you want the eggs to hatch, you gotta incubate them

Hey there, my female laid two eggs outside the moist box and I incubated them anyways....and I had one of them hatch!!!

My female kept coming back to the place she laid her eggs and kept digging around it to cover them up but after a few hours she forgot about them and carried on as usual.

In the wild they would lay their eggs and let nature take its course there would be no parental care over the hatchlings and under no circumstance should you ever put the hatchlings in with the parents... they may mistake them as food.

thanks all! My reptile mentor came by the house (you know, the one who gave us the geckos), and he noticed the eggs had become concave (not enough moisture). Upon examination, he determined they were infertile anyway. Oh well...maybe next time!