Hello Guys
We have quite an issue with out Crested eggs this year. We have different pairings with experienced and unexperienced females but got a bunch of nice clutches among a few unfertile ones.
Now, our issue is that the eggs develop just fine, the eggs grow and then they start to sweat and we look forward to our new hatchling, but up to now from roughly 10 hatching eggs only 4 made it out. The other 6 didn´t make it. After opening the eggs the animals ALL were perfectly developed (at least visually) and ready to hatch.
I am pretty sick of this happening even more often. We´re loosing gorgeous offspring and never had this before or with our other Gecko species. Do we feed too much calcium so the eggshells are too thick? I can barely imagine that.
Anyone ever experienced an hatching issue like this?
You’ll likely get better answers from people more familiar with cresties, but to me it sounds classic for hypocalcemia. (Again, I am not an expert- advice from others may be more accurate.) You need calcium to form strong bones and to use your muscles, so my guess is that the dam has a deficit in calcium and was unable to give enough to her embryos/eggs. If that’s the case then she will also be severely depleted.
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That´s the thing, our Geckos receive their calcium with every feeding, that is why I suspected that we may give too much and that the shells might be too thick for the hatchlings to come through. Our females are all in great shape, that´s what makes it hard to figure out…
Is there any way to take the eggs to another breeder? A certified reptile vet? Some kind of analysis could be done to see if it’s a result of to much calcium, to little, or some other I balance that can be corrected.
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That’s actually exactly what to do! Take any eggs or fetuses (that you have established aren’t vital, but not that have majorly decomposed), put them in a air-tight container, and stick them in the fridge (not the freezer). Tell your reptile vet that you need an “egg necropsy.” Also explain that you are potentially facing a major husbandry-related or genetic issue, and that you need samples sent to a reptile pathologist for testing. That’s very important because you need to establish what’s going wrong. If you’re not able to do that, definitely don’t re-breed the same pairs together. If they are all related it’s best to find new genetic stock.
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Have you checked the calcium sacs in the mouths of your females? That’s how to confirm that female cresteds are getting enough calcium. There should be 2 sacs on the roof of her mouth.
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A post was split to a new topic: Newborn gecko advice
I know it’s late but may help some people. If humidity isn’t high enough and too low, the eggs become too hard and the babies can’t get out of them by themselves. Which in this case they then suffocate. If this is the case you can cut the eggs with a scalpel if they’re ready, the eggs should be pretty much fully black inside (baby fully formed) and you you need to know when laid and that they should be hatching soon! Don’t want to do it too early. Then it’s ok to do, find where the baby is and cut where it’s not, should be glowing red/orange so you know where to cut. Then when choice made a small slit, pull sides apart slowly.
I’ve had to do this to a few a couple years ago that couldn’t get out themselves.
I now ONLY use braplast tubs to incubate mine and I use substrate that I have in all my vivs. Keeps them perfect, humidity is ideal and never any problems! 
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