Gecko Eggs: Breeding, Incubation, and What to Expect

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A female gecko does not need a male nearby to lay gecko eggs. She just needs calcium, the right humidity, and a safe spot to dig or glue them down. Egg laying is a normal part of gecko behavior for any adult female.

What happens next depends on the species. Egg shape, shell texture, and incubation length vary a lot across gecko species.

The gecko infraorder Gekkota is large, with well over two thousand described species spread across several families.

How geckos mate before eggs form

Courtship in most gecko species is brief. A male tracks a receptive female by scent and body language.

He then approaches and grips her neck gently with his jaws before mating. Females can store sperm for a period afterward.

That is one reason a female housed with a male only briefly can still lay several fertile clutches later. Once mating is done, egg development starts inside the female.

Calcium and yolk reserves begin building the shell and the embryo. That happens well before she ever looks for a nest site.

Does every gecko lay eggs?

Almost every gecko species is oviparous. That means it lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young.

That covers the geckos most people keep as pets. Leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and day geckos all lay eggs.

So do tokay geckos and the wild Mediterranean house geckos that turn up around porch lights. Egg laying is the rule across the group.

The exception lives in New Zealand, where the native gecko species carry young inside the body and give birth live. None of those species are common in the pet trade. Almost any gecko egg you find or hear about belongs to an egg laying species.

What do gecko eggs look like?

Most gecko eggs are small, oval to nearly round, and white to cream colored. A leopard gecko egg measures around 28 by 15 mm.

A Mediterranean house gecko egg is much smaller, closer to 11 by 9 mm. It can look faintly pink or blue as the embryo develops inside.

Texture is where the eggs split into two clear types. A study of gecko eggshell structure published in the Herpetological Journal compared eyelid geckos, the family of leopard and African fat tailed geckos, with typical geckos. Eyelid geckos lay parchment shelled eggs built from a fibrous membrane with only a thin outer layer of calcite.

Typical geckos, the much larger family that includes day geckos, tokay geckos, and house geckos, lay rigid eggs with a thicker calcite layer. That thicker layer is why those eggs feel hard and brittle rather than leathery.

A spotted gecko egg from a leopard gecko feels slightly soft right after laying, then firms up as it sits in a humid spot. Animal Diversity Web notes the same thing for African fat tailed geckos, adding that infertile eggs stay soft. A hard shelled tokay or day gecko egg stays rigid from the start and is often stuck fast to bark, glass, or a rock rather than buried.

Eggs across common pet gecko species

Different gecko breeds lay eggs on very different schedules. Knowing which type you keep tells you what to expect if a clutch turns up in the enclosure.

The most common pet gecko breeds in the eyelid family are leopard geckos and African fat tailed geckos. They share the soft shelled pattern and typically lay small clutches over and over through a season.

Crested and gargoyle geckos belong to a third family, the Diplodactylidae of New Caledonia, and also lay soft, leathery eggs. Day geckos and tokay geckos are the hard shelled pet species. A crested gecko female can store sperm and lay up to four eggs from a single mating, according to Animal Diversity Web.

Wild Mediterranean house geckos sometimes share a nest site. Reported communal clutches have held 2 to 20 eggs from several females in one crack or gap.

Captive geckos rarely get that choice. A single damp nesting box gives a female somewhere to dig.

Fill it with a few inches of moist substrate. That keeps her from wandering the enclosure looking for a spot to lay.

Incubation and temperature dependent sex

Once the clutch is laid, temperature does most of the work, which is why the heating and lighting setup for a breeding pair matters before eggs appear. Leopard gecko research found that incubating eggs near 26.5C produced almost entirely female hatchlings.

Incubating closer to 31.5C produced mostly males, about 91 percent in that study. A few degrees can flip the outcome for the whole clutch.

The sex sensitive window closes at a set point in embryo development. After that point, temperature no longer changes the outcome.

Genes linked to male development switch on earlier under warm incubation. Genes linked to female development switch on earlier under cool incubation, well before hatching.

The same direction holds for other pet species. Animal Diversity Web reports mostly females from African fat tailed gecko clutches at 24 to 28C, mostly males at 31 to 32C, and a roughly even split at 29 to 30.5C. Crested geckos and Madagascar day geckos also show warmer incubation producing more males, though the exact temperature targets differ by species.

How to incubate gecko eggs at home

A veterinary incubation guide by reptile specialist Thomas Boyer, DVM, gives the method most breeders follow. Half bury each egg in vermiculite mixed with water at 1 to 1 by weight for humid forest species, or 2 to 1 for arid species like the leopard gecko. Perlite, sphagnum moss, or damp paper towel work as alternatives.

