Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 44 Veiled Chameleon eggs incubating that were laid on 20 July. I have a couple of questions regarding how others on this board go about incubating. I've read in many articles to lower the incubation temps at night. I am incubating in a hovabator at 82 degrees. Is it absolutely essential that the temp be lowered at night?? If so how do you accomplish this with a hovabator??? Also, how long into incubation do you begin to notice vein development when candling the eggs???
If anyone can provide some insight I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Pete

There is a great incubating/hatching/laying article on www.chameleonnews.com by Bill Strand. I bet it will answer your questions better than I can.

It seems that every time I ask a question in this forum I am referred to the above mentioned article. I have read this article, I have printed it out, it is sitting next to me as I type this. I am looking for personal experiences from individuals who have hatched Veiled Chams. In this article that I keep being pointed towards the author writes "There is no one way to incubate eggs." I'm sure this is true. This is why I'm looking for other peoples methods. Please...someone answer my question...I'm sure that Mr. Strand is not the only person who has ever successfully hatched eggs.
Thanks,
Pete

Ive hatched out several cluthches of veiled'd using a hovavator. I always use vermiculite mixed w/water 3-1 weight ratio or slighty moist. I used small tupperware bins and gently made an indent in the wermiculite so the eggs were half buried/half exposed. I left the lids on and opened once a day to check the eggs and to release CO2 build-up. Temperatures during the day were 84 and at night dropped between 74-78. I accomplished this simply by putting the incubator on a timer. Most of my eggs hatched out in 6 months. Good luck!

I incubated a clutch of 25 at exactly 78-80 degrees in a hovabator. I just left them there the whole time at that temp.
I mixed the vermiculite so it was slightly damp to the touch but so that if you squeezed a pich between your fingers you would just get your fingers slightly damp not drops of water dripping out. I think the article is how I mixed the water and vermiculite.
If the eggs are good and fertile they will stay relatively white or cream colored. If they are bad they will turn yellowish and will usually collapse within a couple of days or they will get mouldy at some time during incubation. After several days two of mine collapsed and then got mouldy. Those were the infertile ones. I removed them so mould would not spread to other eggs.
I never candled them as long as they were whitish and firm not collapsed (they actually crumple in) I just left them there and they hatched in approx 6.5 months
Hope that helped