Pregnant Leo gecko help

Mango_the_Tortoise

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Hi guys I have a female gecko and I think she is pregnant. I am a first time owner of them and I can see white ovals on either side of her at times. I don't know what to do but I have put a nesting box in. There seems to be a liquid coming out of her back end in drips and it is clear. She has stopped eating and I am really worried. She is about 5 to 6 months old.
 

Merrick

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The term is gravid also about the liquid I might ask your vet about that the lack of eating is normal
 

MPRC

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I am not certain that a female leopard gecko can become gravid at such a young age. Is she housed with a mature male? I had my female for 15 years and she only produced eggs the first year because she was housed with a male, otherwise, no eggs.
 

hingeback

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I am not certain that a female leopard gecko can become gravid at such a young age. Is she housed with a mature male? I had my female for 15 years and she only produced eggs the first year because she was housed with a male, otherwise, no eggs.
If I am not mistaken leopard geckos also produce infertile eggs even without mating, although I also don't think they can be gravid at such a young age. 1 year of age.
 
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MPRC

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My two females personally did not, but this does not mean they weren't creating and reabsorbing them.

I would recommend a vet visit for an xray and a fecal exam to make sure there isn't something else going on.
 

Randi

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Hi guys I have a female gecko and I think she is pregnant. I am a first time owner of them and I can see white ovals on either side of her at times. I don't know what to do but I have put a nesting box in. There seems to be a liquid coming out of her back end in drips and it is clear. She has stopped eating and I am really worried. She is about 5 to 6 months old.

How long have you owned this gecko? What is your set up like? What do you feed? Can you provide any pictures of the enclosure?

Has your female had any contact with a male gecko? If not, these eggs will be infertile. Females can lay eggs without any contact with a male. Also, the first few clutches of eggs tend to be infertile if she indeed had contact with a male. Yours is quite young. The fluid you are seeing is involved with egg laying. Are you sure it's only a few months old? Can you please post pictures of your gecko? A view from above, a view of the underside (a belly shot preferably, including the the vent area right before the tail) and maybe a view next to something common to give an idea of size so I can help determine age.

You need to make sure that there is a humid hide. I used paper towel and/or moss inside a tupperware container with an entrance cut inside. She will dig and lay inside this container, ideally. You need to ensure a stress free environment. They can reabsorb these eggs. They can also become egg bound. This can kill. She will not be hungry before laying and after laying. It is best to disturb them as little as possible through this process. Egg laying takes a lot of calcium and energy. You will need to supplement her food with more calcium during these times. I would also record the dates that the eggs were laid, and how many. This will help you keep track of how often she is producing.

Now the real question. If she has had contact with a male and these are fertile, would you want them to hatch? Do you have anywhere you can give the hatchlings to? Would you keep the babies? The reason I ask is that there should be an outlet for these hatchlings. There are so many leos already needing homes, and it can be hard to find places to take these hatchlings. Also, if you choose to breed, just know that this will affect the life span of your gecko. Breeding is hard on the females especially, and can take years off of their lives. These are things we need to think about. If you want to keep the eggs, I can provide some information as to how to incubate. If you need anything else, I will do my best to help. Best of luck to you and yours.
 

lisa127

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To expand on what is said above, a humid hide for an egg laying female should have peat moss or coco coir, not paper towel.
 

Randi

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I was advised against coco coir or peat moss by several breeders and vets due to risk of impaction which is why I used moss instead with damp paper towel underneath.
 

lisa127

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I was advised against coco coir or peat moss by several breeders and vets due to risk of impaction which is why I used moss instead with damp paper towel underneath.
That's fine, but needed to elaborate that egg laying g females need more than paper towel to lay. I personally have used coco coir for a couple deCades now. Tried sphagnum moss once and one of the geckos was purposely eating it!
 

Randi

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Thank you for your reply. I should of added all options for egg laying substrate in the first post I made. My apologies. I've had a female that ate coco coir when I tried it and then a female that ate sphagnum moss when introduced into her hide. I managed to catch both in the act within the first day of adding it. I wonder why they would take any interest in eating either. I have heard of reptiles eating rocks and seeds to aid in digestion.. I wonder if these females eat these things to "aid" in passing the eggs in some way or were stressed?
 

lisa127

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Thank you for your reply. I should of added all options for egg laying substrate in the first post I made. My apologies. I've had a female that ate coco coir when I tried it and then a female that ate sphagnum moss when introduced into her hide. I managed to catch both in the act within the first day of adding it. I wonder why they would take any interest in eating either. I have heard of reptiles eating rocks and seeds to aid in digestion.. I wonder if these females eat these things to "aid" in passing the eggs in some way or were stressed?
Mine that did it was a male. Little stinker.
 

Mango_the_Tortoise

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Sorry for the very late reply but I have been extremely busy and Internet has been down for a week but just letting use know what happened.

So Cora was with a male and I knew this would happen but I was told wrong info on her age but she got egg bound due to her being so young and had to get an injection of oxytocin which helped and she was able to lay other egg.

She is back to eating and I don't want this to happen again any time soon so they are split and are in separate viva now and honestly they are both looking a lot more alert and happier.

Thanks for everyone's help as it was very helpful and also interesting to read and it has gave me a lot of info regarding breeding in the future.

Thanks guys :)
 
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