Our Veiled Chameleon "Karma" Laid 67 Eggs Today

[Trypp]

Our veiled chameleon laid 67 eggs this morning, but one broke. From reading the forums, I guess she saw us watching her dig, so she decided to lay the eggs from the highest branch in the terrarium! They fell over the bedding and in a water dish. One broke when it hit the water dish. I had no idea she would drop them from high. She was digging for 3-4 days. I believe the eggs are healthy. They are soft to touch. Is this normal? They are in an incubator set at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I was confused at the suggestions of 74-76 degrees and some at 85 degrees, so decided to go in between at 80 with med-high humidity.

We expected to get about 20 eggs. Was NOT expecting 67

For the first few hours after laying the eggs, she looked very tired. Now she is crawling everywhere and looks very good.

 

[maxttu]

Oh my! That's a lot of eggs! Are they fertile? If they are, good luck!

 

[Trypp]

Oh my! That's a lot of eggs! Are they fertile? If they are, good luck!

I'm not sure. I have no experience, but have been reading the forums a lot. How can I tell?

 

[maxttu]

I'm not sure. I have no experience, but have been reading the forums a lot. How can I tell?

How long have you had her? Was she ever introduced to a male?

 

[Trypp]

How long have you had her? Was she ever introduced to a male?

I believe we have had her for 6 months now. Yes, she has a male in the terrarium with her, and they were very active before she got pregnant. And just a few hours after she laid the eggs, the male apparently wanted to breed again.

 

[kinyonga]

IMHO I would not be keeping the male and female together especially when the female is gravid.

That's a lot of eggs for a female to lay. You might want to try to make it lower by controlling her diet somewhat. I feed mine well for a couple of days after a female lays eggs and then I cut down inherited food with the hope that she will have fewer follicles ovulate. You don't want to starve her...but just feed her less. I also keep the basking temperature lower (low to mid 80'sF) to slow her metabolism so she won't be so hungry.

I incubate. Them between 74 and 76F....and they hatch in about 250 days.

Good luck with the eggs!

 

[Trypp]

IMHO I would not be keeping the male and female together especially when the female is gravid.

That's a lot of eggs for a female to lay. You might want to try to make it lower by controlling her diet somewhat. I feed mine well for a couple of days after a female lays eggs and then I cut down inherited food with the hope that she will have fewer follicles ovulate. You don't want to starve her...but just feed her less. I also keep the basking temperature lower (low to mid 80'sF) to slow her metabolism so she won't be so hungry.

I incubate. Them between 74 and 76F....and they hatch in about 250 days.

Good luck with the eggs!

Thanks for the suggestions. I have no other place to keep the male, but they have been keeping their distance from each other today. My father always has at least 20 crickets in the terrarium at all times. I'll tell him to cut it back. The male does seem to eat a lot more than the female. I'll try dropping the temperature in the incubator to 76. I have the Zoo Med Reptibator, and it seems the thermometer is off by a couple degrees. I keep a Zoo Med Digital Terrarium Thermometer in the incubator as well.

 

[twatts704]

How big is this enclosure? If it is HUGE HUGE HUGE terrarium (which I don't think it would be unless you spent a pretty penny and custom built it) then you will be fine. However, I would definitely take that male out and put him in another enclosure. Just because they "look" like they are getting along doesn't mean they actually are. Have you checked your female or male for bite marks? look for V shaped marks on their body that don't have any color. Also you said substrate is in there if I am correct? If I were you I would take that substrate out of it and put just plain ole paper towels down. It is easier to clean up and it is safer. Especially if you have crickets just roaming around the cage. If a cricket is roaming around that cage and your male or female snags one on the ground and picks up that substrate with it then there is a possibility of them becoming impacted, depending on what substrate and how much they ingest. The other thing I saw you said was there is a water dish in there? Not trying to be rude but if that water dish was not there then one of your eggs would not have cracked. A water dish is nothing more than a pool for bacteria. When that water sits there and you have crickets running around the cage and spreading scat all over the cage and in the dish it is a bad combination. Not to mention chameleons see a body of water like that (even if it is a shallow dish) and they think "oh pooping place" and then they will still drink from it. These are all just suggestions and you can do with them what you want. However, from what I have heard so far, your female became gravid from the male that you are housing together with her, it is a terrarium so it can not be that big of a cage to give them the proper space between each other that they need, you have crickets roaming throughout the cage (not a problem people use this method often), but you have substrate and a water dish which makes your feeding method a problem.

Once again I am just suggesting to you that some of these things get changed asap. Also would you please post a picture of your female, male, and enclosure. Hope everything goes well with your eggs.

 

[jannb]

Chameleons should not be kept together......esecially a male and female. Your female needs a nice long rest after laying eggs and should not be mated for months. If you care at all about her health you will get her an enclosure of her own ASAP.

