early hatch baby. (long)

[damzookeeper]

One of my babies hatched out about 15 days before expected. She was born with all toes but one eye closed. She had a HUGE part of her umbi cord still attached and I really thought I was going to lose her within the first 12-24 hours. She went 2 days and began to shed. Meanwhile I was watching her very closely. All my geckos have started their shed at night and by the next morning it was always gone. However, I checked on this girl the next day and it was still on her but broken around the tail, head and feet. And although most of the umbilical cord was gone there was still a large spot of it there. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and shed her myself. She didn't like it at first, but as I gently got all the shed off her toes and tail she really calmed down and seemed thankful. She did not eat it though. In fact she didn't eat anything all that day so when I checked on her at night I decided to see if she would eat a mealie. She has a really hard time seeing them because of the one eye. So I hand fed her. At first she screamed which let me stick the mealie in her mouth and she immediately ate it. Afterwards she licked her chops several times and took 2 more mealies from me. Night 2 of feeding I fed her 2 mealies and left some in a dish. I checked the today day and non had been eaten. So I fed her one more this morning. Tonight again, they were all there so I fed her another by hand. She is sooooooooooo cute!! I really don't want to lose her. She seems healthy other than that. She is very active and hyper. But she will not eat on her own. Could it be because she can't see well enough? I also wet the eye with a q-tip today (I'm not even sure what made me think to do it) anyway, after I did this she had it open for a few seconds then closed it and opened it for a couple seconds a couple more times. I wonder if there is something I can do to help her out? Or will she always be a one eye gecko? It looks like it was formed properly she just don't want to open it.
I will try and get some pictures of her soon. She is a little sweetie! Now all I need is a name, and your prayer's would be great. ;)
Thanks for listening.

[Clownfishie]

First off, good luck with your little one -- one of the babies from my first clutch ended up having some problems too -- I think that it must have happened when I moved and brought the eggs with me to the new place. She has trouble getting her mouth open wide enough to eat... she *can* eat, it just takes her a long time to get it down -- her sister will polish off 4 mealies in the time it takes her to get down one. Needless to say, she hasn't grown nearly as much as her sister, and I'll either be keeping her or finding her a good home... I've named her Tabora (Tabby for short), which means "small" :) She's a little sweetie, and I really hope that she grows up to be a big strong adult... I'm hoping that her eating difficulties will become less once she grows a bit...

I hope that your little one does great -- how about the name Angel? :)

[damzookeeper]

Thanks, I can't name her Angel, got a snow dragon with that name. lol. She is on her 5th day now but I still worry alot about her. She is so fragile and the only way I can get her to eat is to pick her up and stick a worm in her moth while she yells at me. I give her one in the morning and one or two at night, depending on how many she will take. she has one eye that stays shut and has a little discharge that comes out of the nostril on that same side. I really hope she makes it. She is so cute.
I want to keep her for myself aswell. I don't care if I have to handfeed her the rest of her life, as long as she makes it. She is so tiny, I have to find the perfect name for her, something that will encourage her to be strong, live long, and continue to thrive. ;) I was thinking of Amelia, or little Annie. lol.

[Alicewave]

Yup sounds like my experience with Gimley. My hatchlings came about 10 days earlier then I expected and I think Gim's problem may have something to do with the fact that we transported the eggs. 2 days old is a very short time for a hatchling to start eating. She may surprise you like Gimley did and start eating on her own when she is ready. Although the eye thing certainly could be a problem. I think Annie is a cute name! Good luck and keep us posted on her progress.