Egg info please?

[harleyc]

Hello,
I am new here and to the chameleon thing. well one of my veiled chameleons just laid 31 egg's last night. so i asked the girl in the pet store what to do? she said to go out and buy 2 tupperware containers shoebox size. Then to buy stuff called perlite and mix it with water then put like 2"'s of it in both boxs. then dig up the egg's and put them into the new boxes. Then drill a couple holes in the lids and secure them on the boxes. Ok, so i did all that today. Now i am a little mixed about what i am reading on different websites about what to do next?? One website said i should put a heater in the boxes, and the others say to just put the boxes away in a dark warm room with no light. Then another site said i need to put them in a incubator and to keep the heat between 68 to 75 degrees. Can someone please help me out here? please remember that my son has never had a pet like this before, so go ez on me. LOL Thank you so much for your help. Harleyc

 

[beeze]

First, are the eggs fertile? Was she mated? If so just keep the eggs in a drak place like the closet somewhere between 75 and 79 degrees and in 7 to 9 months you should have babies.

 

[laurie]

Hello, welcome to the forum.
How long have you had the cham? Do you know if it had been breed? If there is any question on if the eggs are feritle just keep them in the boxes they are in for a while and see if they mold. As long as they are in a warm closet they are fine. Worry more than that about the mother. She needs extra calicum on her food and a bit of extra food andwater for a few days. That is just to help her get back to normal. Best of luck.

You said one of your veileds, how many do you have? They are each in seperate cages correct?

 

[jojackson]

Why would you drill holes in your eggboxes?
The idea of AI (artificial Incubation) is to mimic conditions in which eggs naturally incubate, aka, you aim for the temperature and humidity required for the given species.
(assuming you have chosen to incubate without diapause tecknique for the moment)
If you drill holes in your eggbox lids, you have air entering, regardless of circulation, and therefor some evaporation happening.

Evaporation means your carefully balanced media will become drier, especially over the 6 plus months veilds take. This means you will be required to 'top off' or adjust
the moisture level in your medium, requireing lid removal and incidently, temp fluctuations
too, however breif.

Consider a clutch of wild veiled eggs. The female will choose a specific spot, having possibly previously dug test holes, with just the required micro climate (humidity) and depth (temp) required to give her eggs the best chance of survival to full term incubation. She digs this hole/tunnel, deposits her eggs and burys them, leaving them to
incubate.

Only possible predation will disturb them, otherwise they remain there till they hatch.
No oxygen exchange is going on all this time either. Humidity levels will not be perfectly
unchanging (it rains over 6 months, and temps do vary too, see diapause), but for the most part, down inside the chamber, its very stable.

That is, the depth at which they are buried and placement of the hole ensure against much fluctuation. Tubs of carefully mixed vermiculite, unless left closed (no air holes), will dry out more than the eggs in nature.

It dosent matter much how you acheive the desired temp/humidity, but stability is important. The less you need to mess with it during incubation, the better.
Stability is the key. Will your closet remain the same temperature over 6 + months?
Best wishes with your breeding!

 

[harleyc]

Hello and i am sorry i did not give you more info. Like i said i am very new to this.We live in FL, And I have a 8yr old son that wanted one for his birthday. we did not know anything about them but the people in the pet store said that they are very EZ to take care of and would be a great pet for my son and they sold us a 20g tank and everything to go with it. This was on 8-30-09. Then a friend gave us a 55g tank to put her in. Then 3 to 4 weeks later he wanted a friend for her so we got another one. everything went fine. they get along great. Then like 3 to 4 weeks ago we went to the petshop to get food for them. My son saw this other Chameleon there that was so pretty it was not like the others at all. so we asked about her and they said that a 55g tank will be fine for 3 small girls. so we got her and took her home. Now i have a FL room on the back of my house that i let them stay in all day till its time to sleep. Then i put them back in the tank. We about an hour latter i go out to check on them and find out the new one is not a girl at all. it was stuck to one of my girls. LOL!! Then after that both girls started kicking his butt so i had to bring him back to the petstore. That was like maybe 3 weeks ago. Then last night she made a hole and had 31 eggs. I did not try to mate them at all. i was told it was a girl then bango!!! Well i hope this helps you out more. Thank you both for your time and info. Any more help you want to pass my way would be awesome. My son is going nuts over the eggs!!!!! LOL

