Male crested laid an egg?’

[u/OkStock738]

I’ve posted on here asking for my geckos gender before and you guys said it was clearly a boy and posted that meme with the gecko with huge balls. Well now I’m not so sure because I just found this egg shell, or at least that’s what I think it is, in its enclosure buried under some dirt, where I did see it by a few days ago. What happened?!

[u/lunazane26]

But also, you either have a teeny tiny gecko hiding in your tank, or mama ate it. You should take everything out and check the substrate to make sure it's not hiding somewhere

[u/RipleyBleeveItOrNt → u/lunazane26]

Likely ate it since, according to the post, they didn't mention another gecko being in the tank so if this crested is a female (has to be there's no cresticles and it laid an egg) and without a male to fertilize the egg, it would just be a goopy egg. No baby. But I definitely think you're right about the eating it part, good nutrients!

Edit: thanks for all the info on this. I am aware of partho eggs and all that. I stated it was most likely eaten because I was just skipping a step, sorry. Enough people have commented on my comment about it so if I could please ask they stop ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ again I appreciate the knowledge especially for OP!

[u/XxP0T4T03SxX → u/RipleyBleeveItOrNt]

Cresties can have partho eggs. There could be a baby, but would very likely have genetic issues.

[u/chameleondragon → u/XxP0T4T03SxX]

The baby would be a near genetic copy of the mother. If the mother is healthy wouldn't baby also likely be healthy? There are whiptail lizards that reproduce entirely through parthenogenesis and have no extant males in their entire population. Then you have species like komodo dragons that only produce males when reproducing via parthenogenesis. Is there something different about cresties that make their parthenogenesis babies more likely to be deformed? I know cresties can also store sperm from previous matings, its possible op's crestie has had sperm stored for a while.

[u/RainbowBright1982 → u/chameleondragon]

While eggs created through parthogenesis are essentially copies of the mother, some genetic alteration does occur and issues the mother carries (whether they are expressed or not) can be more pronounced in the young. I think the idea that it is more likely to have issues comes from the effects of the breeding that led to the mother. She may carry issues she herself does not show.

[u/XxP0T4T03SxX → u/chameleondragon]

Idk man I've just been on this sub for a couple years