Pygmy Egg Mystery!!! Help!

[kb0507]

Hi,
I had 2 female pygmy chameleons (littlefoot and ducky) for a few years and ducky died in July. I wanted littlefoot to have a friend, so I got a new girl (camo). She was happy and healthy. Unfortunately, littlefoot died as well in September.... ... So I was left with camo and she's been by herself since September. When cleaning out her cage about a week after littlefoot died, I found a clutch of 2 eggs. And she has been laying a clutch about every 30 days since. So far, they have all been fertile and today I found 8 Eggs, all layed together. I don't have experience in this area and I wanted to know exactly how she's laying fertile Eggs being by herself and how long this will last. I assumed after the first clutch, she must have been gravid when I got her, but I thought that would be it. And, yes, I'm sure littlefoot was a girl. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[alphakenc]

Hi kb0507,welcome to the forum and part of your domain,would you plz take some pics for your pygmy cham and those 8fertiles eggs,so we can try to figure out and answer ur question,see you soon

 

[Trace]

I’m assuming you are talking about the Bearded Pygmy Chameleon or Rieppeleon brevicaudatus? If not most of my info remains the same save for incubation times as those differ between species.

What I have noticed is that the girls, once they have found a good spot to lay in their enclosure, will continue to use that spot. That spot might be the prime location and many females may use it – if you have multiple girls. Normal clutch size is 2-6 eggs (mine were usually 3-4) so what you might have is more than one clutch just simply dug up from the same area.

If you have never had a male, those eggs may not be fertile. That being said, most females do come in gravid and can have fertile clutches after being mated so the eggs may, in fact, be fertile. You can leave them in situ and they will hatch or place them in an airtight container with incubation medium (I use vermiculite and water in a 1:1 ratio) and see if they are fertile. Good eggs will grow and infertile ones will mold over. Incubation time is about 60 days.

 

[alphakenc]

That is exactly what Im thinking,kudo for you!!

 

[alphakenc]

And also at room temperature eggs will hatch around 80-90 days, i have found if the eggs are too warm and hatch early, neonates can fail to thrive. So aim for temps around 72-74f when eggs start to hatch it can take a full day for the hatchling to emerge, they stop for frequent rests and often look lifeless, so don’t panic.