Use a plastic container with a tight lid inside a stable incubator, such as the Exo Terra Precision Incubator Pro. Open it a few times a week so the eggs can exchange gases. Most temperate and tropical species incubate at 80 to 85°F, with the leopard gecko sex figures above showing why a degree or two matters.

Never roll an egg. Mark the top with a pencil before moving it and keep that side up. Candle with a small light after a week or two: a fertile egg looks creamy white with blood vessels and swells slightly as it develops.

Leave hatchlings to cut their own way out, which can take 12 to 48 hours. Keep them on clean damp paper towel until the yolk sac is absorbed, usually a few days. Do not help a hatchling out of the shell unless a reptile veterinarian advises it.

Incubation checklist

• Vermiculite and water at 1 to 1 (humid species) or 2 to 1 (arid species) by weight
• Eggs half buried, same side up, never turned
• Stable incubator; 80 to 85°F for most species, adjusted for the sex ratio you want
• Lid opened several times a week for fresh air
• Candle at one to two weeks; discard eggs that mold, collapse, or stay dull yellow

Infertile eggs and single females

A female gecko kept alone will often still lay eggs on her normal schedule. Those eggs are infertile since no mating occurred.

An infertile egg will not develop a visible embryo, no matter how carefully it is incubated. Laying infertile eggs is normal and does not mean anything is wrong with the female.

Infertile eggs often look slightly smaller. They may turn uniformly yellow when candled with a light, or collapse in after a few weeks.

Fertile eggs usually show a network of blood vessels within one to two weeks of steady incubation. That is the clearest way to tell the two apart without special equipment.

Calcium demand during egg production

Producing a clutch pulls a heavy calcium load from the mother. Every clutch needs calcium for the shell and for the skeleton growing inside.

Reptile veterinary sources tie a poor calcium to phosphorus ratio, plus too little vitamin D3, to metabolic bone disease. That is the most common bone condition seen in pet reptiles.

A female that lays clutch after clutch on a poor diet can develop soft, weakened bones. She can also become egg bound, unable to pass a clutch normally.

Gut loaded feeder insects dusted with calcium powder help cover that demand. So does correct UVB or vitamin D3 supplementation. Our gecko diet guide and gecko health guide cover feeding and the warning signs of egg binding.

Can a cracked or damaged egg still hatch?

A gecko egg with a stripped or cracked shell can sometimes still hatch. The odds drop fast as the damage gets worse.

Shell integrity controls moisture loss and gas exchange for the embryo inside. Even a small crack can dry an egg out faster than normal.

A hairline crack that does not reach the inner membrane is the most survivable kind of damage. Raising humidity around the egg right away helps its odds.

A larger tear that exposes the membrane, or visible leaking, usually means the embryo will not make it. The egg can no longer hold moisture or resist bacteria the way an intact shell does.

Boyer’s guide gives a practical test: an egg that keeps dimpling even after humidity is raised is no longer viable. One that plumps back up within a day or two is still worth incubating. Candle it after a week and discard it only if it molds or stays dull yellow.

After the eggs hatch: caring for baby geckos

A baby gecko cuts its way out of the shell using a small egg tooth. It then absorbs the last of its yolk sac over the following day or two.

Most gecko babies do not need food right away, since that yolk carries them through the first shed. Once a hatchling has shed for the first time, it is ready for small feeder insects.

Pick insects sized to the hatchling’s mouth, and keep a humid hide, such as the Exo Terra Humid Hide, nearby to support healthy shedding. Gecko babies grow fastest with steady warmth and frequent light misting.

Hatchlings are far more vulnerable to dehydration than adults. Daily checks matter for the first few weeks.

Our gecko care guide and gecko housing guide cover hatchling setups. Both go beyond what works for an adult enclosure.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many eggs does a gecko lay at once?

Most pet gecko species lay small clutches of one to two eggs at a time. A single female can repeat that clutch several times across a breeding season.

Do the eggs need to be turned during incubation?

No. The eggs should stay in the same orientation they were laid in and never be flipped. Turning can damage the membranes the embryo depends on.

Why did my gecko lay eggs with no male present?

Female geckos commonly lay eggs on their own schedule whether or not a male was ever present. Those eggs are infertile and will not hatch, but laying them is normal.

What color should the eggs be?

Healthy eggs are usually white to cream. Some show a faint pink or blue tint as the embryo develops. An egg that turns yellow, molds, or collapses is almost always no longer developing.

Can you touch or move the eggs safely?

Eggs can be moved carefully if you keep the same side facing up the whole time. Mark the top of each egg lightly before moving it to avoid an accidental flip.

How long does incubation take?

Incubation length depends heavily on species and temperature. A Mediterranean house gecko egg near 31C hatches in around 40 days, and a leopard gecko egg near 28C takes 45 to 53 days. Crested gecko clutches are the slow ones, at 60 to 150 days depending on temperature.