 

[kinyonga]

I have kept/bred/hatched/raised veileds for over 15 years (I don't want to figure it out exactly....but I first started keeping chameleons in the mid 80's). Here's how I incubate veiled eggs...
As you have already done...I put them in rows in shoebox sized rubbermaid type containers....however I have never used perlite (lots of other people have...I'm just not going to be able to tell you if you have the moisture level right with it)...I have always used the coarse grade of vermiculite, slightly moistened. I put two very tiny holes in the lid...if the holes are too big they will let too much moisture evaporate from the container...but again, maybe its okay for the holes to be bigger when you use perlite...I can't tell you.

I put the eggs in rows about 1 inch apart and put the lids back on. I put the containers somewhere where the temperature will be about 76F. It can fluctuate a couple of degrees in either direction without causing problems. They take about 240 days to hatch at this temperature.

If the eggs are infertile, they will mold, dent in and become obviously bad. This clutch could contain some fertile eggs and some infertile. Since it was three or four weeks ago that you got the male, the clutch will likely contain both fertile and infertile eggs. Do some of the eggs look smaller and less white than others? Can you post a picture of them please?

BTW...if the moisture level drops too low, they could dent in even if they are fertile...but you can usually fix this as long as you catch it in time by adding a little water...but do not add it on top of the eggs...add it around the edges.

Now...you said that you have two females in the same cage? Generally this will take a tole on the health of the chameleons even if it doesn't appear that they are bothered by each other. The signs are subtle at first....so I would recommend that you separate all three of them, visually as well.

You said..."Then after that both girls started kicking his butt so i had to bring him back to the petstore"...they do this when they are gravid...so expect the other one to lay eggs too.

Since this is your first experience with chameleons, here is more information that I hope will help. Sorry if I'm throwing a lot at you all at once.

Veiled chameleons can easily suffer from MBD and the females can also have egglaying issues if you overfeed them, don't give them the right nutrients or husbandry....so here is some information on keeping veiled chameleons...

Appropriate temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part in nutrient absorption. A regular incandescent household light in a domed hood is all I use...but I don't use one for females unless the cage is below 80F.

Exposure to UVB either from a proper UVB light or from direct sunlight allows the chameleon to produce D3 which allows it to use the calcium in its system. The light from either source should not pass through glass or plastic. The most commonly recommended UVB light is the Reptisun 5.0 long linear fluorescent tube light.

Since most feeder insects used have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous, dusting the insects, before feeding them to the chameleon, with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings to make up for it.

I also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder. D3 from supplements can build up in the system...so don't overdo it.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene (prOformed vitamin A) will not build up in the system like prEformed vitamin A will, but there is controversy as to whether any/all chameleons can convert the beta carotene...so some people give a little prEformed once in a while. Excess prEformed can interfere with the D3 and push the chameleon towards MBD though...so be careful with it.

Gutloading/feeding your insects well is important too. Crickets, roaches, superworms can be fed a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, zucchini, etc.).

These same veggies and greens can be given to the chameleons too...along with a little bit of fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and play roles in other systems too and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleons.

Here are some good sites with good information...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://adcham.com/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Once again...sorry for such a large post.

BTW..you can tell male veileds from females by looking at the heels...if there is a spur there, its a male...
http://adcham.com/html/husbandry/glossary/tarsalspur.html

Good luck with the eggs! I'm sure your son will be excited to see the eggs grow and hatch...and to see the adorable babies!