Crested laid an egg, HELP

[CDN-Cresties]

Hey everyone, this is my first crestie egg that ive had to deal with. She laid it tonight in coconut husk bedding. My question is can i keep it in the same substrate for incubation or should i run out tomarrow to buy vermiculate or perlite. I plan on keeping it tonight in coconut husk, is that all right until tomarrow???
Thanks

-Steve-

[Wuntu Menny]

It will likely be ok overnight as long as its kept moist. I would strongly suggest using inorganic medium for incubation to avoid mold and fungus. I'm partial to vermic myself.

WM

[CDN-Cresties]

ok thanks should i mist the cocnut husk a little?
Thanks again

-Steve-

[CHRISANDBOIDS14]

Yes. Good luck with the egg!

[Dani33]

Best of luck!!! That's sooo exciting.

[Dark_Angel_25]

i thought crested eggs could be kept in the cage? I read something somewhere that this could be done?? I know it is risky, but other than to temp sex has no one done this?

[DragnDrop]

You could leave the eggs in with the parents, but it's not really advisable. There are too many dangers to the egg in there, and the chance the parent might eat the babies. A friend of mine had trouble with the male digging up the eggs and eating them. She found him with egg on his chin quite a few times. I have missed the odd egg and had it hatch out safely, but there were also some that dried up. Four times in the 7 years I've been breeding cresties I've found a baby in with the parents, and two of them were obviously not freshly hatched, they are about a month old (it can be hard to find a well camouflaged baby if he's not willing to be seen :) Even with my mostly good experiences, I wouldn't leave the eggs in there unless it's necessary.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/511/321ciliatus_hatchling-med.jpg

I use "ceramic soil" for incubating all gecko eggs, both hard and soft shelled eggs. There are millions of microscopic pores in the particles, which works great for humidity without being water logged. The irregular shape of the ceramic allows for lots of air exchange with the eggs as well. Since it's inorganic, there's less chance of mold and fungus growth. Even though I had great hatching rates with peat moss, once I started on ceramic, the rates improved unbelievably. You can find it at hydroponics suppliers, garden centres in the pond supply section and even in some aquarium stores since it's great a great substrate for establishing a biological filter. It's also sold for landscaping for improving clay soil under the name Turface.
There's a similar product in Europe called Seramis which is also a favourite for incubating eggs.

Turface website (http://www.turface.com/)

Profile Aquatic Soil website (http://www.profileproducts.com/lawn/lawn_3.html)

General Info about Ceramic Soil (http://www.profileproducts.com/landscaping/lands_2.html)

[Dark_Angel_25]

OMG what a face! totally Peek-a-boo!!! :D I think ia mgoing to cry it is so sweet!! :) Thanks for the info, I will keep that in mind if I ever breed mine!

[CDN-Cresties]

DragnDrop, what ratio of ceramic soil to water do you use?
Thanks

-Steve-

[DragnDrop]

It's not really a ratio like vermiculite or perlite. All you do is pour some into a container, add water. Wait a few minutes for it to absorb the water (you can hear the bubbles pop at the surface, when they stop, it's done). Then drain in a colander or the like until it stops dripping. That's it. And it's reusable too - I just put it into a microwave safe container, cover with water and nuke until it's boiling. Once cooled, it's ready to go again.

[CDN-Cresties]

Great, thanks for the help :D, Ill keep everyone updated on this egg.
Thanks Again

-Steve-

[Youkai]

I'll second the ceramic soil! I found it was great to use with leo and crested eggs. It's very easy to tell when it's drying out too, as the color changes dramatically.

[CDN-Cresties]

In case it drys out during incubation, how do you add moisture??? Do you pour water in or mist it or is there some other method?

Thanks

-Steve-

[sara]

You can pour, mist etc, everyone has their own technique but make sure you don't get it directly on the eggs. I'm just curious, how old is this female, and is it her first clutch? It's probably ok that there's only one egg, but on the other hand it's also a good indicator in case something isn't quite right... anyway, congrats on the new egg!

[CDN-Cresties]

It is her second clutch. Three/four weeks ago I found an egg but it looked like it was in bad shape so I discarded it. She has never laid before, according to the person that I bought her from, she is almost 2 years old.
Thanks

-Steve-

[sara]

Is she in with your male? Sometimes the first clutch a female lays doesn't turn out, but you should definitely give her a while to get back in shape. It sounds like she's housed with your male which is causing her to lay consecutive clutches, that's a pretty big no-no. The best thing to do would be separate them and make sure she's getting adequate calcium in her diet for a few months, then you can try again. Think of it this way; she's probably stressed out physically and mentally from getting molested by the male all the time, so if you separate them she will be less stressed and much healthier. This will increase your odds of getting good eggs exponentially. Keeping your male separately will also keep him on his toes and i've found that it generally improves their performance.

[CDN-Cresties]

Actually she is not housed with the male. They were housed maybe 3 months ago for 2 weeks. Cresties have the ability to retain sperm and Im pretty sure thats why she is laying eggs. The rhac book that I have says that females lay eggs roughly every three to four weeks.
Thanks

-Steve-

[sara]

Ok, there goes my theory.:p Then the only thing you can do is make sure she's getting lots of calcium, and hope she can keep up. Generally cresteds will not lay every 3-4 weeks unless they are in frequent contact with a male, and I definitely wouldn't reccomend it. I'm not even going to touch the sperm retention thing...
Good luck, and keep us updated.

[CDN-Cresties]

Originally posted by sara
I'm not even going to touch the sperm retention thing...
.

You have never heard of this before??? I have heard this from many top breeders in the U.S.

-Steve-

[DragnDrop]

Cresties only need to mate once to lay fertile eggs the whole season. Sperm retention is common, almost the norm for reptiles. It assures the female can lay eggs during the summer, without having to hunt down a male. From a survival perspective, it's the greatest bit of evolution ranking right after calcium shelled eggs. :)

I keep some of my females separate, some are in pairs, and there's one trio (they don't do well over 1.2). None of the females shows signs of stress because the male is there full time. Housing pairs and trios is quite normal from the looks of things, as long as they have enough room to move, personal space to be alone and enough food so no one can hog it all.

[sara]

lol, I wasn't going to touch it because I knew my post was going to get way too long, sometimes I miss the off button.:P I should probably clarify; I meant that in your case if you wanted to slow her down it would be easier if she wasn't housed with the male... I still don't think one egg on the second try is normal... Anyway, I kind of developed my own technique for breeding cresteds so I can control the numbers, it's a little different but it has been working for 7+ years so I can't complain. I've tried housing them in mixed groups and female specific groups, I guess I just prefer the monogender groups because my girls are generally less agressive towards one another and since they don't lay every 3-4 weeks I can get a jump on any problems that might turn up.

[CDN-Cresties]

Well I went to the store but they didnt have ceramic soil so I got pertile and vermiculite. I mixed the 2 in a 50:50 ratio. My final mixture is 2 parts perlite/vermiculite and 1 part water. Thanks for all the help:) Any other suggestions please feel free to add.

-Steve-