Strange baby leopard gecko

Question
One of my leopard geckos has been laying eggs, and her last clutch in very early November only had one egg (shes getting older). I should mention now that every egg up until now has produced a healthy bouncing baby gecko. The egg was very dented, and I tried everything to bring this egg back but for a good week or two it remained dented. I could tell it was fertile from candling the egg. Finally I seemed to get the humidity to the right conditions and it plumped up, and hatched in mid December. The baby was blind at first, it only responded to sound and touch and could not hunt. It was a good sized baby, but there were a few things off about it. Its one eye is a bit larger than the other, its bottom jaw sticks out a bit further than the top, its missing a toe on its front foot (it didnt loose it during a shed, it just always had four toes) and its hips seem to be crooked (one noticeably higher than the other). I had to force feed it for the first few weeks as it would not eat, but its definitely got most of its sight now, its able to hunt on its own. Its crooked hips dont affect it in anyway, it walks just fine, it just sits a little funny. I cant sex it yet, the area under its tail looks scarred (it was never injured) but it defecates with no issues. Other than its looks, the gecko acts like a completely normal baby gecko (except it is friendlier than most I've had, but I suspect that has to do with the fact that I held it so often while I was force feeding it, it just got used to being held). It has a healthy appetite and is very curious. I've named it Riddick, as its eyes glow red (like peoples do in photographs) in certain lights and because it was blind. Basically, after all that my question would be what to watch out for now? I dont know if it was the dent in the egg that caused the issues, or if it could be something else. Is there anything else I can be doing to help along this special little gecko? My intent was to sell it as I do with all the other geckos I hatch, but in good conscious I couldnt and cant without knowing its going to be ok. Any info you could provide would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

Answer
Congenital deformities can happen for a variety of reasons, ranging from mutations to developmental issues (these can be caused by pure chance, or adverse incubation conditions such as temperature spikes).

The denting of the egg was most likely a sign that something wasn't entirely right, rather than the cause of the problem.  Most reptiles lay many eggs, because their offspring have to fend for themselves, and the majority will not survive to adulthood.  Not all of the offspring will develop properly and hatch out healthy--you've done very well if this is the first baby that's ever had an issue.  Unfortunately, as reptile breeders, this is simply something we have to accept--even with the best of care, some will not make it, and some will hatch out with problems.  Sometimes the umbilicus is constricted due to it forming in the wrong position, or the vascularization doesn't form correctly--there are a variety of things that can go wrong, even when genetics and environment are perfect.

Your little gecko should be adopted out to a good home, with a signed agreement that it will not be bred (if it's even capable of breeding), just in case its issues are due to a mutation, or its developmental issues would cause more serious problems during the stress of breeding or egg laying.

It should be fully disclosed that this gecko, while it may appear to be relatively healthy and growing now, may not survive in the long run.  There could be things wrong on the inside as well as the outside, and issues with internal organs and the heart can cause sudden death in these deformed babies, as they grow larger.  You could also choose to keep him yourself, if you don't trust others to care for him properly.  If you intend to keep producing geckos over time, you should come up with a policy on how to deal with hatchlings like this one.  Many people euthanize them, rather than going to the extremes you did to save this baby.  Others give every one the best chance they can, and put them in adoptive homes.  Selling them is not an option of course--the baby is deformed, and may not survive to adulthood (or may not live a full lifespan, if it does).

Unfortunately, there will come a time when a baby will hatch that is simply too malformed to survive at all, and you will need to make the decision to humanely euthanize it when that happens.  Your options are limited--a lethal injection administered by a veterinarian, or a hard blow to the head which instantly destroys the brain (the most terrible thing to have to do, but in spite of our feelings, the animal feels nothing at all, so it is 100% humane).  Other methods such as CO2 or freezing are not humane ways to euthanize reptiles.  The difficulty is due to how tough they are, and how slow their metabolism is.  It's something that should be faced before it happens, because it is inevitable, and we have to be prepared to deal with it, or we cannot breed them.

In 3 years of breeding ball pythons (and producing hundreds of animals in that time, I have had to euthanize perhaps 4 hatchlings.  Another, which hatched out with a jaw deformity and a missing eye, seemed healthy and grew, and was adopted out, only to die suddenly less than a year later.  I won't describe the severity of the problems that can happen, as they can be quite gruesome, but it can be much worse than your little guy.

So, unfortunately, you will never be able to be sure that this little gecko will be ok.  You have certainly done the best anyone could do for him, though, and it's a miracle that he has lived, and is relatively happy.