Candling Lat. Carpet Eggs
- Thread starter KShook
- Start date
chamelisa
New Member
For those who do not have experience with candling, in a worst case you could candle, see nothing, cut the egg open to find a fully developed baby. This did happen to a friend and he felt really bad because he watched the baby die. 
I haven't ever candled an egg. Just figured they will develop and hatch out if/when ready. Not according to my schedule or whatever has been published.
Just my two cents...
I haven't ever candled an egg. Just figured they will develop and hatch out if/when ready. Not according to my schedule or whatever has been published.
Just my two cents...
KShook
Avid Member
Awww, i could never do that! I'll just wait till they hatch out!
For those who do not have experience with candling, in a worst case you could candle, see nothing, cut the egg open to find a fully developed baby. This did happen to a friend and he felt really bad because he watched the baby die.
I haven't ever candled an egg. Just figured they will develop and hatch out if/when ready. Not according to my schedule or whatever has been published.
Just my two cents...
dondeb562
New Member
I am guilty of candling eggs. The baby of the cham usually sits on the part of the egg that is partially in the bedding. When they get closer to hatching is when I see the body. Usually the beginning of the 5th month in veileds. Even then sometimes you only see like a tail or just a shadow since they lay on the bottom of the egg.
KShook
Avid Member
Aww thats way kewl! Now when you candle them you have to make sure to put the egg back the same way it originally was in the bedding right? I heard that the baby could drowned inside of the egg? Is that true? I never tried to candle the bottom side where the eggs lays down on I'll have to try that when I get home, I usually just candle the top facing up so I dont have to move the egg..
KShook
Avid Member
Awww thats super kewl! maybe its to soon then....On the 22nd it'll 4 months of incubation! I can see the veins and such but no little bodies yet..i'll have to try in another month or so! Thanks for the pics though very awesome!
I NEVER move the egg, I just check from the top to make sure they are fertile. Here are some pix of a clutch of veileds hatching now.
you can see in the bottom pic there is a shadow line in the middle fo the top in the pic. That is a tail.
Dooley1
Avid Member
KShook,
Forget the diapause idea. Ryan is right. 68F constant is much better. Not more than 70F anyway. I used to use diapause but it's very easy to end up with a bunch of weak babies that way. Cooler is better. I have had carpets take as long as 15 months to hatch. 10-12 months is much more typical. My shortest incubation was 8 months with diapause.
I don't know how lowering the temps. will affect these eggs.
Good luck.
Kevin
Forget the diapause idea. Ryan is right. 68F constant is much better. Not more than 70F anyway. I used to use diapause but it's very easy to end up with a bunch of weak babies that way. Cooler is better. I have had carpets take as long as 15 months to hatch. 10-12 months is much more typical. My shortest incubation was 8 months with diapause.
I don't know how lowering the temps. will affect these eggs.
Good luck.
Kevin
KShook
Avid Member
Hello Dooley,
hmm...really temps that low? I double checked the temps for them..books and such that I have they have it listed at 74 i have them at room temp they stay stable at 74 with maybe a 2 degree
up and down from night to morning and stale during the day. i think it would to much of a risk to change the temps now 4 months in? what do you think? they have been fine so far and show signs of growth and life with the veins inside the eggs.
hmm...really temps that low? I double checked the temps for them..books and such that I have they have it listed at 74 i have them at room temp they stay stable at 74 with maybe a 2 degree
up and down from night to morning and stale during the day. i think it would to much of a risk to change the temps now 4 months in? what do you think? they have been fine so far and show signs of growth and life with the veins inside the eggs.
jojackson
New Member
Another amazing aspect of chameleons! awesome. Love those pics!
Poster, never turn the eggs at all, some may be more..delicate than others, so ryans suggestion of simply candling from above may be safest.
As for most other reptile eggs, the same applys, however many people will mark the top of eggs with a texta, where they are buried then carefully 'nest' them the same way up in the incubation medium.
When candling, eggs can be very delicately picked up (if your brave and have a steady hand) and held the same way they were sitting so they can be candled from below or the side, then replaced in the original position.
I dont think you should risk that with your cham eggs unless you 've much experience with eggs. Some reptile eggs are, well, not as delicate (beardys for example) and therefore the risk is less.
The window of opportunity, that is, the period before turning the egg becomes fatal, will vary for different species. As a rule of thumb, maintaining orientatation from the word go is important, unless they are being laid right at that moment.
On the flipside, I once discovered a communal nest of skink eggs that had been laid in an old brick in my backyard. Since I was keeping a skink eating legless lizard at the time, I decided to attempt incubating them.
