I had posted in the chat, but figured it deserved its own post… my new girl echo arrived here 4/10 from Canada. She’d been living with her breeding partner in a large enclosure, happily. She hadn’t laid eggs yet when I purchased her on 2/15/2024 (had to wait for shipping) but guess what the seller found the next day?? Eggs! She laid a set of eggs on 2/16, and another set on March 30th.
I got her and she looked healthy (still does, and eats great!) and was told to possibly expect eggs, but we weren’t sure. Fast forward to 6/4…. I noticed the dirt looked to have been dug around in, and what did I find? A single egg
Knowing they usually lay eggs in pairs, I have been eagerly checking daily to see if she laid anymore. Until today, I hadn’t seen anything. But then…. Dug around some more and found these!!
One of the new eggs has a definite little cheerio I can see, the other doesn’t. However, the first egg didn’t have a visible cheerio for about 5-7 days, and now clearly has a dark spot.
Is it abnormal for them to lay 3 eggs? (Assuming all 3 are good, time will tell) do they have room to carry 3 eggs at once? Should I keep digging around in case she laid another that I just missed? The one I pulled on 6/4 was definitely recently laid, I know it hadn’t been there long.
@ghoulishcresties i know you breed crested, and had Gargs, from my understanding they’re pretty similar on the breeding side.
I suppose another option would be that she somehow managed to produce another 1/2 eggs in a weeks time? I have no clue how likely that is, but it seems improbable. I know it wasn’t there until today as it was in the exact same spot I pulled the first egg from… @foxreptile tagging you aswell!
When did you get her exactly? If she laid on the 30th of march, it would make sense that she also laid some time in may… It’s more likely that she laid 1 and then 2 more later on, or vice versa… either that, or that you just haven’t found the fourth egg In my experience (albeit with cresties, been told it’s pm the same tho) they sometimes only produce 1-2 clutches after being moved, and the final clutch is often laid earlier in the cycle than the rest - just recently had a girl lay again only 23 days after her last clutch, and she stopped laying after that
I got her on 4/10, and I’ve got her in a very large sterilite tote with bioactive substrate, cork bark, and isopods currently. Ive kept a really good eye on her enclosure to make sure that I could see any signs of digging, but I suppose it’s possible that the first egg was laid in may and I just hadn’t found it… The day that i did find the first egg, it was very clear she had dug the night before. I’d seen her digging in the enclosure on 5/1, but i searched the enclosure the following days and found no eggs. I suppose that it’s possible she went back to the spot after a few days and laid one, and then laid these two last night… but the first egg I found didn’t have a visible cheerio on it for about 5 days after I found it, leading me to think that it was definitely a new egg.
If I had to guess and if you’re right, I’m assuming she just laid one egg for the first cluch and then 2 for this one. Could explain too why the first eggs shell is much more… leathery/off white colored too? I just assumed it had to do with nutrients and she took a week or two to start eating regularly with me.
They often will dig for several days in a row before they actually lay anything, I almost missed a set of eggs from one girl cause i saw her digging one night, but didn’t find anything the next day, and then never saw her digging again. I randomly found a set of eggs a couple of weeks later, and they had clearly been there a while They do also sometimes cover their eggs really well so you can’t really tell that they’ve been digging, and sometimes one egg will be deeper than the other. If you don’t have any plants in there, i would give the whole substrate a good thorough dig through, just in case, that’s what i usually do, just turn it all over. But it is definitely also possible that she just laid a clutch of one and a clutch of two
Definitely am going to give it another thorough dig through tonight. Only plant in there now is a potted philo. I’ll just be careful not to squish my isopods and springtails. All the cork bark can come out easy enough. This was just meant to be her “home away from home” while I finished building out her large permanent enclosure here. Plus it was functioning as a quarantine enclosure. I didn’t know if she’d keep laying after being shipped, kinda thought she might not. But also, very happy she did!
Assuming new eggs are softer and squishier, right? The ones I pulled today were actually a good bit softer than the one I pulled last week. So it’s definitely possible I missed it. I did dig that area up many many times without finding any eggs, but I suppose she could’ve laid in a different area too, so I won’t leave any soil unturned tonight!
In cresties they stay about the same and then get very soft and squishy when they’re ready to hatch - if they’re soft from the get-go it usually means that they aren’t fertile, but could also be a calcification issue
I guess the term I’m using for “soft” is not relevant for these type of eggs. I’m used to ball python eggs. They start off very soft, but then get very leathery quickly. I’ll see if I can have my wife snap some pics of me handling them tonight to upload here. Get some expert eyes on it lol
Egg 3, is the one I found last week…. Seeing in in a dark room with the light makes me think it definitely is further along than I initially thought, as I can’t imagine this is just one week of growth, right? The egg overall is much darker
Dug through her enclosure; looks like the most likely scenario is one egg laid mid may, the other two last night. So far I agree, looks like 2 healthy eggs. I’ll keep an eye on egg #1, maybe it’ll show a cheerio in the next couple days
Sorry just seen!
1 looks infertile, 2 fertile. And 3, assume was laid when 2 was? I don’t see a cheerio so may be infertile, hense why newest egg is also looking infertile.
I think the picture doesn’t do it justice, because I can definitely see more than just a solid color in person. It just appears darker internally, which makes me think the embryo has developed more, which would make sense. We shall see!
In my experience (albeit with cresties, been told it’s pm the same tho) they sometimes only produce 1-2 clutches after being moved, and the final clutch is often laid earlier in the cycle than the rest - just recently had a girl lay again only 23 days after her last clutch, and she stopped laying after that
They do also sometimes cover their eggs really well so you can’t really tell that they’ve been digging, and sometimes one egg will be deeper than the other. If you don’t have any plants in there, i would give the whole substrate a good thorough dig through, just in case, that’s what i usually do, just turn it all over. But it is definitely also possible that she just laid a clutch of one and a clutch of two 
