Chameleon Egg Care and Incubation

[cuz215]

I had a veiled chameleon and she layed one clutch of eggs, and when it was time for her second clutch, she was unable to lay the eggs like normal, so eventually she die.
I had the eggs in an incubator for a few months, but I was worried that the eggs were bad. I broke open one egg, and it wasn't like a normal egg. It's hard and rocky on the inside.
My questions are as follows. Is that normal for the eggs to be like that, or was that egg I broke open a bad egg? If it was a bad egg, is it more likely that the egg was bad before being layed, or it went bad while in incubation? I just want to be sure what is going on cause I dont' plan on stopping trying to breed .

This was my first time dealing with a gravid chameleon and caring for eggs. Any additional tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[jojackson]

It was bad or rather, infertile Id say, (when it was laid). Breaking open eggs is a drastic way to determin viability of eggs. If an egg is yellowed, sunken, or mouldy, chances are its infertile, although this is assuming your temp and humidity is suitable. (mould can indicate excess humidity/water contact with egg.)
Candleing or torching eggs (shining strong light through the egg) will reveal veins within a week or so, depending on species of reptile.
If there are veins the egg is fertile usually and if it goes bad after that, then your teckniques may need revising.
Never turn your eggs, Always maintain the same orientation. If your a novice, then I reccomend candleing the egg in situ (where it sits in the eggbox) by lighting from the top or sides.

You should notice some gradual significant swelling of eggs as they develop, But note that fast swelling can also indicate excessive humidity, and by contrast, denting/sinking in, can indicate lack of humidity, even in a good egg.

Why were you worried the eggs were bad? Are you aware of the incubation length for that species?

 

[cuz215]

Well I was worried cause of the eggs taht were inside her while she was eggbound. When she finally died, I cut her open to remove the eggs, and kinda just learn a little bit about them. Well the eggs that I took out of her, I put in the incubator. I figured what could it hurt. Well all those eggs I remove had a few wrinkles and sunk in areas of the eggs and when I checked them with the light, I saw no veins, so I cracked it open, and it was full of yellow crystalized rock like substance. Well I saw that one of my eggs from the clutch that was layed had a sunkin area like the eggs I took out of my chameleon. So I cracked one open to check it and it was the same, as were all of the rest of the eggs I had.
I just want to be sure that it wasn't me, while taking care of the eggs, that caused them to go bad like that. I constantly kept the water resivoir in the incupator full, and the temp was at a constant 80 degrees, sometimes it would fluctuate from 76-85, but for the most part it was at 80. When I moved them, I did my best to keep them in the orientation that they were laid in.
If you have any other thoughts on this issue I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for the tips on checking the eggs.

 

[kinyonga]

How did you have the eggs set up to incubate them? Containers with moist vermiculite in them? Lids on the containers? Temperature you kept them at?

 

[jojackson]

Then if your female was eggbound, its highly probable the eggs were 'overcooked' dead, by the time it died.
An intresting point about eggs is that some species actually secrete a particular hormone over the eggs as they lay them, which apparently 'kick starts' the process. Eggbound females of the species, from which eggs were removed in this fashion, for artificial incubation ,consistantly failed and went bad despite all efforts.

I cant remember what species now but from memory it was a lizard species. It was a fascinating read. If anyone knows of such studies/papers, please link them if online.
This article was some time ago now, so there is probly buckleys of my finding it without help.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm not familiar with the article you are referring to but the batch of eggs that I tried to incubate grew a red fungus that I've seen in "stagnant" water a couple of places. In spite of the mold, one of the eggs hatched.