I used tweezers to carefully extract each egg from the hole in the brick, carefully maintaining orientation, this took some time.
When I had them all safely nested in the incubation medium I was carrying them inside when my dog rushed out the door under my feet, tripping me over.
The eggs went flying and bounced and rolled everywhere. I thought that was the end of them, but being of curious disposition, I picked them all up, put them back in the medium and into the incubator.
Incredibly, every single egg hatched a tiny skink! I was so impressed I released them all back into the garden instead of feeding them off.
Nature has tricks up her sleeve!
Poster, never turn the eggs at all, some may be more..delicate than others, so ryans suggestion of simply candling from above may be safest.
As for most other reptile eggs, the same applys, however many people will mark the top of eggs with a texta, where they are buried then carefully 'nest' them the same way up in the incubation medium.
When candling, eggs can be very delicately picked up (if your brave and have a steady hand) and held the same way they were sitting so they can be candled from below or the side, then replaced in the original position.
I dont think you should risk that with your cham eggs unless you 've much experience with eggs. Some reptile eggs are, well, not as delicate (beardys for example) and therefore the risk is less.
The window of opportunity, that is, the period before turning the egg becomes fatal, will vary for different species. As a rule of thumb, maintaining orientatation from the word go is important, unless they are being laid right at that moment.
On the flipside, I once discovered a communal nest of skink eggs that had been laid in an old brick in my backyard. Since I was keeping a skink eating legless lizard at the time, I decided to attempt incubating them.
I used tweezers to carefully extract each egg from the hole in the brick, carefully maintaining orientation, this took some time.
When I had them all safely nested in the incubation medium I was carrying them inside when my dog rushed out the door under my feet, tripping me over.
The eggs went flying and bounced and rolled everywhere. I thought that was the end of them, but being of curious disposition, I picked them all up, put them back in the medium and into the incubator.
Incredibly, every single egg hatched a tiny skink! I was so impressed I released them all back into the garden instead of feeding them off.
Nature has tricks up her sleeve!
KShook
Avid Member
jojackson,
Thats way kewl!!! I'm glad that they survived and that you released tham!!! I have not moved any of the eggs to candle them..I just used my LED Light on top on the eggs to see if I could see anything, No luck yet..There only at there 4th month of Incubation so it maybe still to early to see anything. But I will keep everyone updated to see how things go with them!
Thats way kewl!!! I'm glad that they survived and that you released tham!!! I have not moved any of the eggs to candle them..I just used my LED Light on top on the eggs to see if I could see anything, No luck yet..There only at there 4th month of Incubation so it maybe still to early to see anything. But I will keep everyone updated to see how things go with them!
Another amazing aspect of chameleons! awesome. Love those pics!
Poster, never turn the eggs at all, some may be more..delicate than others, so ryans suggestion of simply candling from above may be safest.
As for most other reptile eggs, the same applys, however many people will mark the top of eggs with a texta, where they are buried then carefully 'nest' them the same way up in the incubation medium.
When candling, eggs can be very delicately picked up (if your brave and have a steady hand) and held the same way they were sitting so they can be candled from below or the side, then replaced in the original position.
I dont think you should risk that with your cham eggs unless you 've much experience with eggs. Some reptile eggs are, well, not as delicate (beardys for example) and therefore the risk is less.
The window of opportunity, that is, the period before turning the egg becomes fatal, will vary for different species. As a rule of thumb, maintaining orientatation from the word go is important, unless they are being laid right at that moment.
On the flipside, I once discovered a communal nest of skink eggs that had been laid in an old brick in my backyard. Since I was keeping a skink eating legless lizard at the time, I decided to attempt incubating them.
I used tweezers to carefully extract each egg from the hole in the brick, carefully maintaining orientation, this took some time.
When I had them all safely nested in the incubation medium I was carrying them inside when my dog rushed out the door under my feet, tripping me over.
The eggs went flying and bounced and rolled everywhere. I thought that was the end of them, but being of curious disposition, I picked them all up, put them back in the medium and into the incubator.
Incredibly, every single egg hatched a tiny skink! I was so impressed I released them all back into the garden instead of feeding them off.
Nature has tricks up her sleeve!
KShook
Avid Member
Anything else I should be looking for with my Lat. Lat. Carpet eggs?! I want to make sure there perfect when they hatch out..!!! Has anyone ever hatched these guys out at a steady temperature like Im doing?! Also..What makes the Diapause more successful than the Steady temps..?!
jojackson
New Member
I would assume because it more closely replicates the natural climatic varience during the breeding season in the natural habitat of the species involved, than a steady temperature for the duration.
