# Garden Skink Eggs - Will they Hatch?



## Moonfox (Jan 9, 2008)

Heya!

My brother was helping dad to clean up the yard yesterday and they found a buch of garden skink eggs. They took them inside, and buried them in some dirt from the same spot in a little empty fish tank.

I don't know if they'll hatch - my brother got one out today rolleyes and it was "deflated" as I put it. He squished it between his fingers before I could stop him, and said it was dead. I told him not to touch the other ones, and that it might be normal. 

We checked out that egg, seeing as it was pretty stuffed after he squeezed it, and found a well-formed baby skink. He's got scales, colouring and is a few cm long. Dead as a doornail. 

How should I be keeping the rest of the eggs? Should they be warmed (I have a free heat lamp) or cooled? What temperature should they be? And is shrivelling normal? 

Sorry for the life story . And thanks for any help!

*Edit:* Some pics -


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## jordo (Jan 9, 2008)

Hope the others hatch, not too sure but they'd probably go best at around the high 20's, shouldn't be too long to go by the looks of that one.
I'm possibly being too nerdy here but it actually looks like a grass skink, _Lampropholis guichenoti_.


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## Jonno from ERD (Jan 9, 2008)

Yeah, I agree with Jordo, it looks like L.guichenoti, not L.delicata.

They should hatch in your set up. I kept them when I was in primary school, and occassionally there would be a whole bunch of little ones running around the enclosure trying to avoid ending up as food. They are a hardy species and I'm guessing the eggs are too.

Cheers


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## junglepython2 (Jan 9, 2008)

On the Victorian keeping lists L guichenoti is the garden skink while L. delicata is the delicate skink. The joys of using common names


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## amazonian (Jan 9, 2008)

Are there many egg laying Skink species?
Most Skink species are live bearers arn't they?


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## Jonno from ERD (Jan 9, 2008)

Not particularly, amazonian. Most of your small skinks (Lampropholis, Ctenotus, Carlia, Morethia etc) are egg layers, whilst most of your larger skinks (Cyclodomorphus, Tiliqua, Egernia etc) are live bearers. Like always there are exceptions to the rule, like the small Hemiergis genera which are live bearers. There is also a highland species that apparently switches from egg laying to live bearing at a certain altitude.


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## jordo (Jan 9, 2008)

amazonian said:


> Are there many egg laying Skink species?
> Most Skink species are live bearers arn't they?



A lot of the larger groups like _Ctenotus, Carlia, Lerista_ are egg layers.

... too slow


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## amazonian (Jan 9, 2008)

Thanks Jonno.
I learnt something new today


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## Jonno from ERD (Jan 9, 2008)

I try and learn something new every day amazonian. The other day, I learnt that you must unplug light fittings before wiring them up. Especially if you are standing barefoot on wet grass.


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## Dan123 (Jan 10, 2008)

> I try and learn something new every day amazonian. The other day, I learnt that you must unplug light fittings before wiring them up. Especially if you are standing barefoot on wet grass.




u cant be serious.........


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## MoreliaMatt (Jan 10, 2008)

hahahah good one jonno! sounds like these fellas!! 
hang on that isnt you sitting there is it?


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## jessb (Jan 10, 2008)

Could you pls post a pic of the eggs as well so we can get an idea of size etc?


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## meshe1969 (Jan 10, 2008)

Could the skinks have died if the eggs where rolled?


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## Moonfox (Jan 11, 2008)

MoreliaMatt said:


> hahahah good one jonno! sounds like these fellas!!
> hang on that isnt you sitting there is it?


Holy carp! As the daughter of an electrician, that... wow. Lol, idiots much?  I love how they're all like "Yeah, this is a great idea! 8)".

As for pics of the eggs, I'll get some up later. But I am 100% sure that they are collapsed and that any babies that may have resulted from these eggs are dead. Convincing my brother, however, is a different story. 

I suspect that they collapsed due to cooling (transporting them from the site to a container when they were found took a while, I'm told) and failure to simulate the conditions they were found in. I was at a friend's place, so... yeah. Another brilliant failure by the menfolk of my household :lol:.


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## jordo (Jan 11, 2008)

Many eggs collapse when they are about to hatch, don't give up hope yet!


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## jessb (Jan 14, 2008)

Stilll love to see pics of the eggs if you have any?


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