Quick Question

[electrofelt]

Hi All,

This is probably a stupid curious question, but can female leopard geckos form eggs without a male present? Infertile, of course, but I think that female bearded dragons can become gravid without a male present, and I was wondering if leopard geckos were the same.

 

[Bongo]

Yes, female leopard geckos can produce eggs without a male. The eggs will be infertile, and the female either re-absorbs or lays them.

 

[electrofelt]

Thank you for your response. How would I know if my female has eggs? She has been acting a little weird, MUCH more active than normal. She is constantly walking around the tank and climbing everything. She has also lost interest in food but hasn't lost any weight. It just made me wonder if maybe she has eggs that she is trying to lay. She is about 4 years old. I am a little nervous about giving her an egg laying box because she has eaten sphagnum moss from her humid hide in the past and that makes me a little worried. What do you think?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Since the eggs won't be fertile, she may not use a laying box even if you put one in for her. Some of my girls started kicking a the moss out of their lay boxes and depositing eggs on the plastic. Huge mess. So I replaced those with damp paper towel and they've been fine with it.

 

[electrofelt]

Ok great, her humid hide already has damp paper towels, so I will just leave everything alone and see if anything happens. So, if she does have infertile eggs, would she be at risk for becoming egg bound, or does that only apply to fertile eggs?

I am sorry I am asking so many questions, I tried researching this, but I had a hard time filtering out females that are actually pregnant.

 

[jbs81890]

Unless she has had prior problems laying eggs I wouldn't think she would be at risk for becoming egg bound. The best way to see if she actually is forming eggs is to look at her underbelly and on either side of her stomach you should be able to see two pink ovals and you will also notice a big difference in her belly from a side view! My females I can see the eggs just from looking at their sides because they show through pink! Gl