# gravid leo too small



## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

hi all
i have a gecko who's become gravid without mating, she lives with another female the same size, but she's too small to be laying eggs in my opinion. she was 37g at last weigh in. is there any way to put her off laying, if i cooled her would she reabsorb the eggs? think she's due to drop any day soon as she's become restless


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## jackyboy (Apr 8, 2008)

are yuh shure the other female is deffo female


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## diz (Mar 19, 2008)

i had the same problem a few weeks ago, i had a 30 something gram leo, laid 2 huge eggs, had never been near a male, or at least not while it was with me, i had to use bone aid drops for extra calcium as she started showing signs of mbd, she lost quite a bit of weight from her tail as well, i fed her with baby food, as soon as she layed she started eating quite alot, and now shes absolutely fine.


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

yup, both girls for sure, in fact all in the viv stack are female, the males are at the other end of the wall in their own vivs


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

was that more than a month ago? could yours be gravid again diz? must be the warm weather inducing the breeding instinct. is there anything i can do to stop her laying?


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

apart from sticking a cork up her bum :lol2:


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## katelikesfun (Sep 19, 2007)

hiya ste. I'm not sure on this one. this has happened to my hypo. she was 44g at the time and coped fine. not produced anymore eggs after those though. it took a while for her to put the weight back on though and fatten her tail up again.
I wouldn't worry too much and there's nothing you can do if she's about to drop I wouldn't say.

K


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## diz (Mar 19, 2008)

boywonder said:


> was that more than a month ago? could yours be gravid again diz? must be the warm weather inducing the breeding instinct. is there anything i can do to stop her laying?


well i keep checking her and i think it is probably about a month, i cant see any more eggs developing, she laid them about 3 weeks after i bought her from the rep shop, she was in a group at the shop so there was probably either a male in there or she had been within sniffing distance of a male. she is along way from any of my males, i would worry alot if she was having more due to the weight loss she suffered last time.
you wont be able to stop her laying, but they can reabsord the eggs but its unlikely, as mine lost weight i just kept putting little blobs of baby food on her nose for her to lick off.


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

did you use fruit baby food (what flavour?) and are you still giving it her?


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## diz (Mar 19, 2008)

boywonder said:


> did you use fruit baby food (what flavour?) and are you still giving it her?


 
no ive stopped giving her coz she eating like a pig now, it was just to give her a bit of food before she layed,because she stopped eating,and was losing alot of weight, you can give them either fruit based, apple or pear, or chicken. is yours digging yet, assuming you've given her a nesting box, first egg layers tend to dig everyday for about a week before they lay.


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

she has a carte dor tub with vermiculite in it and she's in out in out but she won't let the other gecko near it lol, think i might puree some chicken tomorrow and try her with that when she lays


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## diz (Mar 19, 2008)

boywonder said:


> she has a carte dor tub with vermiculite in it and she's in out in out but she won't let the other gecko near it lol, think i might puree some chicken tomorrow and try her with that when she lays


if shes not losing too much weight and her joints look ok, then she will be fine.


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## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

To be honest with a small female you're best bet is to help her get the eggs out rather than keep them in!
Once she's laid them make sure she has as much food as she wants to help her build up again.
I've had the same thing happen this year, after the eggs she went on to an all-you-can eat diet until she filled up with the next ones. The silly girly is just about to lay her 4th clutch for the year (and hopefully her last!) and she's gained weight on when she started laying!


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## arkreptiles (Sep 26, 2007)

As much as we'd like all of our females to be 50-60g before laying, unfortunately they can start ovulating and producing eggs after around 6 months whether mated or not.

As everyone has said above best policy is to keep an eye on the 'early layers', keep them as stress free as possible and ensure their diet is good - even seperate them out if you can.


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

if she's going to keep laying clutches should i mate her instead of her wasting her dud eggs? or is she likely to only lay one clutch?


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## leopardgeckomad (Feb 2, 2008)

thats a very good question - free bump ..


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## arkreptiles (Sep 26, 2007)

boywonder said:


> if she's going to keep laying clutches should i mate her instead of her wasting her dud eggs? or is she likely to only lay one clutch?


Not an absolute answer to that!! We've had some lay one clutch early then not lay for 4/5 months and go on to produce 6-8 eggs in their first year!! Others have just started and continued to lay.

It's your call whether you put a young fairly light female to a male just because she's ovulating - personally we would not recommend it as the stress of having a male around can cause them to lose more weight than necessary.

As a rule we wait until our girls are at least 50g and preferably heavier. We'll only breed at a lighter weight if they 'peak' - that is to say have reached their adult size - some don't always grow to 50g.


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

i'll leave her to her own devices, hopefully she'll just lay 1 single egg clutch and be fine but if she lays more next month i may re-consider


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## boywonder (Mar 10, 2008)

she layed me a single egg today it was half sized and weighed 2g . i just fed them all and she didn't eat a thing, usualy she's first to start eating so i think the stress of laying has upset her, is it worth trying her with some baby food, what flavour do other peoples leos seem to like? i tried her with crested gecko diet but she didn't want to know and wouldn't even lick it off her nose, she wiped it off on the side of the viv, naughty girl, so what flavours please?


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