Maternal Transfer of Bacteria to Eggs of Common House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus)

Abstract

Bacteria are commonly reported in eggs and transovarial transfer is known in birds but little is known about geckos. In the present study 72% of gecko eggs had bacteria. Citrobacter freundii (7) were the most commonly isolated bacteria followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (6), C. amalonaticus (4), Enterococcus casselifalvus (3) and Pragia fontium (3). Bacillus licheniformis, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus hirae and Edwardsiella tarda were isolated from two eggs each while C. diversus, Escherichia fergusonii, Enterococcus dispar, Enterobacter agglomerans, Erwinia ananas, Ewingella americana, Klebsiella oxytoca, Proteus penneri, Salmonella enterica ssp. indica, S. enterica ssp. salamae and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from one egg each. All types of bacteria detected in eggs except B. licheniformis were also detected with similar antibiogram in ova, ovary, liver and intestinal contents of geckos showing good correlation (r, 0.9) among bacteria detected in eggs and ova. Of the 30 ova collected from uterine tubes of geckos, 70% had one or more than one type of bacteria. All five ovaries of non-gravid geckos had one or more type of bacteria. More than 10% isolates had multiple drug resistance. Transovarial transfer of bacteria in geckos appeared to be the most important source of microbes in gecko eggs.