Veiled Fetus *photos*

Tyrenlds

New Member
*EDIT: Photobucket reduced the resolution of these photos during upload. If you'd like a set of the high res. photos, plus more not posted here I've got a .ZIP file I can e-mail you. Just post a request or e-mail me at [email protected]
*EDIT

Have had a clutch incubating for about 8 months now. We got curious, wondering if we had been storing 50+ infertile eggs for more than half a year, so we opened one up. Unfortunately this guy was alive, and remained so through out these pictures. Just want to say for the record, we feel really bad for the loss. That being said, this was really fascinating! I'll go into the dissection process;

Using a knife I removed a section of egg from the side, imagine cutting the pointy end off a foot ball. Once the albumin fluid had drained, the chorion slowly slid out of the shell. The chorion was carefully peeled back and the yolk sac removed, revealing the amnion encased embryo. the amnion was like a thin clear inner shell. really interesting. Once punctured the amniotic fluid drained out and the amnion shell was removed. What remained was a living chameleon embryo.

As you can see it's very far along, nails, scales, and eyelids are clearly developed. The eyes moved a bit, but the lids never opened... maybe because he could see through them already? Once separated from the amnion he began to breathe. Big breathes at first then settled into a normal pattern. The heart was clearly beating. Most of his skin was more like a fish than a chameleon's. We used warm water to hydrate him during this whole thing... poor guy.

And that's about it for now. Any questions are welcome.






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higher resolution photos here: http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/tyrenlds/
 
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That is very morbid, yet fascinating. Did you know the fetus was dead or was the egg damaged or something? How far along was he in development?

Well you said you would get info up... so sorry, just thought I would ask.
 
Wow the pics are really amazing. I just hope the poor baby was dead and you didn't kill it:( But really the pics are outstanding.
 
Interesting but kinda a bummer you cut one open. If the eggs were infertile im pretty sure they wouldn't have lasted 8 months.
 
they would go yellowish and moldy if ther were no fertile!!!
but pic r great.
thanks for posting!
 
Interesting photos. Does anyone know if candling works with chameleon eggs? It's basically holding an egg up against a candle or magnum flashlight and looking for the formation of veins. It's a common technique used to determine fertile egss from non-fertile eggs of chickens and snakes.
 
i don't understand,you cut it open when you knew it was alive? oh poor little guy.
how are the other eggs doing?
 
The problem with reptile eggs is if you turn them they can die so people try not to handle them too often although I don't know if that technique works.
 
You can candle a chameleon egg. Also, about some infertile eggs, I have heard multiple stories where a breeder has had eggs incubate for over 8 months to have them split open and just be filled with yellowish stuff. I personally have not had any experience like this but I have heard this from more than one breeder. Very good pictures and I would expect that the temps were a little low, this would explain the 8 months. Let us know when the rest hatch.

-chris
 
The problem with reptile eggs is if you turn them they can die so people try not to handle them too often although I don't know if that technique works.

Oh I know about keeping the orientation of the egg always the same is important. In the snake hobby, the breeders mark the top of the egg with a marker and keep it in that position when they transfer, candle or check on the eggs.
 
oh, the poor little thing :( it's too bad that he died. well, now you know for next time. my friend's mom breeds chams; she's had some eggs that took 9 months to hatch! just be patient.
 
incredible! how long did it survive once you started the experiment? i noticed others did not read your post thoroughly, but i believe that you mentioned that it was breathing and you fed it water. did hydration help? i wonder if it is possible to raise a premature chameleon...
 
It survived well over an hour... we had to put it down because it probably would've lingered for much longer.

The water was used because the chameleon was rapidly drying out and hadn't developed enough to endure the atmosphere. He never drank, just absorbed through the skin. After ten minutes he would get dry and sticky. Definitely wanted to record the process and take our time so we tried to make him as comfortable as possible.

We really would've loved for him to survive but raising a chameleon this premature seems unlikely, if not impossible. Although it's nervous system responded to stimuli he never opened his eyes or clasped his hands. Most definitely wouldn't be able to eat or much less stand up.



incredible! how long did it survive once you started the experiment? i noticed others did not read your post thoroughly, but i believe that you mentioned that it was breathing and you fed it water. did hydration help? i wonder if it is possible to raise a premature chameleon...
 
so u did kill him??? That is just plain cruel... I'm sorry but u don't see humans cutting their babies out for science... thats just horrible, i dont care how fascinating u think the pix could be. I am very upset with this
 
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