HELP!!! Are my eggs and cham OK?

CLP

New Member
My 1 year old veiled female just laid 21 eggs. This is my first time with eggs, and I have a few concerns. The eggs (except for 4 which I'll describe below) were white, but they are soft. I was expecting them to be hard like bird eggs. Are they supposed to be soft? Also, 4 of the eggs were yellow and one looked like it was sort of leaking out of the shell at one end. It looked like they didn't have a shell. PLEASE let me know if the eggs and my cham are OK. :confused:
 
Anyone??

She just laid another one from her vine this morning, and looked like she might still have another one on the way when I had to leave for work. I put the new one in the incubating bin too.
 
Yes, I mated her with my male 4 weeks ago. She has been eating and drinking well right up until yesterday when she didn't seem interested in the crickets I offered. She was still drinking yesterday after she laid her eggs. She also took one cricket this morning that I hand fed. I left some more in her enclosure, but had to leave for work (I was tempted to call in sick - do you think I could use "family illness" time for that? :D)

Sorry, I realize this may seem like a dumb question about the eggs, but it's the first time I've seem them in person. Only pictures before. I assumed they would be hard shelled. Also, is there something wrong with the yellow ones?

And since I'm sure I'll be asked, she gets the "typical" supplementation regime - calcium without D3 with each feeding, calcium with D3 twice a month and multivits twice a month. All are Repashy products that I "replace" every six months to ensure freshness.
 
Chams eggs are soft when first laid. They will never be hard like a chicken egg. The basic rule with eggs is to incubate them until there is a reason not to. The one that is leaking - I would toss. All the others I would keep.

About your girl, why do you ask if she is ok? Does there seem to be a problem, and if there is, what is wrong?

Congrats on your first eggs. Wait until those little chams show up, it is magic.
 
If your girl is not eating right after laying I would be very worried. The girls are starving right after laying eggs and that is a sign of a problem if she's not. I would recommend getting her to the vets ASAP. As for the eggs I did a copy paste below right from my blog.

I incubate the eggs the same way that Lynda (kinyonga) does. Put them in a plastic Tupperware shoe box with about 3 inches of moist vermiculite and keep them in a closet where the temps with be around 76 degrees. I punch two tiny holes in the lid. To test for moisture, take a fist full of the vermiculite and squeeze it, if no more than a drop or two of water comes out then the moisture level should be okay. Do not turn the eggs as you move them from where they were laid to the container. Lay them in rows about an inch apart in all directions in shallow dents made with your thumb in the vermiculite. Put the lid on and place them in a dark place where the temperature is between 72-78 F. Moisture will form on the sides of the container and underside of the lid. It takes about 8 to 9 months for the eggs to hatch. It they are not fertile they will mold over in a couple of weeks.

My egg laying blog: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
 
Chams eggs are soft when first laid. They will never be hard like a chicken egg. The basic rule with eggs is to incubate them until there is a reason not to. The one that is leaking - I would toss. All the others I would keep.

OK. Thanks. I have them set up in a container with damp perlite with a lid with a few small holes poked in the sides. The container is in a dark cupboard. So far, the temps in there have been between 75F and 80F. Please let me know if I should change anything.

About your girl, why do you ask if she is ok? Does there seem to be a problem, and if there is, what is wrong?

The only reason I thought there might be something wrong with my sweet little girl is that the eggs were soft. Since that is normal for them, sounds like she's fine!

Congrats on your first eggs. Wait until those little chams show up, it is magic.

Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing those babies hatch (hopefully the eggs are good!). Now I just have to figure out how to be patient for the next 6-9 months:p I don't usually do patient well!!

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the newbie questions! I feel kinda silly now, but I was expecting mini bird eggs and got nervous when they were so soft :rolleyes:
 
If your girl is not eating right after laying I would be very worried. The girls are starving right after laying eggs and that is a sign of a problem if she's not. I would recommend getting her to the vets ASAP. As for the eggs I did a copy paste below right from my blog.

Do you think its possible that since she was still laying this morning (she layed one right after her lights came on) that is why she's not too interested in eating yet? If she's not interested in eating when I get home from work, I'll get her to a vet.

I incubate the eggs the same way that Lynda (kinyonga) does. Put them in a plastic Tupperware shoe box with about 3 inches of moist vermiculite and keep them in a closet where the temps with be around 76 degrees. I punch two tiny holes in the lid. To test for moisture, take a fist full of the vermiculite and squeeze it, if no more than a drop or two of water comes out then the moisture level should be okay. Do not turn the eggs as you move them from where they were laid to the container. Lay them in rows about an inch apart in all directions in shallow dents made with your thumb in the vermiculite. Put the lid on and place them in a dark place where the temperature is between 72-78 F. Moisture will form on the sides of the container and underside of the lid. It takes about 8 to 9 months for the eggs to hatch. It they are not fertile they will mold over in a couple of weeks.

My egg laying blog: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html


I put in a previous reply how I had the eggs set up. My temps go up a bit higher than you have recommended and I've got them in perlite instead of vermiculite (I couldn't find any vermiculite anywhere). Do you think my setup is OK?
 
