I am babysitting a gecko for my friend while she is on vacation. The gecko started getting these bulges in her lower portion and she just looked "expectant" somehow. Looked it up in a gecko book and it seems she's got some eggs on there. Yay!
So I bought some HATCHRITE at a show a while back, even though I only owned one corn at the time, figuring something gravid would come my way. A little subconcious foreshadowing or what?
Anyhoo, I got the hatchrite in a make shift incubation container (large tupperware) with the digital thermometer probe in the hatchrite to get a good reading. There's a snap on lid which I cut a slit into with an exacto t make room for the digital thermometer to slide in. There's no other air holes yet as I am reading mixed opinions on air exchange.
I "accidentally" added about an ounce of water to the corner of the hatchrite cause it didn't say not to on the package, (earlier printing) and then I read the hatchrite website and that's where it said, "no water needed!" Doh! I left the lid off for 0 mins to drt it out a smidge. Still feels dampish.
At first, it was too hot (above 90) so I placed a piece of wood on top of the UTH and then placed the tupperware with the hatchrite on top the wood. That only brought the temp down one degree so I put ceramic tiles on top of the UTH instead (as cermaic reduced temps by 5 degrees normally). It worked and the temp is holding at 87-89 degrees. I'm aiming for males.
It's 88.2 fluxuating a degree or two here and there (over a 24 hour period.) It's in the basement, where the ambient room temps are more stable and likely to drop rather than spike and kill the eggs.
I did some reading and I "think" I know what to do but reading and actual experience are completely different. I'm not putting together IKEA furniture here! I just wanted to ask y'all if you have any good pointers.
She has not laid the eggs yet. I was going to put a moist hide into her enclosure (all I have on hand is sand, coco peat, potting soil, hatchrite, or SPANISH moss). But, she shares the tank with the male and I am afraid he'd do something unthinkable to those little eggs. Should I move her to a spare tank I have? Will that kind of disruption freak her out and make her "abort" her eggs before they are ready to hatch?
Okay so I'm more nervous than I am leading on : ) Help!
Thanks for any insight.
Tracy and Zoe, (mother to be).
So I bought some HATCHRITE at a show a while back, even though I only owned one corn at the time, figuring something gravid would come my way. A little subconcious foreshadowing or what?
Anyhoo, I got the hatchrite in a make shift incubation container (large tupperware) with the digital thermometer probe in the hatchrite to get a good reading. There's a snap on lid which I cut a slit into with an exacto t make room for the digital thermometer to slide in. There's no other air holes yet as I am reading mixed opinions on air exchange.
I "accidentally" added about an ounce of water to the corner of the hatchrite cause it didn't say not to on the package, (earlier printing) and then I read the hatchrite website and that's where it said, "no water needed!" Doh! I left the lid off for 0 mins to drt it out a smidge. Still feels dampish.
At first, it was too hot (above 90) so I placed a piece of wood on top of the UTH and then placed the tupperware with the hatchrite on top the wood. That only brought the temp down one degree so I put ceramic tiles on top of the UTH instead (as cermaic reduced temps by 5 degrees normally). It worked and the temp is holding at 87-89 degrees. I'm aiming for males.
It's 88.2 fluxuating a degree or two here and there (over a 24 hour period.) It's in the basement, where the ambient room temps are more stable and likely to drop rather than spike and kill the eggs.
I did some reading and I "think" I know what to do but reading and actual experience are completely different. I'm not putting together IKEA furniture here! I just wanted to ask y'all if you have any good pointers.
She has not laid the eggs yet. I was going to put a moist hide into her enclosure (all I have on hand is sand, coco peat, potting soil, hatchrite, or SPANISH moss). But, she shares the tank with the male and I am afraid he'd do something unthinkable to those little eggs. Should I move her to a spare tank I have? Will that kind of disruption freak her out and make her "abort" her eggs before they are ready to hatch?
Okay so I'm more nervous than I am leading on : ) Help!
Thanks for any insight.
Tracy and Zoe, (mother to be).