7 good eggs out of 26 :(

[danielle609]

So I checked on my panther eggs yesterday. All but 7 are very fuzzy and turning yellow. I am pretty sure they arn't good. The other 7 seem perfect in everyway. I have the good ones by themselves and I wiped the mold off the "bad" ones and put athletes foot powder on them. I personally don't even think they are fertile, but I have heard that some of you have hatched out chams from some pretty bad looking eggs. Having infertile eggs out of a clutch from a first time cham is normal right? But I won't toss the "bad" ones until they start to smell They are in a dresser. I have a digital thermometor in the dresser. So far the max temp has been 74 and the lowest at 64. Is this okay, or is it getting too hot?

My female is doing great. She is shedding right now. I will probably introduce Dizzy to her shortly. I don't think she is carrying another clutch because she has her "normal" colors back. How long is reccomended to wait to breed between clutches? Thanks all I just thought I would update and ask for more advice!

Dani

 

[PardalisGirl]

Fingers crossed for your eggs!

Will keep my fingers crossed for your eggs Dani! You will know in another month if they are fertile. They will start to grow and change a little bit at a time if they are good. It's hard to describe this in words but you will recognize these changes when you see them. Bad eggs won't do this and will continue to get mold, shrivel or start to seep. I don't think 74 degrees is too high at all. An incubator keeps them at a constant temperature but in nature this never happens. As for your girl..........I would base the decision on when to breed again on how she looks. Let her hang out and eat for at least a month. She may turn a nice pink receptive color again when she is ready. This does not always happen. Just make sure her body looks filled out and sturdy again

 

[danielle609]

Thanks Catherine, I am keeping my fingers crossed too! I am glad to know that the temps are okay. I think I want to give her a while like you said. She looks very healthy and everything, but I don't want to breed her too much! I heard somewhere that 2-4 clutches a year is fine and anymore than that will drastically shorten her life. Seeing as I am not in it for the money I don't feel like overworking her! Plus I want to see her when she is a Grandma because I would love to keep a female and find a male for her....but we will see how that goes

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."I heard somewhere that 2-4 clutches a year is fine and anymore than that will drastically shorten her life".....panther chameleons tend to keep cycling and laying eggs even when they are not mated. Laying infertile eggs may be easier on her than laying fertile ones though. Panther chameleons also retain sperm....so be prepared for another clutch.

 

[danielle609]

You said..."I heard somewhere that 2-4 clutches a year is fine and anymore than that will drastically shorten her life".....panther chameleons tend to keep cycling and laying eggs even when they are not mated. Laying infertile eggs may be easier on her than laying fertile ones though. Panther chameleons also retain sperm....so be prepared for another clutch.

i was wondering if I didn't breed her soon after laying if she could develop an infertile clutch, so thanks for reading my mind . She still has a laying container, but hasn't dug in it at all. I was/am sorta hoping for a second clutch but if not I will wait at least a few more weeks. She is doing very well. It is cool to see how much energy it takes for them to lay a clutch and then just return back to normal. They are amazing creatures!

 

[Kent67]

Let her see your male and see if she turns gravid colors. That'll give you a good idea of what to expect in the coming weeks.

 

[danielle609]

Let her see your male and see if she turns gravid colors. That'll give you a good idea of what to expect in the coming weeks.

That sounds like a good idea!! Thanks!

 

[danielle609]

So I just showed the male to my female. She showed no signs of being gravid, just turned the pale receptive colors. So I am going to assume that she probably wont be laying a 2nd clutch. I sorta feel sorry for my male, he had just started to bob his head and then I put him back in his cage. He was thinking he was going to get "lucky"...talk about dissapointment LOL. Maybe I should give him an extra hornworm.

 

[kinyonga]

Since she is showing receptive coloration it may be that she doesn't have enough sperm to fertilize another whole clutch so she is looking to mate.

 

[danielle609]

Since she is showing receptive coloration it may be that she doesn't have enough sperm to fertilize another whole clutch so she is looking to mate.

Should I think about mating her now then? or is it still a good idea to wait a little bit? Thanks!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

So I just showed the male to my female. She showed no signs of being gravid, just turned the pale receptive colors. So I am going to assume that she probably wont be laying a 2nd clutch. I sorta feel sorry for my male, he had just started to bob his head and then I put him back in his cage. He was thinking he was going to get "lucky"...talk about dissapointment LOL. Maybe I should give him an extra hornworm.

Too funny Dani !! Could you post some pics of your eggs? I know they're not the same as veiled eggs but it may give me some indication of what to look for in mine!

I just noticed yesterday that my older male started coming out of his enclosure a bit when it was open and my female that just laid the eggs saw him and turned dark gravid colours with the light blue-green spots. Does that mean that she may lay another clutch of eggs? And if so how long does it usually take after she lays the first one? Also, should I be giving her extra food to make sure that she is well fed for the next hunger strike?

Thanks ... Dyesub Dave.

 

[danielle609]

Too funny Dani !! Could you post some pics of your eggs? I know they're not the same as veiled eggs but it may give me some indication of what to look for in mine!

I just noticed yesterday that my older male started coming out of his enclosure a bit when it was open and my female that just laid the eggs saw him and turned dark gravid colours with the light blue-green spots. Does that mean that she may lay another clutch of eggs? And if so how long does it usually take after she lays the first one? Also, should I be giving her extra food to make sure that she is well fed for the next hunger strike?

