Egg laying

I finally got to witness one of my leopard geckos laying her eggs. I could tell once I had opened her box that she was going to lay. You could see the contractions in her abdominal muscles. It was pretty cool to actually get to see it happen. After she laid the first one she rolled it back and forth between her rear legs. She then proceeded to bury it. Then she did it all over again.













She was rewarded about 3 hours later with a few waxies. LOL

Very cool, I wonder if there is a reason why she rolled it around. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing these pics, I have yet to see one of my geckos laying yet.

very cool indeed! about how much peat you got in there?

Originally Posted by USAGECKOS

Very cool, I wonder if there is a reason why she rolled it around. Very interesting.

All leopard geckos do that. I think it toughens the shell and enables it to become hard. Sometimes if you grab the eggs to early from them, before they have a chance to roll them a round a bit, you just end up with soft eggs that usually go bad. Anyways, that's from my experiences.

I also think that the rolling toughens the shell. Also, the peat becomes stuck to the egg and absorbs the excess moisture off the egg. Keeps it from sticking as it drys.
I use about 3/4" to 1'" of sphagnum peat inside the layboxes. The geckos have a tendency to pile it all up on one side. I think it is so that they can get to the heat better. They make a thermal gradient inside the humid hide.

I've seen it done as well, but I always let them bury the eggs and relax a while before pulling the eggs.

Thanks for sharing the pictures Jeremy! I have not had the chance to witness it in my geckos yet, but I usually know when they are about to lay.

I seen 2 of my females doing this on the weekend. They were not gentle with the eggs, I thought they were going to break them open.

Wonderful pictures Jeremy...all 5 of my females with visable eggs has their legs CROSSED and won't let em out! hmph! lol

Great pictures!!! I keep checking whenever my gravid girls are in their moist hides, but I've yet to catch them.