Eggs!!! (Now with pics!)

[CrystalKitten]

room mates had a pretty awesome idea. I'm gonna try doing one of those "picture a day" videos for the egg.

[CrystalKitten]

Egg Update: Just took the image for today for my picture-a-day project, and the egg still seems to be doing quite well. The donut (as the breeding industry calls it) has kind of changed shape a bit, which had me worried, but then I realized that there are now more blood vessels which seem to be expanding into the yolk, which IS a good sign! The egg is about 1.5 weeks old now (day 11).



Oh, and for those who were asking, here's some photos of my tanks.

This is Bumble's new tank


This one has the girls in it


Both still need a little work as far as the plantlife goes, though.

[Wain]

Awesome. The egg looks very colourful like that, with the red and yellow

[CrystalKitten]

Hehe, yeah, that's me candling it. The red are blood vessels and the embryo. The yellow is the yolk. It's so fun to watch the pink grow and change... Hard to believe that in a few months, that pink ring will be a tiny gecko! (hopefully)

[Wain]

Months? Wow. The chicks we hatch at work only take ~21 days.

[CrystalKitten]

well, I think the shortest incubation time I've heard of was a little over 60 days, but that's considered REALLY short. Longer incubation times are thought to lead to stronger, healthier babies (not sure if it's been proven though).

[Wain]

I guess they are lizards, so not as metabolically active as chickens.

[CrystalKitten]

Yeah. And what temperature do chickens incubate at? Their embryonic development is actually very similar (similar enough that we only covered chicken development in my class, and were just told reptiles are almost the same), but crested geckos incubate at a relatively low temperature. Slightly cool room temperature is actually just about perfect for them. It got up to almost 30 in here the past couple days (about 78F) and I was worried that that might actually be way too warm for it. It's one reason I was worried about the sudden change in the shape of the "donut".... Then I saw the extra blood vessels though, heh. Most breeders I've know will actually keep them in rooms that are mid 60s to low 70s, so they do incubate a bit on the cool side, which will slow metabolism/development.

I have to say... I'm really looking forward to making this picture-a-day video and sharing it with people.

[Wain]

Yeah, in American terms chickens are incubated around 99F, so much warmer and quicker than your lizards

[CrystalKitten]

So, figure I'd post an update on the egg! It still seems to be doing very well, and the embryo definitely seems to be growing, with the blood vessels slowly expanding to reach more of the yolk.

Day 18:

[Wain]

Very cool

[zedxrgal]

Very cool, very healthy looking egg!

And all of my reptile eggs incubated between 85-88o F. But my target degree was 86o F.

The chickens however ...................... yes those babies like it hot. Between 100-102o. lol

Cannot wait to see the baby.

[CrystalKitten]

Yeah, 80+ is considered too warm for these guys. They aren't even set up in an incubator or anything. Just in a deli container with holes and some APS on a shelf in my basement room, heh(considered standard for these guys, I know several high end breeders using this method). The geckos themselves can actually go into heat shock/stress and die if kept at 80 for too long. General care has them at low-mid 70s during the summer, and if they've been bred, a cooling period of low-mid 60s is required in the winter. As for the eggs, I know many breeders that incubate them at mid 60s, heh. They really are a more temperate species of gecko.

But yeah, I'm really excited about the egg. I'm hoping it survives and hatches. Not sure if Baly's gonna lay a full season or not yet (separated the male soon as I found the eggs and got a tank.. but one mating can last for YEARS if conditions are right...). But I should know in a week or so. This coming weekend, I believe, is when she's next due to lay eggs if she's gonna keep going.