 

[Trypp]

How big is this enclosure? If it is HUGE HUGE HUGE terrarium (which I don't think it would be unless you spent a pretty penny and custom built it) then you will be fine. However, I would definitely take that male out and put him in another enclosure. Just because they "look" like they are getting along doesn't mean they actually are. Have you checked your female or male for bite marks? look for V shaped marks on their body that don't have any color. Also you said substrate is in there if I am correct? If I were you I would take that substrate out of it and put just plain ole paper towels down. It is easier to clean up and it is safer. Especially if you have crickets just roaming around the cage. If a cricket is roaming around that cage and your male or female snags one on the ground and picks up that substrate with it then there is a possibility of them becoming impacted, depending on what substrate and how much they ingest. The other thing I saw you said was there is a water dish in there? Not trying to be rude but if that water dish was not there then one of your eggs would not have cracked. A water dish is nothing more than a pool for bacteria. When that water sits there and you have crickets running around the cage and spreading scat all over the cage and in the dish it is a bad combination. Not to mention chameleons see a body of water like that (even if it is a shallow dish) and they think "oh pooping place" and then they will still drink from it. These are all just suggestions and you can do with them what you want. However, from what I have heard so far, your female became gravid from the male that you are housing together with her, it is a terrarium so it can not be that big of a cage to give them the proper space between each other that they need, you have crickets roaming throughout the cage (not a problem people use this method often), but you have substrate and a water dish which makes your feeding method a problem.

Once again I am just suggesting to you that some of these things get changed asap. Also would you please post a picture of your female, male, and enclosure. Hope everything goes well with your eggs.

Thanks for the suggestions. It's a learning process for me. I care a lot about them, so will definitely work fast on getting them separated. I guess I am receiving bad advice from the local reptile shops. Neither one had an issue with both being together and one suggested a water dish. I'm learning a lot more on these forums than the workers of these reptile shops.

I have checked for bite marks, and I don't see any. Just to be fair, I would have changed a lot of things if I even thought she would lay the eggs from 3 feet high in a branch. I never heard of them doing that before.

The terrarium is a 2x2x4. I don't have room for 2 of these, so need to think of something. I am charging my battery on my good camera. I'll take some pics asap.

 

[carol5208]

I agree with what all the other members have told you, except I do not even believe that even the largest enclosure is going to stop your male from getting at your female.. Just because things appear to look alright on the outiside with your chameleons, does not mean that inside things are not deteriorating with your chameleons being housed together. Housing males together is bad enough, but a female and male, you are just asking for trouble. I have a patio that is over 7 feet tall, 23 foot long, and 10.8 foot wide with free range space for my two chameleons. One on one end and one on the other. Pretty big screen enclosure huh? Well it still is not big enough to house my two males. I have to be very careful to put both of them out there at the same time as my one is very agressive towards the other and will hunt him down. Bottom line is no enclosure is big enough for the panthers and veilds male, or female. They are still trapped as they would not be in the wild if they chose to run away.

 

[twatts704]

Is it a terrarium or screen cage?

 

[Trypp]

Is it a terrarium or screen cage?

Sorry, I guess screen cage. It's this one here: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Zu2t2gRZhGY/T.../w9SO1HZ2pgw/s512/2010-11-01_15-55-04_395.jpg

Does a male and female have to be separated if they have been together for a very long time and never had aggressive behavior towards each other? They even sleep side by side a lot of times. I've never seen any aggressive behavior from either. These are my father's chameleons, and he's 63 years old and hard headed, so I am "attempting" to talk him into separating, but he is very stubborn.

 

[Lathelia]

Maybe you can show him this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jq6MiOem8c&list=UUV1e8e46CV1ro6Mqs_tYtjw&index=4&feature=plcp
That's how housing together two chameleons can end up

 

[Trypp]

Maybe you can show him this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jq6MiOem8c&list=UUV1e8e46CV1ro6Mqs_tYtjw&index=4&feature=plcp
That's how housing together two chameleons can end up

Scary considering his male is also named Godzilla. I think that worked, I just showed him and he's talking about getting another cage lol. That video is sad. Not sure how anyone can laugh filming it.

 

[Lathelia]

Scary considering his male is also named Godzilla. I think that worked, I just showed him and he's talking about getting another cage lol. That video is sad. Not sure how anyone can laugh filming it.

That's good
Yes, the video is horrible and I don't have words to describe those people

 

[Trypp]

I was also curious what the best way to go about handling 60+ baby chameleons would be as they hatch. We have no plans on keeping them. Having 2 is already a handful, 60+ would be insane, so obviously we are giving some to family and selling some. Since housing adults together is bad, I assume we don't want too many babies to a cage either. I would guess they are going to go quick since I'm already receiving messages asking for prices and it's only been a day.

 

[Lathelia]

I was also curious what the best way to go about handling 60+ baby chameleons would be as they hatch. We have no plans on keeping them. Having 2 is already a handful, 60+ would be insane, so obviously we are giving some to family and selling some. Since housing adults together is bad, I assume we don't want too many babies to a cage either. I would guess they are going to go quick since I'm already receiving messages asking for prices and it's only been a day.

Yes, it is a hard work rasing 60 babies. I don't have an experience with that, but read a few threads. You have plenty of time to prepare though Babies can be housed together if they have enough space, but you will probably still need a couple of cages

 

[carol5208]

the little babies can be housed together for a few months but with 60 you are going to have to have various set ups. You are going to have to buy uvb lighting for all of them. You could always just throw away the eggs if you do not want them. I know it is kinda like an abortion so to speak but you gotta think about what you are going to do if you cannot find homes for all 60. that is whole lotta chameleons. Take into consideration all the food thatyou are going to need to feed 60 hungry baby chameleons also.

 

[sulfurboy1o3]

Amazing. Having them apart lets you better manage what your chams are actually eating and how much. Stick to about 10 or 12 crickets every other day or so.