3 day old neonates dying ???

imhotep

imhotep

New Member
Need advice ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmAW9aH4tio

im using reptisun 5.0 for 12 on 12 off.
for 4 hours a day i put an additional 100w power sun about 14in away.
I hand mist 4-6 times a day (depending on temps/humidity).
Basking temps are never higher then 87-89.
bottom of cage ranges fom 70-74
20-30 lightly dusted fflies are always in the cage.
Havn't seen either of them eat at all.
the guy in the link started gasping alot and sucking his stomach in an hour ago.

These are my first hatchlings, from my first clutch, from the first time tryin to breed ... Any advice would be greatly appreciated !!!

there are also a few other cham videos on my channel ... sinsnyder
 
Are you spraying the babies directly?

They generally dont eat for the first few days..they are still absorbing nutrients and getting use to the world.

Edit: You get a few that are weaker than the rest..Are they all doing this?
 
never directly !!!

i have a SOLO sprayer that sprays a super fine mist thats similar to my mistking ... I hold the spray nozzle about a foot away from the top of the bin and spray for 10-15 secs (anymore and the bin starts filling and killing fflies ...

the first hatched and had a very small sac attatched that dried up on day one ... the second hatched (neonate in link) with a large sac but it was barely attatched and it got caught on the leaves and was pulled off :(
 
only have 2 that have hatched and the other seems to be fine ... eyes open, fairly active, and no gasping with it's mouth open ...
 
I can only guess that the ones that dont act/look right straight out of the egg did not form correctly during incubation. Time will only tell if they will come out of it or not.

If your whole clutch does this and dies. I would re evaluate the nutrition given to the female before and during the time she is gravid, male selection or it could even be here own genetics, incubation temps and methods of monitoring them, etc .
 
breeding has been quite a learning experience ... thanks for your opinion ... I'll be watching them closely and make another video if necessary ... I thought that the gasping or the sucking-in of the tummy might be a diagnosable symptom ...
 
My first thought was to loose the powersun it will dry them.out eway to fast with that amount of heat mostly I used to use the powersun on my adult males but they are best suited for desert species of lizard. You want your bin about 82 on one side and 74 on the other if your using tubs this shoul be easy to reach using uvb on one side and no light on the other if it don't rise to low 80's you can use a 25w or 40w if needed for the heat rise. They don't need a basking spot just the temp fluctuation I did not use a heat source unlill 2 months of age and I have had 98% hatch and survilal rate. Hope this helps a:eek:lso for the first couple week I use cal without d3 only evryonther day very light dusting hope this helps.
 
I'll lower the temps ...

I'm very careful about heat exposure with them ... i never give them a basking light unless I'm there to watch and monitor them ... them being inactive was the reason why i considered warming things up ... ill use just the rsun 5.0
 
Hi.. its hard to say what causing it, but forsure ditch the 100 watt powersun that is way to much for babies... i dont even use a new 5.0 on my babies its a used 5.0 an i use an a 40-60 watt reg incadesent lite.. good luck with the rest of them..
 
I think you might want to consider better nutrition for the mother.
That baby is pretty small and thin on that skewer in your video. Too thin for a short life of only 3 days to loose fat I guess. Your hatch rate may also be a reflection of this, and if you have had a lengthy incubation (don't know if you have) then that may also provide a clue pointing at this.

As far as misting- what I'm about to say may already be true in your situation, but if you have low humidity but there are still water droplets on things between mistings, let those droplets evaporate completley before misting again. Constant moisture can lead to problems for neonates. Don't know if things dry out completely in your situation between mistings, but if you are only using humidity as a guide, maybe not so I am putting that tip out there for you.

Other bit of advice- make sure there are plenty of fruit flies within easy reach. Shallow, smaller enclosures are best for babies because they can feed off the floor, ceiling and walls and all food items are within range. A tiny bit of banana located on the floor near the end of a twig will attract the extra flies as well as the hungry chameleon when he figures it out. If the flies aren't in easy reach, a weak chameleon may not feed, so if it was me personally- I wouldn't be afraid of putting lots of flies in there rather than only 20-30. (would depend on enclosure size rather than number of baby chameleons, and then I'd ease off after I had enough in there and fewer each feeding after that. Baby chameleons tend to be attracted to newly added and dusted flies which are more active than the "leftovers" in the tank, so feeding response from a few fresh will provide enough supplement every day and then leftovers fill the lizards up... Amount fed in subsequent feedings reflects the goal of slowly reducing the total fly population in the enclosure over a couple of weeks- meanwhile the babies grow stronger and are better hunters. I do this even with healthy babies most of the time. It just makes for an easy start for them.

I wouldnt' be afraid of adding several times what you've got in there depending on enclosure size and plenty of twigs and such. Do you have a photo of your setup?
 
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appreciate it :)

as with most things in this hobby for me, the biggest question is when to intercede ???

Gonna start a new thread for just that question ...
 
both the babies are doing well ... I haven't seen them eat a lot but every other day i clean the the cage and have found an average of 6 poops ... tomorrow I'll dust with D3 for the first time ... They'll be 23 days tomorrow !!! ill post a video :)
 
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