time gravid

[arbok]

hey all,
ive looked everywere and cant find any information about how long oedura castelnaui tend to be gravid for before they lay there eggs?

she seems like she was ready to burst, but just hasnt layed, and suddenly started loosing weight.
i have asked a few people and they have suggested that shes egg bound, i dont want to go and get an oxytoxin injection if im simply paranoid and shes just not ready to lay yet.

cheers
Paul

 

[Ramsayi]

Don't know although the use of oxytocin is of little use or no use at all when it comes to reptiles.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Length of time gravid can vary greatly in gecko`s as they can withhold the eggs if they can`t find a suitable laying site and then they can reabsorb them. This is what sounds like happened with yours.
But from time the animal is gravid to when it lays is usually 3-4 weeks as long as there are no delays.

 

[JasonL]

Don't know although the use of oxytocin is of little use or no use at all when it comes to reptiles.

Not so Rams, it works very well on turtles and Bearded Dragons. I have used it a couple of times on Beardies, and results are within 10 minutes. The problem with some reptiles that have soft eggs is that the eggs continue to swell making it phyically impossible for them to be passed, so oxytocin needs to be given near the due date, leave it too long and it's a waste of time. Gecko eggs grow rapidly and are usually too big before you can do anything about it, I tryed oxytocin on a egg bound gecko once before and it didn't work. In the end the egg size was reduced with a syringe and she laid the eggs that night, killing the eggs but saving the female.

 

[arbok]

thanks guys,
im going to give her a warm bath tonight and if she doesnt lay tonight then ill take her to the vet

 

[warren63]

Same thing exactly with my Castelnaui, looked gravid for months and now she has lost a lot of weight both in the body and tail and currently feeding her a couple of crickets everynight to get the weight back on. I do note that sometimes gecko seem to ovulate prior to eggs forming and this also gives them the appearance of being gravid.

 

[MoreliaMatt]

thanks guys,
im going to give her a warm bath tonight and if she doesnt lay tonight then ill take her to the vet

careful not to cause too much stress on the female or this will just delay laying even more?

 

[arbok]

yeah didnt end up giving her a bath talked to a friend and he said she would hate that.

took her to the vet, they gave her oxytocin but unfortunatly she had impaction which was making it impossible for her to lay she passed away about 2 hours ago

 

[wokka]

Length of time gravid can vary greatly in gecko`s as they can withhold the eggs if they can`t find a suitable laying site and then they can reabsorb them. This is what sounds like happened with yours.
But from time the animal is gravid to when it lays is usually 3-4 weeks as long as there are no delays.

I know nothing about lizards, but doubt that they reabsorb eggs. It is more likely that ovulation and follicle development is mistaken for being gravid . Then in the absence of egg formation the swelling associated with ovulation disapates, so the eggs are not being reabsorbed as they were never formed in the first place.

 

[spongebob]

I know nothing about lizards, but doubt that they reabsorb eggs. It is more likely that ovulation and follicle development is mistaken for being gravid . Then in the absence of egg formation the swelling associated with ovulation disapates, so the eggs are not being reabsorbed as they were never formed in the first place.

I've been breeding castelnaui for years and I agree with wokka. Both male and female castelnaui carry deposits (presumably of fat) that look like eggs. In females these would seem to be used in follicle development-even straight after laying there will be two white bodies apparent that are the beginnings of the next clutch. They generally need to be fertilised (but not always) to form eggs.

In arboks case I would not like to speculate, but egg binding in geckos is not common.