shipping eggs

[reefercheefer]

I heard that it is safe to ship eggs that are older than 5 months in a cup filled with vermiculite with the eggs at the center. There was confirmation of success. Share your thoughts or stories if you've shipped eggs before.

 

[xxzmmorexx]

I havent personally done it because I am just now starting to work into breeding but man I would be very very cautious. An egg turn later in the process could destroy the egg. Personally I wouldnt think its a good idea, but maybe it is an easier option than what im processing it to be

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I havent shipped any myself. But common sense would tell me that it would be a safer bet to ship newly laid eggs as opposed to those that have started to develop embryos already. If it were me I wouldnt ship an egg older than a month or two at most. It wouldnt hurt to turn a newly laid egg but I'd be worried about accidently turning an older egg and killing the neonate inside.

 

[drcrossfire]

if the box gets turned over for a few minutes you would suffocate the developing cham

 

[reefercheefer]

I havent shipped any myself. But common sense would tell me that it would be a safer bet to ship newly laid eggs as opposed to those that have started to develop embryos already. If it were me I wouldnt ship an egg older than a month or two at most. It wouldnt hurt to turn a newly laid egg but I'd be worried about accidently turning an older egg and killing the neonate inside.

It would make more sense to me shipping like the day after being laid too. Im just going by what i was told by the actual person out in CA that has done it successfully after letting them grow to 5 months.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I'd say thats a gamble your taking. If you do try it and it works plz inform us on the forum. I wont personally ship any eggs. I love watching a baby grow and I dont have a problem finding buyers for my offspring. But I know ive read alot of posts about people wanting to ship eggs and Im sure alot of folks would love to hear about your outcome & the method you used.

 

[Norcal55]

Hi,
There is now way I would ship an egg at 5 months. If someone was sending you an egg at no charge it might be worth it to try and document the outcome. I did see a posting recently of someone selling a lot of eggs and for the cost of each egg I would spend the aditional $100 and by a baby cham. Just my opinion
Good luck either way. If you lived close enough to me I would give you one

 

[imcurt]

I have a friend that has shipped 100s of eggs, He says they must ship the first couple weeks before the air bubble forms at the top of the egg. He fills a deli cup 1/2 full of damp vermiculite,places the eggs in, puts a dot on the up side of the egg with a sharpe,then puts a damp paper towel over the eggs. Then tops off the deli cup with damp vermiculite.and snaps the lid on snug,,He ships them just like a chameleon..
hope this helps

 

[Olimpia]

The internet is also full of stories from breeders who have accidentally dropped a tub of older eggs, had them roll around on the floor, but hatch successfully. That still doesn't mean it's worth trying! A few successes doesn't make a rule.

 

[Lancecham]

I had someone contact me a few years ago telling me he was getting out of chameleons and had about about 100 eggs incubating at various time frames. He was going to throw the eggs out. I encouraged him to keep them and the hatch them. For whatever reason, he just wanted to throw out the eggs. I asked him to ship them to me if he was going to throw them out.
He shipped them overnight, similar to the ways mentioned above. The only eggs that survived, were the eggs that already had a slit in the eggs that were in the process of hatching.

 

[pssh]

I have shipped eggs, but within a day or so after laying. One was infertile, two started hatching, but only one made it out all the way and grew up just fine. I have read about others who have also successfully shipped eggs shortly after laying. I filled half a delicup with moist perlite or vermiculite (can't remember which it was) put the eggs in with a mark on the top of them, filled the rest of the cup up, and put the lid on with a tiny pinhole in the top. I made sure the shipping box was really well padded and it was lined with styrofoam. The temps were good so I didn't use a heat pack. Because we weren't sure if it would work (I didn't know of anyone doing it successfully at the time) we didn't want to pay for expensive UPS/Fedex shipping and went with USPS. I used priority shipping because express wouldn't get there overnight anyways (and they got there in two days just as if I sent them through express but for 3X less money.) The eggs turned out just fine. His 3 eggs started hatching 2 months earlier than mine (we think the shipping stopped the eggs from going into diapause, where mine went into diapause and I broke it by gradually warming the temps up.)

I wouldn't ever ship out eggs past 1-2 weeks after being laid. If I were to pay for eggs, it wouldn't be very much, and I would never pay for eggs that are 5 months into incubation. If someone wanted to go ahead and send them to me as an experiment, I would do it and pay for the shipping, but nothing more.