[ ♪ cheery music ♪ ]
♪
Woah! Woah! Hold up—stop that cheery music.
This hatching needs an intro!
Three days ago my buddy Caesar stops by and says,
“Hey! I got some gecko eggs for you! My gargoyle gecko egg is about to hatch."
"Three hours—rest of the days, tops.”
And I was like, “Awesome! My viewers would love to see an HD time-lapse
of some gecko eggs hatching.” [ thunder cracks ]
It’s been three days now—three days!
I woke up every hour—every night to check if it was hatching so I could get some footage.
I did this for you guys.
[ ♪ theme music ♪ ]
Caesar left these eggs here in my office. –That’s right.
And I’ve been waiting for this one to hatch forever. –This one.
Three days I haven’t been sleeping! –I’m so sorry. [ laughs ]
–This should be hatching soon. It will.
So yeah. My Patrons all got some magnets.
And you recognize that gecko don’t you? –Yeah.
–That’s the female reticulated gargoyle.
It’s the female (mom) of the egg we’re waiting to hatch? –Yeah. [ laughs ]
–What a lazy egg. So that’s that mama? –Hmm hmm.
This is mama Sriracha
and this is papa Sinatra.
So days ago, after Caesar dropped the egg off,
I set up a constant time-lapse system between my GoPo and my DSLR.
It was interesting observing the footage—even though the egg wasn’t hatching.
The little critters crawling around the egg are called springtails.
These are beneficial for the egg’s success
as they are consuming bacteria and fungus
that could be potentially dangerous for the egg.
These springtails are like little janitors cleaning the egg.
It was also interesting observing the egg beginning to sweat,
or beading moisture, as the time of hatching approached.
So around midnight, on the fourth night of me having the egg,
on its 106th day of incubation,
this gargoyle gecko decided to join the world.
Now you can cue the cheery baby music.
[ ♪ cheery music ♪ ]
♪
There is something magical about seeing a lifeform take its first breaths of air.
♪
After more than an hour, it was ready to take its first leap into the world,
which, was just a bigger bucket.
♪
I soon misted the gecko with water so it could take its very first drink.
It’ll stay the night in this temporary housing unit until Caesar comes and claims it.
So that—that took about an hour and twenty minutes for
this little guy to get out of the shell
and me to wrangle it up into the container—get it misted.
I saw it take its first drink of water and
there’s just something truly special about seeing
life come—come to be.
That was a really beautiful thing.
So…wow! I’m tired.
Fourth night. I can actually get some sleep now.
This guy’s got plenty of water.
Also—Caesar said I could name this little fella.
I have no idea whether to tell if it’s a boy or a girl yet but...
I’m sure (Caesar will) tell me when he gets it tomorrow.
And I’m thinking I’ll let my viewers name it so—
whatever name—that’s appropriate—gets the most up-votes
after one or two weeks—bout two weeks—
that’ll be the name of this (gecko.) And then I’ll let y’all know
in one of my Casual Outdoors Weeklies which drop on Wednesdays at 1 PM EST. So…
what will they name you?
Be sure to subscribe and set your ding notifications
so you know when that video drops with the name announcement.
Also check out Caesar’s Instagram.
The link is in the description. You can direct message him about information
about his gecko keeping.
Also—check out my Instagram—I post a lot of cool animals
and you don’t have to look at my ugly mug!
Remember to put your idea for a name suggestion in the comments
and give likes to other names you also might think would be a good name for this gecko!
Spread some knowledge and be Nature-heroic!
Thank you for watching!