When they rupture is it possible that they are still alive? Would pulling out the goo kill them or I wonder again are they are already done for? Unfortunately/fortunately w/e we are heading to the Bahamas for a long weekend tomorrow, with only a pet sitter visiting once a day for the chameleons. I suppose I could give the pet sitter specific instructions to deal with this if he must.

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~Liz~ Check out my site http://freewebs.com/lbesok
*2.3 Nosy Be *1.2.5 Ambilobe*2 Melleri .1 Beardie *.1 Leopard Gecko

It looks as though they popped too soon, and making the effort to cut one completely open, as suggested, will give you some idea of where they stand on the development curve. The embryo is likely alive, but will not survive the popping that has already occured, so you are not killing an otherwise good egg. Unless you recently made some radical change in moisture or other care, they likely are not popping because of a moisture issue. Good eggs are capable of growing quite large on their own and not popping.

If could be a problem with development, with too thin a shell. Nothing you can do about that now. This may sound crazy, but could a cricket or roach have gotten to them ? They will hole an egg. Otherwise, I wouldn't change anything at this point. I am one who buries all eggs, just like Mom. Nothing to be gained by having them on the surface, and there are several things to lose, such as greater humidity swings, especially drying out quickly if something goes wrong, insect predation, damage by nosy chameleon keepers, etc. When buried, you can still clear away the medium to peek at them once every month or two. Hope the rest make it.

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Jim Flaherty
The Chameleon Company, LLC

we had an egg like that in one of our clutches it was the first one to start shrinking. it was from one of our female's first clutch the hatch rate ended up being pretty low but about one third hatched. the rest of her clutches that were incubated the same way moisture temp had a much better hatch rate.

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Thanks for your insight and reassurance. When we get home I'll get Jared to check what stage those embryos are at. I agree that this is likely NOT a moisture issue, since none has been added since March
We were inspired to try four different vairables with this clutch; in-ground, above ground, clustered and separated. As you can see the two eggs in question are above ground and spaced out. We did choose to incubate the clutches laid after this one underground. For all I know some underground may have also burst, try not to mess with them. Something to check out.

Chris, thanks for sharing your experiences. This was in fact Sarabi's first clutch, and I have heard that sometimes the hatch rate can be lower the first time. So did all the ones that didn't hatch explode, or did you have some that just rotted away and not hatch?

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~Liz~ Check out my site http://freewebs.com/lbesok
*2.3 Nosy Be *1.2.5 Ambilobe*2 Melleri .1 Beardie *.1 Leopard Gecko

i think about a third hatched normally a third rotted and a third were undeveloped / deformed

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I cut the eggs today and found that one egg had an embryo that was about half way developed (had a face, eyes, and tongue. but no legs or tail) and the other seemed to be a fully developed baby chameleon. There was none of the thick puss-like substance inside the eggs but there was a thin, watery liquid surrounding the embryos. I don't think excessive moisture was the problem because the vermiculite was actually very dry. Unfortunately, my camera is unable to focus close enough to the embryos to get a quality picture worthy of posting. Also the eggs had a very leathery texture. I don't no if that is normal but the remaining eggs seem to have a more solid shell than those that busted open.

This morning I noticed that one of the healthier eggs was leaking the thin yellow fluid that I found inside of the problem eggs. The hole it was leaking from was very small and it did not seem like there was a chameleon trying to make its way out of it. I panicked, thinking the thick puss could have started the same way, and cut open the egg. There was a well developed baby w/yolk sack attached but it is not moving. Does this mean it is dead or just premature in need of extra care? I'd really appreciate any help you may be able to give me. Thank you

I've read that once the egg slits, the chameleon may still feed off of the sack and take a couple of days still to emerge.
Usually when the egg is slit, no yellow fluid comes out correct? This would be abnormal? Most likely what would this fluid be???
Sorry for so many questions but this is our first time and it's all so new to us.

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~Liz~ Check out my site http://freewebs.com/lbesok
*2.3 Nosy Be *1.2.5 Ambilobe*2 Melleri .1 Beardie *.1 Leopard Gecko