told you the eggs were coming about once a month

[dank7oo]

and yet again i have ggs on the way - i awoke to find my dwarf digging the the perfect laying area :)

so many eggs ... so little time

[Wuntu Menny]

I was surprised how short the turnaround time was for the females. I've never heard of another sp of cham producing clutches at those intervals. The nice part about it was the ridiculously short deposition time. The record time on one end was a verrucosus female that took 48 hrs to complete a nest, and the cephalolepis females would dig, drop, and cover in less than 45 minutes!

Are yours laying fertile clutches from retained sperm, or are they dropping duds now?

WM

[meow_mix450]

and where did u get ur drawf chameleon????

[Charm_Paradise]

Jason-

You really need to try and hatch the eggs to see if they are fertile or not. Since you live so close to Trace may be Trace can incubate them for you or at least help you set things up to incubate if you have not done so already, I know you said the first clutch you lost. Good Luck!

[Wuntu Menny]

Actually, fertility is easy to determine using a small flashlight. Without touching the eggs, you can shine the light from an angle and see whether or not there is any development occurring. The duds appear transluscent yellow while the fertile ones have a fine network of blood vessels visible through the shell.

Most of my ceph eggs that weren't fertile continued to grow in size without rot or mold common to other sp of cham eggs.

WM

[Brock]

Incubate them for a week or two before candling though, as some may be yellow if you candle them at first, but then they may turn pink. Had this happen with a leo egg of mine, took 4 or 5 days to turn pink. What I'm saying is don't immediately throw them out if you candle them and they are yellow.

-Brock

[Trace]

I'm going to speak for Jason temporarily here... Sorry Jason, I know you are at work.

WM: The female that is digging right now is his second female, not the one that deposited eggs on July 10th so it's not quite the turnaround that you are thinking. As far as I know, this is the same female that laid the clutch of infertile eggs a month or two ago though. I'm old and forgetful most days, so the dates of that clutch escape me at the moment! :/ So to me, this clutch will be more duds again, but worth incubating anyways.

John: Yes, I will be extracting the eggs from his enclosure as soon as she is finished laying them and incubating them at my house, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for Jason.

As for the clutch of 5 eggs I'm already incubating for Jason... 3 don't look fertile at all (as I originally expected), but the 2 remaining ones aren't bad yet, still glowing yellow when I candle them, which isn't a good sign to me either, but they haven't collapsed or gone moldy either, so I won't give up hope.

And back to Jason!

Trace

[dank7oo]

they probably arent fertile .. but i am giving the eggs to trace and let her have a shot at them .. she is much more experianced than me... as for the clutch of eggs trace has right now, they arent any good i dont think

[Charm_Paradise]

Jason-

Well that is bad news, if I were you Jason I would be so pissed off if the breeder sold me gravid females and the eggs are no good. People pay more for gravid females. On another note my Ambilobe is on her second clutch and this one is from retained sperm. She is due to lay with in the next week I would say, the eggs are popping out of her sides. Trace do you need a tissue no crying! LOL I was looking into SITES for Canada and found the web site, I think I book marked it, I will take a better look after the eggs hatch. I was looking for info on shipping silkworms from US to Canada.

[Trace]

She is due to lay with in the next week I would say, the eggs are popping out of her sides. Trace do you need a tissue no crying!

YES I DO NEED A TISSUE!!!! :( That's awesome John... I do offer my congratulations to you again. But yes, I would be interested in obtaining a few of your babies when they hatch, this is of course, if I haven't already kidnapped those clutches! You have been warned about that previously! LOL! I will look into obtaining the paperwork on my end too.

Good luck to both Jason and John on all of these future babies!

Trace

[meow_mix450]

Ya good luck i got my figures crossed

[dank7oo]

i dunno if she laid yet ... she went down, but was up about 3 hours later ... so i dont know if she laid, or is going to make another trip down

[dank7oo]

ah - lol .. didnt even read your post talking for me trace ... sorry LOL!
thanks tho .. and yeah .. whatever she said is true :)

[dank7oo]

GOOD NEWS!
she redug a hole, and is back laying .. no more wrries about eggboundness :)

[meow_mix450]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats great to hear good luck with the eggs tho:D:D:D

[dank7oo]

thanks :)

[dank7oo]

GOD DAMNIT!
SHE CAME BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK UP!
AND IS DIGGING YET AGAIN!!!!!!
ARGH!

