To incubate or not incubate??

[Todnedo]

My female panther layed eggs last week in a 3 gallon bucket of sand and vermiculite mix.
The sand temp. is 75 f at day and 70-72 at night.
Should I put them in an incubator or leave them be?

 

[Stuey!]

well did u move them? if u dont move them when they hatch some will hatch prematurely. when u move them make sure not to turn them around or somthing......otherwise u will move the airpocket and they will die.

 

[Todnedo]

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Take a read through this article:

http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/mar2003/eggs/egg_incubation.html

 

[Todnedo]

Ok so she just laid eggs last week.
How long till the next clutch?
Will she have to mate again to lay more eggs?

 

[kinyonga]

They retain sperm and her next clutch will likely be at least partly fertile without another mating.

If the whole clutch was fertile, the next clutch might 30-40 days from when the last one was laid. If it was infertile, then she might lay the next clutch even sooner. How much of the clutch she just laid is fertile?

 

[Todnedo]

I have not removed them from the bucket she laid them in.
So I have no idea how many there are and how many are fertile.

 

[kinyonga]

I have tried to hatch eggs by leaving them where they were laid, but it never worked. Its too hard, IMHO to keep the moisture levels right in the soil and the temperature right too. I know others have done it by leaving them where they were laid though. I have had Furcifer cephalolepis lay their eggs in the soil in the plant pot when I wasn't expecting eggs to be laid and they hatched there.

Guess all you can do is wait to see when she will lay the next clutch. I would recommend that there be somewhere for her to dig to indicate that she is ready to lay the next batch...otherwise you might miss the clues. I use a container that when its empty is big enough for my female to fit into with a couple of inches of room to spare on all sides. I fill it about 2/3rds full of washed playsand. She can be moved to a bigger container when she starts digging intently. Not providing her with a place like this and missing the clues can lead to eggbinding.

 

[Todnedo]

Well thats what I am worried about, when she goes to lay her second clutch she might dig up the first clutch. So I am going to move the first clutch to the incubater as soon as I can find some perlite or vermiculite.

 

[Todnedo]

Today I dug up the eggs and put them in the incubater.
She laid 30 eggs.
They look like tiny chicken eggs.

 

[Stuey!]

lol. gratz. send us pics of hatchlings as soon as they hatch!