My egg has something wrong.

[lizrd_boy]

Okay, so after not checking on my eggs since Wednesday (don't ask me how. I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy) I opened up the incubator this morning and candled the eggs. One had mold growing on it (I had found mold on it several days ago and switched it to a drier medium, then it molded again) and it looked too wet, even tho the medium is reasonably dry. The other egg, in the same type of setup, looks fine. When I candled them the one with mold looked empty. No veins, just yellowish

. I looked to the side and there is a dark spot (probably the embryo) surrounded by a bright red splotch. It doesn't stink yet, so it's still incubating, but it doesn't look good. The other one has veins still, and doesn't look too wet. Also no mold.

Any ideas why one went bad? Am I doing something wrong, or was the embryo just not able to develop for some reason?

here's a link to the pics I took on photobucket:

Photo Storage

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app.photobucket.com

 

[acpart]

Especially if these are your gecko's first eggs, there is always a good chance that they are infertile. some geckos lay fertile eggs from the beginning some lay some infertile eggs and later clutches are fertile and some never lay fertile eggs. I'm putting a link below to an article I wrote awhile ago which includes some scenarios where all the eggs laid early in the season were infertile. If the substrate is not soaking wet but there is humidity inside the egg box, and the temperature is steady at an appropriate level, there's really nothing to do but add the eggs as they are laid and try not to go nuts while you're waiting. I can tell you from experience that it's even more stressful when the "fertile or not" thing is going on with humans!

The Yearly Cycle with Geckos - Gecko Time

Caring for geckos is a skill that can be learned quickly at a basic level, but can deepen over the course of years as the keeper learns more about a species in general and his or her own geckos in particular. More

geckotime.com

Aliza

 

[lizrd_boy]

But what is up with the red splotch in the egg? The egg candled fertile to begin with, and I get that the embryo could have defects that keep it from hatching, but I just don't know what that red spot is. The embryo is still there, just in a weird spot surrounded by some blood-like stuff.

 

[acpart]

Sometimes there might be some evidence of initial fertility and then things don't work out. Sometimes it looks fertile but it isn't . Sometimes it doesn't look good and it's fine. There's really no way to know. I have found from experience that the best bet is to try not to worry about it and not to incessantly candle the eggs. They will either hatch or they won't. Sometimes they hatch and the hatchling doesn't make it (that's happened to me). In order not to obsess over the actual eggs, I would keep detailed records about how many days and weeks each clutch had been laid and write down notes and observations of the geckos. It's hard not to go nuts about what is or isn't happening, but since there's really nothing you can do as long as the humidity is good (and it will be in a sealed egg box) and the temperatures are fairly steady (and they will be with a decent thermostat), it's best to sit back and enjoy the ride (or find something else to obsess about, as I mentioned above).

Good luck,

Aliza

 

[lizrd_boy]

Awesome, thanks!