Hello, i recently got two African fat tailed geckos and throughout this years breeding season they have been housed together (male and female) so far my female has had 3 clutches the first two were bad and didn’t make it unfortunately, but this 3rd one was looking promising until unfortunately I’ve begun to notice some mold and the eggs are squishy. With candling one it has veins and looks healthy even though it’s kinda squishy and they both have white looking stuff inside. Please help I want this clutch to live.
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What is the temperature and humidity inside the lay box? When you put the lid on is there any condensation on it? How often are you opening the lid on the container?
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The temp I’d say is about 85-90 degrees it’s not a lay box per se. it’s a small circle container I’ll put the image in. There was condensation on the original container I used. I didn’t know I was supposed to open the lid at all… so maybe that’s what I’m doing wrong. They were laid on the 4th, is it too late to start opening the lid now?
I’m new to this please don’t judge, also I have no incubator so I’m using my terrarium since it’s warm enough I think.
I was worried about humidity, you’re not supposed to open it at all and it’s a common breeder mistake that can result in the loss of the eggs. I’m not sure why they’re squishy but it could just be bad eggs. If you see mold apply athletes foot powder to it and it should go away. What are your temperature cycles in your enclosure that you’re incubating the eggs in (eg. 12 hours on 12 hours off)? I would recommend just making an incubator (basic outline here). Do you dust your feeder insects for your geckos, give them a dish of calcium, or give them a uv light?
And until the eggs are definitely not going to hatch keep incubating them as if they are.
Incubate Until There’s No Debate
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I normally have the day light on all day. And then I have a night heat light that I was told would work for them. I dust their crickets and meal worms with zoo-Ned repti calcium, also I don’t use I’ve because I was told African Fat tailed geckos are nocturnal so there is no need for it since they aren’t even out in the daytime. Should I give them a dish of calcium by itself? Will they eat it? Thanks
I would give them a dish of pure calcium without d3. What are the wattages or temperatures of the bulbs, I’m thinking that inconsistent temperatures could have also caused that.
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I have the calcium with D3 so I’ll change that. Daylight wattage is 50 and night is 60… and sometimes I forget to change it so I just keep the day one on overnight.
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It could be inconsistencies in temperatures. Where the eggs squishy the entire time?
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You can move the heat lamp, I was worried about temperature inconsistencies for hours at a time. I’m also trying to breed leopard geckos and crested geckos and I’m not having much luck (I have 1 crestie egg in the incubator but I’m almost positive it’s infertile. Frustratingly there were two before that that I only noticed days after they were sitting in water). Usually when geckos are too young they lay a first clutch of infertile and/or few eggs rather than the first season. Has the male been trying to breed with her last year? It could be that she was rushed to become mature and isn’t completely yet. Also have you researched their care from something other than the petstore care sheet? Because chain pet stores are infamous for giving terrible care advice.
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Yeah I only got them about 4 or 5 months ago. I have been lots of my own research online and even been thinking about making a bio active tank for them like a dessert one but I’ve heard that’s a lot of effort and very hard. So I haven’t tried that yet, I’ve noticed him breeding with her a few times but they are separate atm they are both under two different hides and I keep them in a 10 gallon terrarium. They seem healthy I see them eating no fighting and they drink from their water dish which is cute lol and they have great temperament they let me hold them. But I don’t do that often to keep the stress leveled low. My female is getting ready to shed right now.
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I doubt it’s from stress but could you add a picture of the entire enclosure? It could be from the fact that they don’t have enough cover and feel exposed but it’s hard to tell from the pictures. Also does the enclosure back up to a wall or could you easily look at it from any side without moving the tank? Do you know how much they weigh? That could be another factor that determines the female’s fertility. AFTs are known to be hard to breed which is why there aren’t as many and they’re usually more expensive.
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I haven’t bought a scale yet to weigh them. But I’ll insert some pics showing that the tank isn’t against the wall at all, thanks. Also in my room I have fans going and I mist their tank sometimes to keep the humidity up.
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Eventually it’d be good to get a scale, especially if you get babies. The pictures you added didn’t load, you might need to try again and at the bottom the loading number should reach 100% before you post. You might need to add more cover and change out hides to decrease the geckos stress but that depends how it already looks.
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Also I really wanna start using the carpet for my tank rather than the substrate, I just feel like it would be easier to clean.
Sorry I meant to put two different photos my tank isn’t against the wall.
It looks like there’s enough cover for them to feel safe and secure. I was wondering if people were moving around all four sides of the tank it could stress them out. I would add a hygrometer and thermometer into the egg box to be sure of temperatures but other than that the enclosure looks good and I think we can rule out stress of the parents as a reason for the egg problems.
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Okay sweet. So me Handling them from time to time is alright. And what do you think about me changing to carpet rather than the substrate? Is it bad idea since she’ll be laying more eggs? And I’ll be buying a scale but it needs to be grams correct? Also I’ll buy the heat thermometer 
whatever you called it lol I think I know what you meant, it’s the flimsy like paper kinda one right? Sorry for all the questions.
Handling is fine, I handle all my geckos every other day and they’re great about it, and it’s good for exercise and their muscles . The risks of a carpet are that they harbor bacteria and you have to change them out weekly and clean them so they don’t cause harm. Did she lay eggs in the substrate or the moss in the NE corner of the tank (that I’m assuming is like a humid hide)? If it is for humidity make sure to keep it moist since the light will dry it up quickly. A scale doesn’t necessarily need to be grams, it does need to be very accurate though (~1/2 g). Since grams is the typically used measurement for reptiles it’d be best to convert it. If you don’t want to keep converting to grams you could get a gram scale. A hygrometer is the most important as that’s most likely the problem. I recommend a digital hygrometer/thermometer combo since they’re the most accurate and some are cheaper (the cheaper ones usually aren’t as accurate but if you get multiple and use multiple and cross-check them with each other they still work).
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She laid the eggs every time on the moist side but in the hide. And I’ll look into the scale and correct temperature stuff I need. And even if this clutch doesn’t work out maybe hopefully the next will. 
thanks I might post more questions later on if I come up with any lol so since you answered if you could please check up tomorrow or something if nobody else answered my questions.
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so do I have to not move my heat lamp at all? Because I do move it when feeding my geckos just to open up my lid of course. Also a question 
maybe my girl is too young? Because I got her from petco same with the male and they didn’t know how old they were.
