Not Rhacodactylus, This is a strange case...

[MG_Geckos]

Hi everyone, I had a panther gecko, only one, I guess it was a female, I got it when it was about 2 or 3 months old, since then it has never been with any other panther gecko (I don't even have any others). I got the panther about 6 months or so ago, maby longer. I had laid about 8 eggs, I knew they were all infertile considering she never bred plus the eggs were turning different colors. I threw the eggs out after keeping each one for about a month. I had one left. I sold the panther gecko to my local pet shop about a week or two ago, I believe they still have it for sale and it is being sold for $45. Last night (Well I'm typing this at about midnight) before I was going to throw out this last egg I decided to open it up. Holy crap, look what I found inside of it!!! A unborn gecko. I thought I would see a little undeveloped embryo but instead this. The yock sac was still wet, the gecko did not move at all neither did I see anything moving when looking at its skin (No blood flow or anything, from what I could see). The egg had a dent in it and was turning bluish. My big question was was this gecko alive when I opened it from my description (I hope not, would it have moved if it were alive). When I had my female panther gecko it wasn't that big either, kinda small compared to other adult panther geckos that I have seen.

My second big question is how is this possible. It couldn't have bred when it was like 2 months old and then retained this much sperm to have laid eggs multiple times. Could it have been a hermaphrodite?

Dr. Alan, what do you think, I would also like to have as many replies from other people as possible.

Here is the pic:


Thanks
Matthew

[IndyCrestie]

Weird...sorry, no advice...

[sutailic]

Very strange, sorry I can't help you either.

[crestedjunkie]

Very Interesting. I have heard of something similar happening with snakes laying eggs with small lifeless little snakes inside after being raised singly. I don't know anything about that sort of thing really.

[Dr Alan]

Matt,
I'm inclined to think that your panther gecko was bred at some point before you got her, and retained sperm. Paroedura picta are not parthenogenetic, as far as I know. Was this a CB or WC gecko? They have somewhat of a reputation for being reproductive machines and like yours did, they can lay so many eggs so quickly that calcium reserves are easily depleted. I have a young pair of these, and was advised by the breeder not to put them together until the female is approaching 20 grams weight.

[Dr Alan]

Originally Posted by MG_Geckos

My big question was was this gecko alive when I opened it

I don't know if the embryo you found was alive or not, but if there was no movement and since the egg was turning blue, I'm inclined to think it died in the egg a day or two before you opened it.

Originally Posted by MG_Geckos

Could it have been a hermaphrodite?

Your gecko is not a hermaphodite (an animal which has characteristics of both sexes) and is definitely a female. Hermaphrodites are fairly common in a lot of species, but such animals are not capable of fertilizing themselves. In many - maybe most - cases, hermaphrodites are not capable of reproduction at all.

[MG_Geckos]

Thanks for the info, I'm glad it probably wasn't alive. I still can't believe that that could have happened, it was only about 2 or 3 months old when I bought it. By the way it was captive bred.

Matthew