Day 50, iffy egg hatches!? 1st baby!

[bad-one]

Ok... I was candling my first clutch of gecko eggs to see how they looked, the smaller egg was really filled up looking inside and should hatch whenever. I then checked the larger, iffy wierd looking egg, the baby took maybe 1/2 of the egg judging by how it looked via candling.

Then I noticed something.. the eco earth was sticking to a spot, a pinhole sized cut in the egg! I had never expected it to hatch and figured it had probably drowned so I carefully cut it open out of curiousity... to find a wiggling tiny lil creature!

I don't have high hopes on him/her living , but I really hope so!

[mainbutter]

omg cute! good luck with it!!

[RhacHead]

Honestly it looks fine.If its moving around it will probally do just fine.

[bad-one]

Looks fine, but he/she didn't even hatch itself but it's horribly lethargic. She only moves if I touch her, otherwise, she just lays there.

[RhacHead]

Set it up in a small well misted enclosure with a few hiding spots.Keep it in the 70's with CGD available and it should do just fine. I hatched one a few days ago that was an early hatch it was very lethargic as well but looks just fine today! I hope all goes well.

[mlededee]

It is possible that you disturbed it while candling it, causing it to try to hatch early. If a baby feels endangered in the egg it will sometimes try to hatch early in order to escape, or sometimes babies are just stimulated by movement around them and will hatch (this is evident when you have several clutches due around the same time--one baby hatches and suddenly all of the babies start hatching out at the same time).

Day 50 is very early, but not so early that the baby can't make it if properly cared for during the first few weeks. As long as it is developed enough early babies can usually pull through--and your baby looks like it should be okay. Set it up as mentioned in a quarantine style tank, with papertowel substrate kept very moist. Hand feed if necessary starting in about 3 days or so and keep it around 75-78 degrees. Once it starts feeding well it should gain more strength and catch up to where it needs to be.

[bad-one]

Thanks guys! She is still alive today, although not intent on moving much. Other than being tiny she appears fully developed.

I didn't know that the eggs would react to movement like that! I feel a little bad now

Once again thanks for the advice, I'm really crossing my fingers for this lil one

[bad-one]

She does seem better, I just put some food in there and she has started to walk, and clumsily at that!

[Darkice]

Is it eating on its own or are you hand feeding it? I used to hand feed my leachie hatchlings for the first month of their life with a small drinking straw. It gave them an awesome head start and they were far from larthargic.

[bad-one]

From what I've read (this is my first time caring for a hatchling) it can be up to a week before babies will start to eat. I'm not sure if she has shed yet, and I have a constant food source in the cage. I put some CGD on her nose but she won't lick it, so not eating yet.

I do plan to hand feed her for a week or two once she starts eating to help her along.

Today she is walking around her cage, and climbing some. She is doing much better than I expected!