Egg Questions

[HeatherRose]

Hey guys...

A friend of a friend of mine dropped off some eggs for me yesterday, and she says they're fat tail eggs. There's two of them, and they look great, nice and white except for a bit of denting. She had originally believed she had two females and never witnessed any breeding. The gecko which, if there was a male would have to have been the male, was put down about a month ago due to an intenstinal prolapse. She found the eggs last night around 6 PM and called me. She mentioned she wanted them to survive if they could, so I told her to candle them... over the phone she said she could kind of see red stuff, so I told her to bring em over. She kept them warm and safe on the way over, so I don't think the drive hurt them any.

My questions are:

Fat tail females don't just lay eggs without breeding like female chameleons and chickens do they? The deceased gecko would have to have been a male, correct?

And, I've got them incubating in vermiculite @ 80-83F (I'm still trying to bump up the temps as I had some crestie eggs in there before she called that were cooking @ 74 F.) Is that a good temperature? I was only able to check a few caresheets, but I wanted information from those who are experienced as well. I've used an eye dropper to moisten the vermiculite around the eggs just a tad, so hopefully the dents will go away.

Any extra information you can give me would be great, I have next to no experience with fat tails or their eggs.

Thanks guys

[mikeyweir]

not sure how much help you'll get as this is a leopard gecko fourm lol. I don't know anything about fat tailed geckos, but im sure someone will.
sorry
mikeyweir, PS you might want to try a different form?

[DragnDrop]

Female fatties can lay eggs without having even seen a male from across the room, but if the eggs showed some pink inside, sounds like they're fertile.

The temperature range ( 80-83F) is okay, though generally fatties don't have as wide a safe temperature range as leos. Try to keep it above 80F if you can, it's getting close to the lethal minimum for them, mid-80's is safer.

Just keep the eggs moist like you would with other soft-shelled eggs (like cresties). Dimpling means the same thing with them - add a few drops of water. And all the other egg-cautions like not wetting the eggs directly, don't jiggle or roll 'em... same deal with fatties.

They'll probably take 2 months or so to hatch, depending on the temperature, but don't be surprised if they don't hatch at all, the first clutch syndrome might reat it's ugly head. Also, fatties don't have as good a fertility rate in general as leos (or cresties) do. It's also very common for the embryos to die before reaching full term or for them not being able to break out of the shell. Since the eggs were just hours old when they were brought to you, it shouldn't have hurt them in any way since they'd be in diapause for a couple of days, or at least at a very early stage of development where a bit of jiggling wouldn't hurt.

I sure hope they make it

[HeatherRose]

not sure how much help you'll get as this is a leopard gecko fourm lol. I don't know anything about fat tailed geckos, but im sure someone will.
sorry
mikeyweir, PS you might want to try a different form?

Isn't this the right forum? LOL. This would prove that I really don't know anything about fat-tails. I thought they were at least related to leopard geckos.

Thanks a ton Hilde . I'll bump the temps up a little bit and keep an eye on them. I haven't candled them myself, so I'm not positive they'd be viable. I know that she didn't jiggle them or roll them over though. And since they can lay eggs by themselves, it's very possible that she did just have two females.

I didn't get her hopes up or anything, I told her I'd do my best.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

[Ducksarefun]

No, Heather, if I were you I would have posted here. Fattails are similar to leopard geckos from what I've read! So, are you going to candle them yourself? I was just wondering about the crested eggs at the high 80 temps... is that ok?

[HeatherRose]

Oops sorry, I should have mentioned that I took out the crestie eggs

They're sitting on a shelf in my room now. I was trying to incubate them at room temperature in the incubator (74F-ish) because I can rely on the hovabator to keep the temperature steady. They'll be fine at room temperature, I hatched out my very first eggs on the same shelf.

If they don't go moldy within a week and the dimples/dents go away, I might try candleing them myself. It all depends on how confident I feel in that they can handle being moved a little. I'll probably wait. Not going moldy and the dents going away would be a good sign anyway.

[Betty Miskie]

Did the eggs feel hardish? If they are soft to touch I would think they are no good. However, it sounds to me like they are good if you candle and see red.
I usually cook my fattail eggs around 85 and at that you are going to get a mix. HOwever, my ratio at that temp seemed more female than male. Higher temp is suppose to be more ratio of males. I was at the understanding not to have the vermiculite as damp as leo eggs.
Good luck,
Betty
I think you should be able to post about Fattails in either the general or leo forum

[HeatherRose]

The eggs are pretty hard. They look great... we'll see how it goes I'm still raising the temperature in the hovabator.

[Painted Desert]

Common eggs! I'm cooking a heck of a batch of fattie eggs at 86-87F at the moment.... the first babies hatched yesterday and today. But, I’m a little high in the temp range...trying for some males... sheesh, seems the opposite problem with Rhacs! The best investment i ever made for candling was a mag lite and the fiber optic attachment from HomeDepot. The attachment was about $8 Canadian. You can candle the egg accurately without touching it. Worth twice the cost. And yes, fatties are cousins of the leo gecko... please don't start Hilde, her last post on the family tree was 7 paragraphs.....

[little_dragon_]

I'm pretty sure most if not all female geckos produce an infertile clutch at sexual maturity.

[DragnDrop]

Some geckos (or lizards in general) will produce eggs once mature, but many species require mating to initiate ovulation (egg production).

[little_dragon_]

Goodluck with the eggs!

[Manitoban Herps]

Lucky Duck, gimme the eggs Heather!

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Good luck with the eggs and sorry to hear about your friends Fattie....