Thanks ... Dyesub Dave.

Sound like you will have a second clutch! I think they will normally lay a second clutch about 30-40 days after the last one. I am not positive, but I am sure someone will have your awnsers! I should be able to post pictures of my eggs at some point today, I am going to go take a nap now though, I just got home from having a minor surgery in my mouth, so I want to sleep the pain away! But I might also try to download a couple videos I took of my chams eating hornworms, I find it very ammusing for some reason!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Ouch ... surgery?? I think lots of WHISKEY helps with that!!

That would be cool if I got another clutch of eggs ... as long as the female comes through it OK again. Does anybody know if the second clutch is usually smaller that the first??

Thanks ... Dyesub Dave.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Second Clutches........

In my experience second clutches are smaller in number. Also, females may display gravid colors and behavior for a week or two after laying even if they aren't working on a second clutch. It's like they know they need time to recover before breeding again

 

[danielle609]

Here are the pics. Sorry it took so long, my parents had the camera. The first is of the 7 good eggs, the second are of the bad ones, the third is my Shizzy eating a hornworm while she was shedding. (She loves those things, it is the only thing I can hand feed her) the 4th pic is of my male Dizzy sleeping on his ladder. (He always falls asleep on it, it is so cute!) I don't think I have ever posted a picture of the daddy, so I thought I would give him his moment in the spotlight!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Nice pics Danielle. I don't know if this is true or not but somebody recently told me that if your cham eggs get fuzzy that you should wipe them with MOUTHWASH ?? It sounds a little strange to me as you're not supposed to get the eggs wet at all but they said that they've done it and it works.

I guess if the eggs are really bad you've got nothing to lose!! Then if they do hatch at least the babies won't have bad breath!!

Good luck with your eggs!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[danielle609]

Nice pics Danielle. I don't know if this is true or not but somebody recently told me that if your cham eggs get fuzzy that you should wipe them with MOUTHWASH ?? It sounds a little strange to me as you're not supposed to get the eggs wet at all but they said that they've done it and it works.

I guess if the eggs are really bad you've got nothing to lose!! Then if they do hatch at least the babies won't have bad breath!!

Good luck with your eggs!

Dyesub Dave.

Nothing worse than a chameleon with a bad case of halitosis..LOL.. I actually wiped them off and put athletes foot powder on them. I don't think they were fertile to begin with, but I haven't thrown out the bad ones yet. I will wait and see.

Is it normal for a female to lay a clutch with that many infertile eggs? Is it possible that he didn't pass on enough sperm for her to fertilize them all, if this could happen could there be a reason for him not producing enough sperm? Sorry so many questions but lately there have been threads about seminal plugs, and I was wondering if maybe he had one and that could have cause the lack of insemination. I am a worry wart. Maybe when I get home from school I will take a pick of the base of his tail. There is a buldge, but isn't there always suppose to be a bludge in a male. Well I really got to go. Like I said sorry for all the questions but thanks for any responses!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Is it normal for a female to lay a clutch with that many infertile eggs? Is it possible that he didn't pass on enough sperm for her to fertilize them all, if this could happen could there be a reason for him not producing enough sperm? Sorry so many questions but lately there have been threads about seminal plugs, and I was wondering if maybe he had one and that could have cause the lack of insemination. I am a worry wart. Maybe when I get home from school I will take a pick of the base of his tail. There is a buldge, but isn't there always suppose to be a bludge in a male. Well I really got to go. Like I said sorry for all the questions but thanks for any responses!

I'm not sure about the infertile eggs. Perhaps it has something to do with their ages? Are they both young chams? First Timers?? Maybe he just need some cham-viagra?

Yeah ... I just checked my guys last night too and they seem to be fine!! Guess it wouldn't hurt to give them a nice warm bath once in a while though!! ( I can picture the cham in the tub with a shower cap and backscrubber!! LOLOLOL

Dyesub Dave.

 

[kinyonga]

Dyesub Dave asked..."I just noticed yesterday that my older male started coming out of his enclosure a bit when it was open and my female that just laid the eggs saw him and turned dark gravid colours with the light blue-green spots. Does that mean that she may lay another clutch of eggs?"...if she just laid a clutch, it may be that she is just not ready to mate again yet.

You said..."And if so how long does it usually take after she lays the first one?"...it could be as soon as 20 days from the time the last clutch was laid. It depends on where she was in the cycle.

You asked..."Also, should I be giving her extra food to make sure that she is well fed for the next hunger strike?"...what I do is this...after they have laid a clutch of eggs I feed them well for a (very) few days. I then cut them back for a few days until I'm sure that they are working on the next clutch....and then feed them more again. Its just my way of doing thing....but I find that this keeps the clutches at a reasonable number.

The second clutch could have less fertile eggs in it depending on how much sperm is retained...so if you want it to be completely fertile then you may have to mate her again within a few days of her laying the first clutch...but it will have to be with her "agreement" (she will have to be receptive)!

danielle609 said..."Is it normal for a female to lay a clutch with that many infertile eggs? Is it possible that he didn't pass on enough sperm for her to fertilize them all, if this could happen could there be a reason for him not producing enough sperm?"...It could be that she was too far along in her cycle when they mated and some eggs were too far formed to be fertilized...which would likely mean that she is retaining a fair amount of sperm for the next clutch. Its always hard to say for sure....but this is one possibility.