More EGGS EEEK!!

Once again totally unexpected. I have a female crestie that was bought from petco as a pet back in march. I would say she was roughly 8 to 8 months old when I bought her. She was housed with several other cresties.

In July or it could have been August, I am thinking August. She laid two dud eggs. I was excited, but I knew they probably weren't fertile, after a few weeks they went bad, I wrote it off as a normal "coming of age" crestie thing. Which they do, do.

Well last night I was getting ready to feed everyone, she is housed with my other female Post It. I noticed Partial, the female in question was really skinny looking, so I weighed her and compared notes to about 2 weeks ago. She lost 7 grams. I am like WTH?? So I think she is having troubles with co housing and move her into her own home.

I am cleaning out the cage today pull out the nest/humid box and noticed it was really messy and the substrate was disturbed so I start digging around and find two very lovely looking eggs. I candled them and didn't really see anything to suggest they were infertile, and nothing to make me say they are fertile. So I am incubating them to make sure.

My question is this. I have NOT placed any of my females with my male yet, they still aren't quite ready weight wise. So I am 100% positive she has not been bred while in my care.

Is it normal for a female to lay two dud clutches of eggs within 2 to 3 months of each other? Is it possible she was bred so young and retained sperm this long?

I guess I will be giving her a nest box too! Seeing as how she needs it.

Thanks,
Kristy

they can lay several clutches of infertile eggs before being with a male. some of my virgin females have laid 3-4 clutches before i put them with a male and some of my proven breeders have done the same thing at the start of a new breeding season before being bred.

when you candled the eggs did they look pink or yellow inside? could you see a pink ring like a cheerio inside them?

I looked for the pink ring, it looked like there was one but I am not 100% sure. They definitely have a pink color to them though. The last two were really yellow after about 3 days and really dented, these aren't dented at all and have a completely different feel to them. They are firm and have a leathery feel.

wow, how interesting!!

well, definitely incubate them and keep an eye on them. if they are fertile and you candle them again a few weeks you should start to see a dark area like a shadow in the egg where the gecko is forming.

she could have retained sperm but it is odd that she would wait until it is getting cooler to lay. usually if they aren't laying but retaining sperm they will lay after it starts warming up (for instance, if they have retained sperm over the winter months, they will lay in the spring).

one last thing to consider--you are positive that post-it is a female right? how much does post-it weigh and how old is she?

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Originally Posted by mlededee

well, definitely incubate them and keep an eye on them. if they are fertile and you candle them again a few weeks you should start to see a dark area like a shadow in the egg where the gecko is forming.

she could have retained sperm but it is odd that she would wait until it is getting cooler to lay. usually if they aren't laying but retaining sperm they will lay after it starts warming up (for instance, if they have retained sperm over the winter months, they will lay in the spring).

one last thing to consider--you are positive that post-it is a female right? how much does post-it weigh and how old is she?

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Thanks Emily.

I do have to keep a heat lamp on at night because it drops to about 65 degrees. So the lamp keeps it at about 72-76 degrees. Not sure if that would effect warming.

I am 100% sure Post It is female. She is 35 grams as of Last night, and she will be a year old Dec. 2nd. She shows absolutely no signs of pores, or a buldge. Hopefully She isn't a Late bloomer:O

just checking about post-it. :)

if it is warmer now with the heat lamp than it was before you started using that maybe that induced her to lay. just make sure she is getting enough calcium and keep an eye on the eggs.

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Originally Posted by mlededee

just checking about post-it. :)

if it is warmer now with the heat lamp than it was before you started using that maybe that induced her to lay. just make sure she is getting enough calcium and keep an eye on the eggs.

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Will do, I did check her caclium sacs too. They are nice and full, but I will also give her extra roaches with calcium. I was wondering why she had such a drastic weight loss in only two weeks. She had been eating so I was really worried and about to make a vet appointment.

Hopefully she eventually stops laying eggs. This is the one I told you about that I didn't want to breed because she had the oddly shaped back. I don't want her to over work her body.

Ashley,
It is pretty interesting. The first time she did it I about had a stroke lol. I was really excited, then that cloud of doom came a long when I quickly realized they weren't fertile.

awe kristy what a buzz kill lol

Yeah it was, but thats okay. I would much rather her be healthy than have any eggs.

At least I will be prepared when I do actually breed some cresties. So there is a plus to all this.

Too neat! I'm pulling for sperm retention! :D lol Keep us "post-it" on the egg progress! :P

Just a little update.

So far one egg has a small dent in it. The other egg is still just perfect looking, and there does appear to be some veins:D

Neither egg is showing any signs of rotting, mold or any thing to suggest I just throw them out.


As for the female, I found the eggs Nov. 3 she had to have laid them within 24 hours prior, maybe 48 at the most.

So that was roughly twelve days ago. She is still living on her own since I separated her from the other female. She has packed on another 6 grams:D She is either just really thriving since being put back on the repashy diet (which I hear they may be changing again) or she is producing more eggs. She has also been digging like crazy in her nest box for the last two nights.

So I am hoping since she is doing so well weight wise and that she eats like a horse that she may have retained sperm and I might get some mystery babies!!

That's so egg-sighting! (Sorry.... :oops:) lol

Best of luck, thanks for the update!

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Originally Posted by Laooda

Too neat! I'm pulling for sperm retention! :D lol Keep us "post-it" on the egg progress! :P

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ME TOO!! Except it isn't Post it lol its my other female. Post it will be bred in the spring though. :)

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Originally Posted by Laooda

That's so egg-sighting! (Sorry.... :oops:) lol

Best of luck, thanks for the update!

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Thats funny lol. My mom said the same thing when I talked to her the other day.

Well, another update. I noticed that she was digging the last 3 or 4 nights so I have been watching for eggs. She laid two more, one was dented and very yellow when candled. The other one....

Has the pink ring, with the dot in the middle. Very distinctive. I hadn't seen fertile eggs before so I wasn't 100% sure that they were either fertile or infertile. Now that I have seen one, I can definitely tell the difference.

So she must have retained sperm from being in the cage with the males from the store. I now have 1 mystery baby incubating and will hopefully hatch around my birthday:D

awe congrats, please do keep us posted on them!!:gj:

awesome, congrats! incubate the yellow one just in case--sometimes they look yellow for the first week or so but then they turn pink, get the pink ring and end up plenty fertile. sometimes i think they are just not as developed when they are laid or something. :)

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

awe congrats, please do keep us posted on them!!:gj:

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Originally Posted by mlededee

awesome, congrats! incubate the yellow one just in case--sometimes they look yellow for the first week or so but then they turn pink, get the pink ring and end up plenty fertile. sometimes i think they are just not as developed when they are laid or something. :)

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Thank you, I am really excited.

I do have it incubating just it case.
I can't wait to see what the mystery baby looks like:D