21 eggs is not allot for a veiled so she most likely still has eggs. If she does not lay them soon I would get her to the vets. I just lost my precious girl to complications from egg laying.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-precious-sadie-baby-needs-your-thoughts-prayers-114232/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/sadie-has-left-me-way-soon-114497/

I would try to keep the eggs in a cooler closet. The warmer you keep them the quicker the eggs will hatch and if they hatch too early the baby may not be healthy.
 
21 eggs is not allot for a veiled so she most likely still has eggs. If she does not lay them soon I would get her to the vets. I just lost my precious girl to complications from egg laying.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-precious-sadie-baby-needs-your-thoughts-prayers-114232/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/sadie-has-left-me-way-soon-114497/

Yes, I will keep a close eye on her. If she doesn't seem to have them all laid by tomorrow morning, I will get her to a vet. I saw your post on your poor girl - my condolences. What a terrible loss!

I would try to keep the eggs in a cooler closet. The warmer you keep them the quicker the eggs will hatch and if they hatch too early the baby may not be healthy.

As for the eggs, the closet in my room should be cooler than where the eggs are now. I'll move them when I get home. I assume any she lays today can go in the bin with the others?

Thanks again for all your help!
 
Yes, I will keep a close eye on her. If she doesn't seem to have them all laid by tomorrow morning, I will get her to a vet. I saw your post on your poor girl - my condolences. What a terrible loss!



As for the eggs, the closet in my room should be cooler than where the eggs are now. I'll move them when I get home. I assume any she lays today can go in the bin with the others?

Thanks again for all your help!

Yes, all the eggs can go together.

Thank you for your condolences. If your girl doesn't eat right after she's finished with the eggs, I would get an x-ray right away.
 
Anyone??

She just laid another one from her vine this morning, and looked like she might still have another one on the way when I had to leave for work. I put the new one in the incubating bin too.

Did she dig and burry her eggs or did she drop them all from her vines?
 
Did she dig and burry her eggs or did she drop them all from her vines?

Some of them were in her bin, but only some of them were covered, and those were only buried an inch or so down. Unfortunately, they were all laid when I was not home, so I can't say if she dropped them all from the vines or laid some while in the bin. So, obviously she didn't like the bin. Only thing I can think is she found it too hard to dig? The bin is 12 x 12 x 18 is dark grey (not transparent/translucent) and filled with a 50/50 mix of damp soil and playsand. However, I realized when I went digging through the bin that I did pack it down quite hard. Maybe she found it too hard to dig? There was a small hole started that was about 3-4" deep, but none of the eggs were in that. I loosened up the dirt a bit before I put it back in her enclosure. Hopefully she'll find it more to her liking if she lays any more or for next time.
 
Looks like she's OK! She must have not liked the bin after all. When I put it back in last night, I loosened up the dirt a bit as I thought maybe it was too compacted. I got home from work about 30 minutes ago, and she's currently in a tunnel in the bin so deep that I could only see the tip of her nose, and that was looking down into the hole (I did the stealth peek through a crack in the "privacy" sheet). I think she's gone down to the bottom of the bin and continued digging sideways a bit. Phew! I was starting to worry about retained eggs and egg binding. Hopefully all is well now.

I wonder how many more eggs she'll have for me! Keep your fingers crossed that some time early next year I can post about my first successful hatching :)
 
Glad it is going well. Let me know how many eggs you finally end up with. I will hope for lots of healthy babies who will eat you out of money.:eek:;)
 
Well, at bedtime last night she was still in the hole, so I just left her alone. When the lights came on in the morning, I could hear her scratching around, and took a tiny little peek. Looks like she was starting to bury the eggs. I could see her rear end sticking out of the hole :D

Since I had to leave for work (again, seriously considering calling in with a "family" emergency :p), I put her dripper on and put some well dusted superworms in a cup in her enclosure so she'll have lots of water and some food for when she's done. I'm hoping to go mining for eggs when I get home!

I'll let you know what I find. Thanks again for all the support and answers to my newbie questions/concerns. This forum is the best!
 
So when I got home, my girl was out of the bin and the hole was all filled in. The total count is 39 eggs! I CANNOT imagine how she had so many in her! She looked fat, but not that fat! It's a wonder she could breath!

Karma looks OK. She took a few superworms from me when I got home. She's tired and cranky, but who can blame her. Now I just have to try and be patient for the next 6-9 months! Looking forward to seeing some hatchling veilds!
 
So when I got home, my girl was out of the bin and the hole was all filled in. The total count is 39 eggs! I CANNOT imagine how she had so many in her! She looked fat, but not that fat! It's a wonder she could breath!

Karma looks OK. She took a few superworms from me when I got home. She's tired and cranky, but who can blame her. Now I just have to try and be patient for the next 6-9 months! Looking forward to seeing some hatchling veilds!

Awesome news and congrats! Make sure to feed her well for the next few days to get her back to health. Let the wait begin!!!
 
So when I got home, my girl was out of the bin and the hole was all filled in. The total count is 39 eggs! I CANNOT imagine how she had so many in her! She looked fat, but not that fat! It's a wonder she could breath!

Karma looks OK. She took a few superworms from me when I got home. She's tired and cranky, but who can blame her. Now I just have to try and be patient for the next 6-9 months! Looking forward to seeing some hatchling veilds!

That's excellent news! I am so happy to hear that Karma is doing well. I'll be waiting to see baby pictures first of the year. :)
 
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