New theory on why they all hatch at once in the wild

[nightanole]

So in the wild the whole clutch hatches at once and makes a run for it. In captivity it can take days or more.

Well while watching some tegu breeding videos i came upon this tip. They have all the eggs touching each other, and they do not bury the eggs. And they do not remove the hatchlings for maybe a day or so. I guess with tegus, even though they are ready to come out, they "sleep". Once one of them hatches, they run around on top of the other eggs, and "wake" the others up, and the whole clutch just kinda hatches at about the same time.


While ive never bred chams, it seems the standard incubator setup is each egg is buried with at least 1 eggs width apart of media. This is completly different vs the "ball of eggs" in the wild. So do breeders space the to prevent mold, or eggs sticking to each other, or just easy of placement?

It seems plausible that if all the eggs are kinda stuck to each other, when one wakes up, it disturbs the rest.

 

[jacksonchamnew]

Sea turtles all hatch at once. When one crawls out of nest then predators will know where the nest is. Get out quick.

 

[Reptofreak]

I think it has more to do with stable incubator temps. I just had a clutch of 50 hatch in less than 24 hours. That said, I didn't notice they where hatching until most were already out, so they definitely did a lot of crawling on the other eggs.

 

[JoXie411]

I’ve seen snake breeders that don’t separate the eggs once laid. He lets the clutch devolve as is becuase he said he has better hatch rates that way and when they stay together they will “wake” the others while they “walk” all over the eggs.

 

[MissSkittles]

I find it too cute to think about a little baby running around on it’s sibling’s eggs to wake them up. ?

 

[kinyonga]

I've always spaced the chameleon eggs about an inch apart in all directions in the incubator. I generally have had a 95% or better hatch rate of fertile eggs doing this...they don't all hatch the same day though. It seems like if a hatchling walks over another egg, getting to the corner of the container, that will be the next egg to hatch...so either they jostle the egg or they might give off pheramones (sp?) and that makes the stepped over egg(s) hatch. My eggs are not buried.

I've done this with chameleons, water dragons, geckos, tortoises, turtles, cone heads, etc.

In the wild they need to hatch out together IMHO to dig out of the hole.

 

[ashdavisa]

Once one of them hatches, they run around on top of the other eggs, and "wake" the others up, and the whole clutch just kinda hatches at about the same time.

This is true in my experience with poultry. Sound & motion stimulates them to hatch!

 

[Mark's Chameleons]

I agree about letting the chameleons walk on top of the eggs… I believe that is helpful. However, sometimes for whatever reason only about 75% of my eggs will hatch even though the remainding eggs look just fine… The remaining eggs just sit there and eventually shrivel up. Other times all of the eggs hatch without a problem. It is a frustrating scenario. I feel like screaming at the remaining eggs...”hey wake up!