more eggs!!! this time melleri!!!

[pamnsam94]

You should add some sand to the dirt next time. It looks like the tunnel is calapsing. I had a female that wouldnt lay in those condition, luckily you did. congrats.

I use 100% coconut fiber most of the time, and my chameleons (mostly quads) have done very well with it. The quads usually dig really nice tunnels. Most of the time, I press the coconut fiber down, somewhat compacting it, and dig a tunnel using my fingers. Often, the chameleons will expand the "test" hole I've made and lay their eggs there (though the melleri didn't). I've learned, mostly by feel, when the moisture content is correct. If I can dig a tunnel with my fingers without it collapsing, the chameleons generally can too. To be honest though, I didn't really expect the melleri to lay quite yet, so I hadn't checked the moisture content of the coconut fiber in a few days. I'm sure it has dried out some.

Perry

 

[pamnsam94]

Perry you have been holding out on me. I am so happy you have the mellers you wanted. And I am thrilled you have eggs. Let me know how many and how they are doing.

Not holding out on you at all Laurie. You're just so busy as a moderator that you didn't notice the PM I sent you after I bought the melleri pair. Either that, or you simply failed to read all of one of my private messages due to my long-windedness. Assuming you still have the PMs, go back and check. You'll see. To be fair though, I think the news of acquiring a melleri pair was buried in a PM mostly about quads, so I don't blame you for missing it.

Perry

 

[pamnsam94]

As I would have guessed, she laid a small clutch. She laid 21 eggs. Nineteen of those I feel really good about (plump, well-calcified, etc.). The last gravid melleri I had laid about 70 eggs (it was so many years ago I forgot the exact number, but it was either in the high 60s or low 70s) but they were quite a bit (approximately 33%-40% smaller from what I remember). Unfortunately I didn't take measurements or weights. One of these eggs is well-calcified and firm, but looks about the same size as the eggs laid by the other female. Finally, one egg is white but not firm. It seems kind of deflated. I know others have experienced dented eggs that ended up hatching, but I never have, so I don't know what to expect from that egg. Overall, not as many eggs as I would wish for but my wife, Stephanie, says maybe it's a good thing because we'll still have our hands full. I agree.

Perry

 

[d3s5]

How wonderful for you! I have been working on a Melleri room for almost a year now. I'm VERY slow, but I can't wait to start working with these guys! It will be very educational, interesting, and fun to see how these eggs turn out. Good luck!

Deb

 

[ataraxia]

Congrats! I can only imagine the excitement you had when you saw her in a hole with her head out!@

 

[Solid Snake]

Best of luck!

 

[pamnsam94]

Thanks to everyone. Although I really should look at this as the "glass is half full" type of thing, I must admit I was hoping for 40 plus eggs, not because I'm greedy but because I really do want to "share" any hatchlings I might get. Even with just 20 or 21 , I still want to somewhat spread them around, so to speak, just to see what "successes" various people might have when using different husbandry techniques. Different methods, foods, etc. often lead to different growth rates. I read another melleri thread and was amazed to see the size differences and read about the weight difference among siblings from the same clutch. The differences seemed to be more amplified between siblings raised by different keepers, which tells me that most of those differences result from husbandry methods rather than genetics, at least in most instances. I can't help but feel that, despite these wonderful forums, we are not sharing all that we could with other keepers, especially when it comes to our failures. We've all heard it said that we learn more from our failures than our successes.

Another problem I see is not alway keeping accurate records on what we are doing. I especially am guilty of that. For example, out of all the chameleons I've had that have laid eggs, I'm ashamed to say that this instance with the melleri is the first time I took a weight on a gravid female right before she laid. Since I also took her weight right after I bought her, I know that she only gained a total of 16 grams before laying. That's useful info that may help someone, but I must admit, I haven't written that data down yet. Fortunately though, this forum serves as a journal of sorts.

To emphasize how bad I am sometimes at writing things down, I once had to search the forums just to find out when a quad of mine had laid her eggs. How pathetic! All I needed to do, as I usually do, is to find some masking tape, write down the date and number of eggs laid, and stick the tape to the incubation container. My problem though sometimes is, "Where's the dang tape!" I think I can remember and write it down once I find the tape, but I often end up forgetting. Thank goodness for the Chameleon Forums.

Perry

 

[crocky]

Congrats on the eggs! I can't wait to see how things develop with them. I would love to have a melleri one day. Must have been a awesome feeling today when you saw her digging!

 

[rsepiphyte]

Too cool! Best of luck with them! Slainte' Ruth

 

[laurie]

Perry I put everything on the chameleon calendar I buy here every year. It is easy, I can tell you who ate on which day, what supplements they get and weights once a week. I would forget everything without it. It hangs in Lenny,s room with a pen attached.

Now I have to go back and read emails.

 

[pamnsam94]

Perry I put everything on the chameleon calendar I buy here every year. It is easy, I can tell you who ate on which day, what supplements they get and weights once a week. I would forget everything without it. It hangs in Lenny,s room with a pen attached.

Good idea! Thanks Laurie. I just might have to get one of those. Sometimes I think me being disorganized is simply a personality flaw. Another thing I'm terrible at is naming my reptiles. It doesn't help when my wife is no better at it. Sometimes, I just let my kids name them. We didn't even name any of our 4 kids until a few days after they were born. In all fairness though, we had a short list of boy and girl names (we didn't find out ahead of time what we were having with any of them), and we wanted to try out the names for a couple of days before we made anything official. After watching them, we found that certain names just seemed to fit.

Perry

 

[absolutbill]

Best of luck with your eggs - I love Mellers and hope to one day be able to have my own breeding pair. Like you I would love to see them become more widely captive bred here in the States. I know you've got lots of fingers crossed on your behalf, and lots more people who can't wait to see baby pics!