How to Collect and Incubate Crested Gecko Eggs

Once your pairs are together, a female needs a lay box: somewhere to dig in, lay her eggs and bury them. In the wild she smooths the dirt over so predators cannot tell, then leaves, and the hatchlings are on their own. In captivity, I dig the eggs up and incubate them myself.

Containers

I use bead organisers from the craft section at Walmart. Each compartment holds one clutch, with a tag on top saying which pairing it came from. With only a few geckos, 240 ml (8 oz) deli cups work just as well. I used them for years.

Incubation medium

I use Pangea Hatch or Repashy SuperHatch, essentially the same product: a porous clay that soaks up a lot of water. I have tried vermiculite, perlite and natural substrate mixes, and this is by far the best.

Dry clay turns noticeably lighter, so you can see when it needs water. And because it holds so much, the eggs sit on top without getting too wet, as long as there is no standing water.

For a single cup:

1. Fill it about two-thirds full of the medium.
2. Add water until it is completely saturated.
3. Put the lid on and tip out the excess through a small gap.

Leave room so the eggs do not touch the lid. They swell as they take up moisture.

Handling the eggs

With most snakes, turning an egg can detach the embryo and kill it, and I believe leopard gecko eggs are much more delicate too. People will tell you to candle each egg, keep the embryo side up and mark the top. With crested geckos none of that matters. I can pick their eggs up and turn them around without harm. That applies strictly to crested geckos, so research any other species first.

Do not drop them, of course. Set each egg on the damp medium, press it gently so it sits slightly sunken, put the lid on and write the lay date on top.

Temperature and timing

Crested gecko eggs take anywhere from 50 to 120 days. Aim for about 100. Near 27 °C (80 °F) they can hatch in 50 days, but you get smaller, less healthy hatchlings and more losses. Cooler incubation gives bigger geckos with bigger heads, bigger crests and better structure.

The ideal range I have found is 20 to 22 °C (68 to 72 °F). I usually aim for 20 to 21 °C (68 to 70 °F).

Incubator or not

Crested gecko eggs usually need to be cooler than room temperature, so an incubator that cools as well as heats is best. I use the Exo Terra reptile incubator, which goes as low as 4 °C (39 °F) and holds 20 °C (68 °F) without trouble.

You do not need one. Find the coolest spot in your house: often the basement floor, or a bathroom, since tiled rooms with the heat off stay cooler, especially in summer.

Moisture over 100 days

Check the eggs every week or so. Over a 100-day incubation I usually spray in a little water about twice, every 35 to 40 days. The eggs plump up as they grow, and around 100 days later, depending on temperature, you will have hatchlings.