Question on breeding

[ChamChiefin]

Well after doing my research and reading a few books on the breeding of chameleons and more specifically Panther chameleons I have noticed one momentous problem. The number of eggs that they could possibly lay in one clutch. A lot of babies=a lot of money spent on maintenance of those babies and so on and so forth. So then I had an idea...if I am worried of becoming overwhelmed ect. why not just dispose of a portion of the eggs before incubating? Is this an idea some ones has already tried? I just haven't seen any information on this method for first time breeders.

 

[Olimpia]

It's a controversial topic and someone made a thread discussing it a while ago: https://www.chameleonforums.com/culling-eggs-your-thoughts-opinions-82137/

As you will see if you look through that thread is that I had the exact same concern as you when I was waiting for eggs last year. The idea originally was to cull about half of the 23 eggs I started off with, giving me a small, manageable number. In the end I decided not to, since I candled them late in their development and it seemed as it several were not developed, so I thought I may not have 20 hatching anyway.

As it turned out, only 9 made it out of the egg. A couple never made it out and the rest turned out to be infertile. And I have to say, raising just the 9 was a blast, and cost me essentially nothing. I sold the babies for very little and still made a profit. With many more I may have been more overwhelmed.

At the end of the day it's up to you. It's certainly one option of making sure a small number of babies get excellent care vs. many babies getting mediocre care. Albeit, not a very popular option.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I have my first clutch on the way (yay!!) and will be culling eggs if it's over a certain amount. It's not fair to the babies if there are too many for me to spend adequate time raising and I just don't have the space for too many youngsters. So I will be reducing numbers as I deem appropriate.

 

[camimom]

Its a decision you have to make. no matter what, someone will get upset if you say i culled eggs, or i kept some even if i cant afford them all.
However, also keep in mind, panthers often lay retained clutches, so youll get a second batch of potentially fertile eggs a month to a few months later.

My first batch of veiled eggs just started hatching two weeks ago.

so far i have 17 babies hatched, with something like 15 left to hatch.

so far on food, i havent spent what i plan to sell them for. but its honestly, your decision.

 

[trumpetmonkey]

I found buyers for any potential babies. That was my solution. Since then I've gotten more females and have a small cham business set up.
I'm not culling anything because you're essentially counting your babies before they hatch.

 

[pssh]

If you carefully control the amount of feeders your female eats and the temperature you can also attempt to reduce the clutch size so that not as many eggs are laid. Culling the eggs are also a possibility if the clutch size is more than you think you can handle. Also keep in mind that not all of the eggs may be fertile. You could try waiting until you can see veins in the eggs to choose if you want to cull them, but that is up to you. Once you see veins, the development process has already started.

 

[Dr O]

i do the complete Darwinian thing and let everything play out as nature intended. the vast majority of the time 30 eggs will not wind up being 30 adults in one year’s time. some eggs may not hatch, some babies may not make it, accidents can happen, etc. i couldn’t imagine already lowering my chances of producing some beautiful chameleons by destroying them right at the beginning.

granted, i have the room and not everyone does, but it is foolish to think that you’re going to have a 100% survival rate on every egg that is laid. so i let nature “cull” for me over time.