Many reprile species success in breeding relies on seasonal temperature varience, this in some cases, may be directly related to other required seasonal changes/timing, like rainfall (wet season) in some turtles for example.
Eitherway its probably safe to assume that as close as possible replication of seasonal climatic conditions can only be a bonus. I assume thats a perculiarity to this species's eggs. In nature they must experience drops in temperature despite being buried? sun warms the soil in the day, higher temps.
I beleive its more an issue with overall temp though, over the 'x'months of incubation.
If the first few months are cool, before weather warms, developement would be slower?
when its warmer, developement can increase more rapidly towards hatching.?
Hatching probly occures at a certain time of year?. More tropical species I dont know.
Results of both methods are of interest for general comparison. Greater or lesser success (hatching) rate with replicating a diapause or not?
KShook
Avid Member
Yeah I can see how the Diapause would be more approporiate with incubating these guys...it's apparent that incubating any species should be done as close to "Mother Natures" conditions as possible. But on another note...I have quite a few books on incubating various CHAM species....it gives me the temps that they should be incubated at along with how long "Minimum and Maximum" time it should take for the babies to hatch out. I thought I would try this method since it was recomended. I'm curious if anyone has Incubated Lat. Lat. Carpet Chams at a steady Temp..and have them hatch out sucessfully?!
jojackson
New Member
It would also be interesting to me to find if there is any other data related to the diapause method, or lack of it. Such as developemental inconsistancies with hatch rate, hatch weight,
sex/diapause dependacy, deformity? mortality? related to a steady incubation temperature.
I would have thought unless this species is particularly delicate in this regard, they would still hatch, but with less contrast in developemental rate before hatching. Might just throw the timing out, afterall life is geared for survival.
Any data like that?
Im not a cham breeder but I do breed other reptiles, Im always interested in these things.
Sorry KShook, I hope you want to know about this stuff also? yes/no?
sex/diapause dependacy, deformity? mortality? related to a steady incubation temperature.
I would have thought unless this species is particularly delicate in this regard, they would still hatch, but with less contrast in developemental rate before hatching. Might just throw the timing out, afterall life is geared for survival.
Any data like that?
Im not a cham breeder but I do breed other reptiles, Im always interested in these things.
Sorry KShook, I hope you want to know about this stuff also? yes/no?
KShook
Avid Member
It would also be interesting to me to find if there is any other data related to the diapause method, or lack of it. Such as developemental inconsistancies with hatch rate, hatch weight,
sex/diapause dependacy, deformity? mortality? related to a steady incubation temperature.
I would have thought unless this species is particularly delicate in this regard, they would still hatch, but with less contrast in developemental rate before hatching. Might just throw the timing out, afterall life is geared for survival.
Any data like that?
Im not a cham breeder but I do breed other reptiles, Im always interested in these things.
Sorry KShook, I hope you want to know about this stuff also? yes/no?
Oh yeah for sure I would love to know the ins and outs of it as well!! Maybe with my next clutch of Lat. Carpets I'll try the Diapause and see what the success rate is with that rather than doing a Steady Temp. I'm still curious to know if my clutch now will even hatch out!? Everythings been good so far!
I'll have to let you know when I get my next clutch I'll do the Diapause method with them.
reyesjoshuacruz
Established Member
what information do you have brad, what do you experiences show is accurate?
KShook
Avid Member
~*Update*~
Hello Everyone!!!
It's been a while! But in August will be 7 months for these guys! No signs of them hatching out yet!? Does anyone have experience with hatching this species out and how long it takes!? I have a book it say from 5-7 months!? I still have not seen any action as of yet?! Any advice would be great!
Thanks Kayla
Hello Everyone!!!
It's been a while! But in August will be 7 months for these guys! No signs of them hatching out yet!?
Does anyone have experience with hatching this species out and how long it takes!? I have a book it say from 5-7 months!? I still have not seen any action as of yet?! Any advice would be great!Thanks Kayla
Ryan Jarosek
New Member
Hello Everyone!!!
It's been a while! But in August will be 7 months for these guys! No signs of them hatching out yet!?
Thanks Kayla
You have a better chance in the range of 7-12 months. I just had one hatch at 6 months 14 days but the other eggs no action.
KShook
Avid Member
Wow really?! What are your temps at?! Did you do a daipause? Mine are at a steady temp of about 72ish
