Veiled Eggs Help

[ajschameleons]

imy female is just about to lay her eggs does anybody have a temperature to set the incubator to because ive read loads of different temps ranging from 65 far to 85 far has anybody got a certain temp that they have had good success with ?

 

[lbesok]

Although I do not know from experience, in The Care and Breeding of Chameleons Vol. 1 Ferguaon and Vosjoli suggest for Veilds 80-88F during the day and a nightly drop to a low of 74F at night. Using this method the babies are expected to hatch in approximatley 150-190 days. They continue describing three test incubation groups all placed close together:
Group 1: was 80-88F day with a temp drop reaching a low of 74 in the evenings.
Group 2: was constantly at 82
Group 3: was constantly at 92

Group 1, with the nightly temp drop hatched first, then Group 2, hen Group hatched last. Does anyone else know if this is preferable from experience?

 

[Ren]

I have asked this question on this as well as other forums and the answer almost always comes back the same, 72-74 degrees with a drop of around 7-10 night and there isn't a real "need" for a incubator, a shelf in a closet or a drawer somewhere will be fine, moist perlite or vermiculite and a air exchange at least once a week or a plastic shoe box container with a few pinholes drilled in for air... I am personally trying 2 different ways now to see which is easier as well as efficient.. these are things that have been told to me and a mix of things i hae read in books and other forums, as anything else this is based on opinion and also just your own experiences and ways of doing things... other words it may take a while to see what works for you.... Another thing i have read is that the higher temps the eggs were incubated @ will also produce a smaller baby....Im sure youll get more feedback in this thread ..

 

[kinyonga]

I have hatched veileds for many years now. I have close to 100% hatch rate of fertile eggs and a good survival rate of babies.

This is what I do...
I use shoebox sized tupperware-type containers. I punch two very small holes in the lid. I fill the container about half full of barely moist coarse grained vermiculite. (To tell if the vermiculite is moist/dry enough, take a fist full of it an squeeze it...if no more than a drop or two of water comes out of it then its right.) I only fill the containers half full so that the babies have room to move around in the container until you can take them out after they hatch.

I make slight indentations on the top of the vermiculite in rows in the container to place the eggs in. If the eggs are spaced about 1" apart in all directions they will hatch almost individually....and IMHO they do better when they hatch this way.

I dig the eggs up from the site that the female has buried them carefully with a plastic teaspoon. Without turning/rotating them, I lay them in rows on the moist vermiculite. I put the lid back on the container and incubate the eggs at about 78F degrees. The way I have the incubation set up the temperatures fluctuate a couple of degrees from day to night. They will hatch in about 220-250 days doing it this way.

The eggs are incubated in the dark.

Hope this helps!

 

[pohchunyee]

ajschameleons:
I have the same setup as kinyonga. The only different is that I am using Perlite instead of Vermiculite. I always have trouble with Vermiculite... if add too much water, it become waterlogged and drown the eggs. Perlite, hold water better and releases them to the surrounding in an appropriate time. Temperature... i let it fluctuate between 68 to 76 F. Place them in a dark closet if you room temperature is between the appropriate incubation temperature. Or else you can get a commercially available incubator. Below are the picture of my setup. Good Luck!!