How to Care for a Gecko Hatchling

Breeding and Raising Baby Geckos

If you have a matching pair of geckos, you will find that breeding them is very easy. As long as you keep them in the right condition and they are healthy, you just have to leave them to their own devices, and soon you will be hearing the patter of little gecko feet!

The challenge really begins when the little geckos hatch. Once the eggs are laid, the parents relinquish all responsibility for caring for them. In fact, in many species, once the eggs hatch, the parents can pose a serious risk to their babies.

At the same time, the little geckos emerge from their eggs fully formed and able to fend for themselves. The problem is in providing them with the right tropical environment that is right for their species. Of course, this is the same environment you set up for their parents, so you should already know how to do this. Because hatchlings are so small, however, any deviations from the correct settings will affect them more than their parents.

Do you need to transfer the eggs to an incubator?

The first decision you need to make when breeding geckos is whether to keep the eggs in their parents’ terrarium or remove them to incubate outside. You can now buy specialist incubators for keeping reptile eggs at a tightly controlled temperature and humidity. However, they are not exactly cheap. Many people can also build their own DIY incubators.

In my experience breeding two species of Phelsuma day geckos, the eggs will do well in the adults cage. After all, the conditions in it are set to what geckos need.

I have a case of a female gecko that “eats” her eggs, or rather licks them until the shells break and are eaten. This probably happened because he didn’t have enough calcium in his diet. However, on the whole, the eggs are relatively safe until they hatch.

The problem with removing the eggs is the possibility of spoiling them in the process. Females often hide them in hard-to-access areas of the tank. This is particularly true in species where the eggs are attached to a surface.

My geckos always lay their eggs in the hollows of the bamboo tubes where their tanks are kept. It may be possible to remove the eggs in my case Phelsuma clampery geckos, which are not for glue, but P. cepediana stick their eggs inside the tubes. Honestly, I can’t figure out how to get rid of them.

Besides destroying the eggs, there is a risk of changing their orientation. If you “invert” the egg after the embryo begins to develop, it can cause serious defects in the developing gecko. If you remove the eggs, it is advisable to mark the “up” side of them, so that you can copy their orientation afterwards.

The big advantage of using an incubator is that for most geckos, their sex is determined by the temperature at which the eggs are left. That’s why it’s possible to control whether you get a girl or a boy by changing the temperature of the incubator.

Removing Baby Geckos from Their Parents’ Tanks

If you choose to leave the eggs in the main terrarium, the work really begins when the baby geckos hatch. I have to admit that in the case of neon day geckos, P. klemmerivery little work; I just leave them in their parents’ tank. However, this species is unusual in that they pay little attention to babies and very rarely eat their own offspring.

In the case of the other day gecko species I keep, and indeed most geckos, the hatchlings are at great risk of being snacked on by daddy or mommy. I still got a large number of Cepediana babies from the tank of adults; the young seem to be well aware of the danger and usually run to hide behind the background as soon as possible.

I did find a few babies with missing tails (which grew back), and I once rescued a baby from its father’s jaw (it didn’t seem to be permanently damaged and grew into a fine gecko). However, most geckos recovered are fine.

A useful trick, if you are lucky and the eggs are stuck to the terrarium glass, is to cover them with a plastic cup, which can be stuck to them. This way, when the eggs hatch, the adults can’t get to them, so they’re easy to catch. However, this is impossible if the eggs are hidden in the bamboo.

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Housing for Baby Geckos

Housing for babies took me a while to figure out. One thing that may not be so obvious when you look at these sweet little geckos is that they are territorial even at that young age and should be kept separate. Usually, there are two eggs at a time, and several pairs may hatch throughout the summer, leaving you with fewer geckos to care for. Buying special tanks for all of them can end up being quite expensive, not that there are many options for good nursery tanks on the market anyway.

You really need a small tank; you want to observe the baby often at first and you don’t want to lose it in the big tank. Another consideration is to ensure that the small gecko cannot escape from the terrarium.

In the end, I settled on putting baby geckos in small “critter keeper” boxes. They are a relatively good size, comfortable, and inexpensive, so they can be purchased in bulk. At first, I covered the top with a “net” (I think it might have been a piece of curtain netting that I sacrificed for this) so the lizard couldn’t escape.

The bottom of the tank is covered with a thick layer of orchid bark, just like the adult tank. You can just use a kitchen towel, but absorbent bedding helps maintain high humidity. I usually put some pothos on the bed and put some small bamboo sticks for the geckos to climb on. Finally, heat and light are provided by a small fluorescent tube placed on top of the critter keeper.

The only problem with this arrangement is that I want it to be more vertically oriented since the geckos I keep are arboreal. The top opening cover is less than perfect, especially with the net. I always worry that the geckos will jump out when I open the lid to feed them or spray them with water.

Another potential problem I used to worry about was that the net would block a lot of UV light, which the geckos need to make Vitamin D, which is necessary for calcium absorption. However, I supplement their diet with vitamins, and I have never had any problems with geckos developing bone abnormalities or showing signs of metabolic bone disease.

Feeding Gecko Hatchlings

Newly hatched geckos eat the same food as their parents, insects and pureed fruit, except the insects need to be smaller.

I always start hatchlings on baby food fruit puree mixed with calcium and vitamin D supplements. I will put a dish of this in their nursery but also dap-dapt a little near where they sit. They will be attracted to the smell and start licking it. Once they taste it, they usually go for the main course.

I notice that they are not very interested in insects in the first hours after hatching, so I don’t give them until the next day. I usually start them with drosophila fruit flies; I don’t give them crickets until they get a little bigger, maybe two weeks after they hatch.

Baby geckos need to be fed gut-filled insects daily, and their food is also supplemented with calcium and Vitamin D daily.

Humidity and Shedding

Maintaining high humidity is important for most tropical geckos, but newly hatched ones are particularly prone to desiccation if conditions are too dry; because of their small size, they can lose moisture very quickly. That’s why it’s so important to spray the nursery enclosure often and make sure the humidity here is at the upper limit of what the adults need.

One of the first problems that occurs when the humidity is not high enough is problems shedding their skin. Like all reptiles, geckos shed their skin all at once as they grow. If the pieces of old skin are not easily removed, they will harden and result in serious problems. Maintaining high humidity in the nursery tank will help prevent these problems.

If a small gecko appears to have shedding problems, one way to help it is to place it in a very humid environment. Line the bottom of a small, airy container, such as gecko trading boxes, with soaked kitchen towels and place the small lizard in it, and place the box in a warm place.

Sometimes you can help the shedding by removing the dead skin with tweezers. This can be done for many reptiles, but very difficult to do for very young geckos, they are small, fragile and can’t really be handled without breaking, and they probably won’t sit up while you do them with tweezers. .

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. It is not intended to replace diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from a veterinary medical professional. Animals showing signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.

© 2013 aa lite

Comments

Natalie McClauchlan on May 18, 2019:

Ok I had a female gecko and she had two eggs inside her but she was outside on top of a rock and she didn’t move I think she was dead because every time I touch her she lays backworks anyways I opened her tummy and got the her eggs but I don’t have an incubator all I have is a container with a lid with big holes and some small stones and paper towels.. can u tell me how to look after them

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