population control

[Jakeelias93]

so I might get cashed for this but I don't think I care.
but wouldn't it be very easy to take a clutch of say 25 eggs and only keep like four so you don't have to house 25 baby chameleons. everyone stresses that breeding is a huge ordeal but I feel like every cham parent would like to at least breed their chameleons once. or is there too much of an unknown to think if you narrowed to four eggs that all four would most likely not make it?

 

[Panthergirl11]

I have thought about this also, being a first time breeder. Seems like it would be easier to start with a few and see how it goes than incubating the whole clutch and having them all die off. I also thought about what I would do with all the babies and I now have a good back up plan in case I can't sell them all.

 

[CarlC]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think it is really being responsible. If you know you only have the means to care for a few animals then do it.


Carl

 

[Olimpia]

I was fully prepared to cull a percentage of my panther eggs if they turned out to be a large clutch. Thankfully I didn't have to, as the first clutch of 20 eggs only led to 10 hatchlings and the second clutch was 12 eggs/hatchlings. Very small clutches and very reasonable to raise. Even selling them at a 1/3 of the price baby panthers usually go for I was still able to make a profit when everything was said and done.

Do what you think is best. Some would argue that you shouldn't breed at all if you can't afford or house 30+ offspring (which is a fair enough argument) but if you're going to breed anyway I think it's better to do only what you can handle and invest more time, money, and effort into a fewer number of babies.

 

[DanSB]

Rather than straight up culling the unwanted eggs I would give them to someone who would like to raise babies. I've even read here where some people buy eggs. There is a certain timeframe when they are safe to ship but I don't remember what it is.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I only kept half of the first clutch and a quarter of the second clutch of my breedings so far. I'm glad I did because I had 100% hatch rate. Finding good homes is more important to me than profit and I only have so much room for baby cages where I live currently. I culled the eggs right after they were laid so there was no developing embryo yet.

 

[Jakeelias93]

Cool, thats probably what im going to do. Since i would really like to get my hands on a red bodied blue bar ambilobe and breed her with my current male. It would be really cool to raise my own babies!

 

[pssh]

You can certainly do that. I would also suggest offering the eggs for shipping to other members who want to do the same (they pay for shipping.) If you ship them within 1-2 weeks after being laid, and do it carefully, they should be just fine. If you decide to go that route, feel free to PM me about how to ship them properly. Some people sell eggs, but I feel that is unfair as there is a possibility that they will not even hatch.