First hatchling ;(

[Gliven]

Well the pair of females I bought awhile ago have laid 8 fertile eggs the first set was laid on 6/8 and to my surpise this morning I found my first ever hatchling halfway out of the egg dead. Basically I have a two questions one is the chance of the next hatchling dying just as high or is this just one of those things that happens? Two can anyone identify it for me it has solid red eyes.

 

[Wild West Reptile]

Im sorry for your loss.
What was the temperature you incubated at? 38 days is kinda quick, might not have been fully developed? Although, it looks like it was close or could have been fully developed and some just aren't meant to survive. Were there temp fluctuations? I would say that as long as the parents were healthy that the next one should have a very high chance of survival. This could just be one of "natures things". Hang in there....you have 7 more chances.

 

[Gliven]

I incubated at 85 degrees no fluctuations.

 

[Wild West Reptile]

I would say that 38 days is a little early for that temperature. Not terribly early, but a little. Did you notice if the egg still had yolk in it? If it absorbed all the yolk, hatched and still died, then I'm at a loss.

 

[Gliven]

Yes it had a marble sized chunk still attached there was plenty of moisture in the egg stillso I'm sure it wasn't the humidity. I examined the baby visually and everything looked okay. I'm at a loss and pretty sad about it to be honest and I feel like its somehow my fault

 

[fuzzylogix]

this is unfortunately one of the harder parts of breeding leos. some babies just don't quite make it out of the egg. could be that they are underdeveloped or weak. it's natural selection working right in front of our eyes. i'm sorry about you losing that beautiful baby though. i hope all your remaining eggs hatch out healthy leos.

as far as why it happened, i have a theory. when geckos are in the egg, they are getting their oxygen from the amniotic fluid and is absorbed through the yolk. when they start to hatch, if their lungs are underdeveloped, they cannot get the correct amount of oxygen. again, just a theory but we lost one just a few days ago exactly the same way.

 

[acpart]

I had a tough season in '08 (a lot of people did and there's a fairly extensive thread about it; it was the same time as the mealworm problem and people thought it was related) which included a morning where I found 3 eggs had hatched and 2 of the babies were dead right out of the egg. The third was fine. I don't think it was anything you did wrong. It's clearly an albino but I'd find it difficult to be sure at that size that the eyes are truly red.

Aliza

 

[Gliven]

Thanks for the reassurance everyone it's still disappointing but it happens.

 

[LeoMerlin]

I am so very sorry to hear about the loss! It always makes me sad to see/read about something like this happening, but like everyone else seems to be saying, looks like it was just one of those things that happens in nature. I don't breed geckos or anything, so I'm no expert on it. Again I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Gliven]

Well it's other clutchmate hatched a few hours ago has a little of its yolk still attached but it already broke off from it running around like crazy. I will post a picture later. Also, do they all appear to have red eyes when they hatch?

 

[LeoMerlin]

Congrats on the other one's survival! And I don't know about the eyes, I think that has to do with what their morphs are. If you know the morphs of the parents, someone with further knowledge of this than myself would be able to help you out there

 

[Gliven]

Well here's the hatchling the next picture is the mother I bought her at a swap meet and unfortunately don't have any idea what morph the father was as she was already gravid.

 

[lillith]

Looks Bell to me. =) cute hatchling, congrats!

 

[Pinky81]

Just a small thought here but the pic of the first hatchling looks as if it has a tail kink....and the pick of the adult looks as tho she has a tail kink....is anyone else seeing what Im seeing? If so...this could indicate genetic issues?!?

 

[Gliven]

I can see what you're talking about with the baby but its dead and that's just how the tail stuck to the paper towel. But, the adult? where do you see a tail kink? She is walking so that would explain why the tail is curved but I don't see a kink.

 

[lillith]

oh! what happened? I'm so sorry!

 

[Gliven]

It died mid hatch.