Baby lizards hatching

The other day I was doing something in the garden and I moved a pot that was filled with soil.  Under the pot were a few tiny lizard eggs.  

I could not replace the pot in fear of squashing all the eggs, and I could not leave the eggs uncovered without them being eaten by birds.  I worried that I had killed these lizards before they even had a chance to hatch.  Sorry lizards, I wouldn't have touched that pot had I thought there were eggs under there. 

I carefully collected the eggs and put them in a small container of cocopeat and hoped they would hatch.  One of the eggs was damaged when I lifted the pot and clear fluid was oozing out, I was pretty sure it was beyond hope, the other eggs looked good and probably still had a small chance of survival.  

Reptile eggs are different from bird eggs, they must be handled differently or you will kill the baby.  Chicken eggs need to be tilted/rotated/rolled to ensure the embryo develops properly.  If you roll a reptile egg the baby will often die.  In a chicken egg the embryo attaches to the air space at the fat end of the egg, no matter which may you roll the egg the baby can breathe.  A reptile embryo tends to float and attach to the top of the egg, if you roll the egg the baby may drown.  I knew this, and I was careful of the tiny eggs.  Even so, a lot could go wrong, and I had a bad feeling about this.

Tiny baby skink

I put a piece of bark over the eggs to protect them.  At first it was too dry and the eggs started to shrivel, so I started to mist the substrate with water.  The eggs plumped up again.  I worried that this shriveling had destroyed any chance these eggs had of hatching, but there was a small chance I got onto this in time. 

After a few weeks, one tiny skink hatched out of a tiny egg.  It was very exciting.  The baby skink was tiny and adorable.  

We kept it for a day or two, and then released it in the vegetable garden close to where I collected the eggs.  The baby lizard will have plenty of shelter, and access to food.  

The kids were a mix of sad to see it go, and thrilled that they hatched a lizard.  

Baby skink being set free

I was relieved that at least one egg hatched.  I still felt bad, but at least I had not killed them all. 

A day or two after releasing that baby lizard a second tiny lizard egg hatched.  Again this was exciting, and we kept it for a day or two so the kids could stare at this tiny and remarkable creature.

When we were letting the baby free we noticed a third egg had also hatched!  

We released the third lizard along with the second one, they were released in the vegetable garden just next to where I got all the eggs from.  They have plenty of food, and plenty of places to hide from predators.  

Baby lizard soon after hatching

Tiny baby lizard

The day after we released those two lizards, another one hatched!  

I was worried when I lifted the pot that I may have doomed those poor eggs, but I am happy to say that most survived.  Only the one damaged egg that was oozing liquid did not make it, all the others hatched.  

Having four hatch and being able to release them was a great result, far better than I had expected.  These four baby lizards now live in my garden, and will eat insects and/or be eaten by birds.  From here they will do whatever nature intends.  

I love how excited my kids were at seeing the tiny lizards, and I am love that (while my kids wanted to keep the lizards forever) they were willing to release them.