Collapsing gecko eggs

[redelapid]

Hello everybody, i have just registered for APS and was wondering if i can get some advice about my breeding Southern Leaf tailed gecko's before they lay later this year.

Last year only one of my eggs managed to hatch succesfully but the others seemed to grow a faint algae and start to collapse and close in on themselves. I have been keeping them for 2 years but when it comes tpo breeding i am not completly experienced.
Is the collapsing of the eggshells a case of infertile eggs or can i possibly prevent it?

 

[GeckoJosh]

They sound infertile
If you want to know if they are fertile candle them when laid and look for a germinal disc, (small pink circle) and make sure you place the egg so thats at the top
Sometimes they may still be no good though, try candling them again 2 weeks later and if they are fertile and developing you will see numerous veins growing out of the germinal disc.

Good luck,

Josh

 

[redelapid]

Ok thanks josh, last years clutch there was one egg that was fertile according to the candle method and was doing just fine but just at the lasr moment it started closing in on itself and the eggshell collapsed. Once i was certain it was dead i opened it up and found the dead body of a tiny gecko and even now and cant understand why it would of died in its egg?

 

[guff_man]

Could have dried out? Ive had some fertile eggs start to collapse, but still candled with veins and what not, so i added more water to the mix and they came good within a few days.
How are you incubating them? What substrate?

 

[GeckoJosh]

They can collapse if for whatever reason the embryo dies during incubation, if its as you say and they are partially developed I would look at your incubation methods ie humidity and high temperature fluctuations

 

[redelapid]

ok thanks, i keep the temprature in the incubator at 30 degrees and i spray them with water everyday the substrate is a mix of equal amount of water and vermiculite

 

[Chris1]

sounds exaclty like what happened with mine,...(they were amyae eggs btw)

my substrate was way too wet, at around 5-6 weeks in, 1 of 2 eggs would collapse, like a stepped on football.
a week after the good egg hatched i cut the other egg open to find a fully developed baby in a hard clump of yolk,..
i thought the eggs were drying out and kept adding water to replace the moisture i was wiping off lids.

the theory behind this is the excess moisture blocks the pores, suffocates the baby, then the egg collapses.

i took peoples advice on my last pair and made the mix alot drier, and didnt replace any water thruout the whole process,..both eggs hatched.

 

[redelapid]

i will defnitly try that for this years clutch thanks.