incubation

[cammythechameleon4]

hi! i’m looking into breeding veiled chameleons. still searching for a male and i have a long way to go, but i had some questions about incubation.
- what is a good incubator to use?
- how long do you leave them in the incubator? until? they hatch? how often do you check on the eggs in the incubator?
-what’s a general price of a good incubator?
- what substrate should i put in the containers to put the eggs on?

 

[Lindasjackson]

@kinyonga @salty dog

 

[Beman]

So besides these questions. Have you looked into the cost of feeding and housing babies? This gets extremely expensive. You have a good 3-4 months before you can rehome them. They would all need their own little cages with T5 lighting and live plants etc. Then who would you sell to? At most you would get $50-75 per cham. With Veileds you do not make your money back on them. Most who breed them it is out of love for keeping their genetic line going.

Has you female even laid her first clutch yet? Because this will tell you a lot as far as how well she does with laying and how many eggs she is going to produce.

Also females retain sperm so it is not just one clutch that would be fertile it would be multiple.

 

[kinyonga]

Has your female laid eggs yet? You really need to watch her diet and temperatures so she won't produce huge clutches which lead to follicular stasis, eggbinding, MBD and even prolapses.

I made my own incubator so I'll leave it to others to tell you about the incubator.

The substrate I use in the incubation containers is the COARSE grade of vermiculite. I make it just moist enough to htat if you take a handful of it you can only squeeze out one or two drops of water.

I use shoebox sized Tupperware type containers. Fill them about half full of the moistened vermiculite once she is laying the eggs.
I make dents in the vermiculite with my thumb for each egg and space them about an inch apart in all directions.
For veileds, I incubate the eggs at 74F. (Slightly higher or lower is ok too.)

You leave the eggs in the incubator until they hatch (or rot if they are infertile, etc).

Please be sure that the container lid is not taken off for long, when you check in them...you don't want the eggs to dry out. I only check once every two weeks for the first month and then maybe once a month after that....for a couple of seconds.

If you need to add water (and you really shouldn't if you set it up right in the first place) do not pour it over the eggs...add it around the sides/edges of the container. The eggs are said to have a protective coating and you don't want to wash it off.

When you dig the eggs up to put them in the container, do it carefully. I try not to turn them but I don't think it matters as long as you dig them up soon after she has laid them.

Don't forget that once they hatch you need lots of small insects, several setups to house them in, lights, plants, branches, etc, etc...all the stuff you need for the adults. You'll have to clean all those cages, etc too.

This is something you need to be prepared for.

 

[JacksJill]

Here is a thread with things to consider if you want to proceed. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/some-thoughts-on-breeding.2612/

 

[cammythechameleon4]

Has your female laid eggs yet? You really need to watch her diet and temperatures so she won't produce huge clutches which lead to follicular stasis, eggbinding, MBD and even prolapses.

I made my own incubator so I'll leave it to others to tell you about the incubator.

The substrate I use in the incubation containers is the COARSE grade of vermiculite. I make it just moist enough to htat if you take a handful of it you can only squeeze out one or two drops of water.

I use shoebox sized Tupperware type containers. Fill them about half full of the moistened vermiculite once she is laying the eggs.
I make dents in the vermiculite with my thumb for each egg and space them about an inch apart in all directions.
For veileds, I incubate the eggs at 74F. (Slightly higher or lower is ok too.)

You leave the eggs in the incubator until they hatch (or rot if they are infertile, etc).

Please be sure that the container lid is not taken off for long, when you check in them...you don't want the eggs to dry out. I only check once every two weeks for the first month and then maybe once a month after that....for a couple of seconds.

If you need to add water (and you really shouldn't if you set it up right in the first place) do not pour it over the eggs...add it around the sides/edges of the container. The eggs are said to have a protective coating and you don't want to wash it off.

When you dig the eggs up to put them in the container, do it carefully. I try not to turn them but I don't think it matters as long as you dig them up soon after she has laid them.

Don't forget that once they hatch you need lots of small insects, several setups to house them in, lights, plants, branches, etc, etc...all the stuff you need for the adults. You'll have to clean all those cages, etc too.

This is something you need to be prepared for.

yes i know and i’m not even sure i’m going to do it yet. just something i’m looking into and wanted to ask. thank you!

 

[cammythechameleon4]

So besides these questions. Have you looked into the cost of feeding and housing babies? This gets extremely expensive. You have a good 3-4 months before you can rehome them. They would all need their own little cages with T5 lighting and live plants etc. Then who would you sell to? At most you would get $50-75 per cham. With Veileds you do not make your money back on them. Most who breed them it is out of love for keeping their genetic line going.

Has you female even laid her first clutch yet? Because this will tell you a lot as far as how well she does with laying and how many eggs she is going to produce.

Also females retain sperm so it is not just one clutch that would be fertile it would be multiple.

no i haven’t looked into that- i only started thinking about this a few days ago and just wanted to ask a few questions. trust me- i do my research she will be a year very soon so will probably getting ready to produce a clutch soon too

 

[Beman]

no i haven’t looked into that- i only started thinking about this a few days ago and just wanted to ask a few questions. trust me- i do my research she will be a year very soon so will probably getting ready to produce a clutch soon too

Just do not jump into it. Get her through her first clutch at the very least. You need to see how many eggs she produces and if they are calcified correctly.

Maybe talk to other breeders. It really can turn into a shit show if you do not know what your doing. We see it here all too often.

 

[cammythechameleon4]

Just do not jump into it. Get her through her first clutch at the very least. You need to see how many eggs she produces and if they are calcified correctly.

Maybe talk to other breeders. It really can turn into a shit show if you do not know what your doing. We see it here all too often.

yeah like i said im not looking to do it right now i just had questions

 

[Mrjamwin]

I'm raising 9 baby Veiled Chams right now and although they are cute it is very challenging. They eat ALOT and I mean ALOT. You have to have fruit flies and then they graduate to pin head crickets and the constant feeding can get costly. Also, don't get too attached to them because you can expect some to die off. So that's my 2 cents worth of advice to your question.

 

[redhorse]

I have 30 babies and 6 months ago had 60 plus. I love raising the babies and watching them about 3 hours per day and feeding them 1,000 of fruitflies, pinhead crickets, baby superworms about ___ big weekly.

The cost is mimimum 30 bucks a week and that is with me raising my own fruitflies along with superworms too- the crickets can be done and takes about 13 days from egg to pinhead (easier to purchase since I have other critter to feed- I purchase 1500 crickets weekly).

Mine never even come close to paying off for themselves- Most people that respond will be from pet-shops, swap meets, and others that usually have no clue and will lie their way for a good deal. Just being honest.

The 30 I have now will be given away for free with the proper set-ups and must visit here to learn. Veileds are easy and grow fast so it can be overwhelming if you don't love the hobby.

That being said- enjoy the journey but be responsible--I am learning " I have not been quite as responsible as I thought" but don't regret having them.
Joking here but has some truth to it: My grand children gave me my favorite T-Shirt ever....