[dank7oo]

well .. she is in a good spot now ... just digging downward so i can still see her ... hope she lays this time because i dont think she has eaten in 2 days now ... the time she has been looking for the perfect nest!

[dank7oo]

so many updates ... it seems she is now borrowing into a branch ... but i think this is the spot ... keep your fingers crossed
right now she is DARK green .. and everyone here i think has seen the pics of her normally ... the dark green is almost black, but i think the 2 days of digging has taken a toll on her
:(

[meow_mix450]

lol dank7ooo i think this is it i think shes gonna lay!!!!!!!! i got my fingers crossed..well i hope this ones it lol good luck

[dank7oo]

lol - i noticed something with all the 4? clutches i have experianced with my ceph ... they dig a borrow, then the 'collapse' it themselfs, entirely covering their borrow while laying ... the soil is very moist, so here is what i have observed

they dig a borrow ... loosening the soil, come out of the borrow, 'knock it down' then re-enter ... i have seen the re-entery, and the initial digging, but thts the only explanation i can think up .. the borrows should hold their shape, but i have actually seen Mika climb into what looks like densly packed soil, which she has loosened previously

i dunno if this is the case with all ceph, or my 2, but i find it intriguing

[dank7oo]

OMG - she is one crazy cham!

she came up yet AGAIN ... still with her eggs ... she is now digging AGAIN! :S:S:S:S:S:S:S:S:S

[meow_mix450]

lol hopes she lays soooooon lol i think it has to be PERFECT before she lays picky little girl

[dank7oo]

i think so too :(

[dank7oo]

looks like she is done fore today .. maybe tomorrow is the day!

[dank7oo]

eep - i was wrong .. it looks like she found a good spot ... i hope :)

[NewLineReptile]

I hope everthing work's out for you good luck

Brandon

[dank7oo]

lol - well thats it for today *turns out light* maybe tomorrow she will find the PERFECT spot :)

[dank7oo]

god - i can imagine getting hate mail from this thread - LOL

[meow_mix450]

lol ya i agree

[Wuntu Menny]

Have you tried sand as a nesting medium? I honestly never had these problems with either of my females. Sometimes they would lay in under 1/2 an hour. I never saw them excavate more than once for a clutch.

This type of behaviour is usually indicative of unsuitable conditions. They are choosy about moisture levels, temp, etc for nesting. After all, the eggs are supposed to be there for the better part of a year.

I've always used playsand for nesting chams and they've always laid when placed in the bucket. I've never had a tunnel collapse, and some of them have burrowed twice around pail before dropping.

I'm not going to repeat the same old warnings about the consequences of her lack of action, but c'mon drop already!

Maybe if you gave her something to read...

WM

[dank7oo]

lol - i agree ... i will definitly try sand soon if she wont drop .. meanwhile, she is sniffing in a good spot!

[dank7oo]

i think that toki is laying now .. been under for almost 5 hours now ... go the the pic forums and the last message i posted has 10? pics that i have not shown before ... except maybe 2

thanks for your support all
Jason

[dank7oo]

****photography forum

[dank7oo]

i moved some stuff around AGAIN in the cage ... i think she will lay tomorrow ... well i hope she will :)

[dank7oo]

ok .. she started to dig about ... 3 hours ago she started to dig ... then i am assuming she turned around to lay, and ll i can see not is her head! ... she her luck all

[dank7oo]

PHEW!!!!!!

i got to see a once in a lifetime event today IMHO!!!

i watched Toki climb out of her borrow right after laying (she is half the size now) and isaw her smooth over her borrow! it was SO amazing!!!!!

[dank7oo]

i can see 5 eggs at least!!!
well thats over and done with ... :)

[meow_mix450]

AYAYAYAYAY finally lol good luck with the eggs now give her a treat for me lol

[dank7oo]

LOL - she is acting a little weird right now ... i think it is because she is EXHUASTED!!!!!

4 days of digging will do that to ya - lol
now i am worry free, and ready for my pantehr to come!

[Brock]

Yeah, a female chameleon laying eggs is really quite amazing. I had the pleasure of watching my female lay 9 or 10 eggs (out of 30) through her clear rubbermaid container I gave her to lay in. And then I even got to help her cover up the hole when she was done. Then she got a nice bath and ate a few kingworms for me.

-Brock

[meow_mix450]

wow thats great to here

[dank7oo]

she pigged out today ... i went up and saw her eating .. i went up an hour later and she was STILL eating ... LOL
i am confident everything will turn out great :):):):):):):):):):)