Crested Gecko Egg Not Fully Formed

[the_gecko_domain]

I want to start by saying thank you to all who have interacted with my other posts and have given advice. I really appreciate the support, community and learning from you all.

I had another new experience and was hoping someone may be able to share why this occurred and if there is anything I can do to give this egg a better chance.

I have two laying females and they have been laying clutches about every 30-32 days. One just laid last night, and I went to gather the clutch this morning and I noticed one of the eggs had a section that wasn’t fully calcified. I have attached a photo. The soft spot is fully closed - there is nothing leaking or coming out of the end, its just dirt.

My questions are -

1. why did this happen? I have not had an egg yet that was not fully formed (this is clutch number 5).
2. will it fill in/get hard in that area or will it remain soft?
3. will that soft area end up breaking open and terminate the embryo?
4. is there anything I can do to the egg to help? Is there anything I can do to cover the area?

My first thought is calcium - but each female gets fed pangea breeing and growth 2x a week and then watermelon pangea 2 other times a week. i also do add additional calcium to the breeding and growth pangea. So I do believe they are getting enough calcium.

This specific female who laid this egg is 2 yrs old and is 45+ grams. She has laid 5 clutches including this one. 3 out 4 of her current hatchlings have been healthy (1 did not make it out of the egg/the embryo stopped forming) and her clutches from June and July are developing very nicely in the egg. In addition to being fed 4x a week and having additional calcium I do mineral hydration baths 2x a month(every other week). Humidity in enclosure sits between 50%-90% depending on when misting occurs. I mist twice a day, once in the morning once in the evening. Temperature in room sits at 73 degrees.

Thank you in advanced for everyones help and time.

[noodlehaus]

While I don’t deal with crested geckos, I think you’re heavily overthinking things here.
Answers, from my opinion:

1. Because sometimes wonky eggs just happen. The egg is fully formed, it just has a thin spot. Were it not fully formed, it would be leaking.
2. There’s nothing to allow it to fill in, so it’ll likely remain soft.
3. Probably not, so long as you’re careful, though the egg could have other issues aside the little windowy area that impact development you can’t see.
4. Just leave it be, don’t mess with it.

I do know you need to be careful with the amount of calcium you use, too much can cause just as many problems as too little. Not every egg is perfect, not every egg hatches, it’s just the reality of breeding.

Since I don’t know geckos, I will tag @ghoulishcresties & @foxreptile for you to see if they have any suggestions.

[ghoulishcresties]

First off, although not very fragile don’t mess with eggs much. Pick up and put down how you found them. Don’t turn too much and upright etc.

Also, I’ve Had it happen a few times.

I call them snowflake eggs, got one like it atm, it’s got many spots like that on it.

They’ve always hatched for me fine, I’m not 100% sure why myself either as all here get everything needed and ate healthy.
It’s actually a clutch from one of my girls, one eggs fine Ann’s looks perfect and the other is snowflakey.

I have a post somewhere from last year about it haha

[foxreptile]

As said above, incubate it and leave it.

Not sure why this happens, but would be great to get an answer.

[rickysgeckos]

I also have had a wonky egg hatch and just got one just like yours and am waiting for it to hatch but it hasn’t died yet so i just treat it like any other egg