Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a pygmy cham at a pet store. The guy knows chams, although not much about this species. After researching, I really thought it looked like a female, but he told me he had to special order females, so it surely wasn't. He got two originally, but this girl had been by herself for six weeks or so when I got her. We'd had her less than a week when she laid an egg!

So...what are the odds this could be fertile? If it's not, do we have to wait 80-90 days to be sure? Can you candle cham eggs? Is this the whole clutch (it's been three days)? Will she continue to lay eggs even if she's not bred...and will she be OK if she's NOT bred? I've googled the heck out of these questions and can't find much info....I figured I'd ask the experts. Thanks!

Female pygmies can retain sperm (IMO) so the eggs could be fertile. If they a bright white and not yellowish then they are most likely fertile. Hold onto all of them just in case though.

Use a small Tupperware container with some moist vermiculite … burry the eggs half way down so that half the egg is exposed. There are many ways to hatch these out but for now I suggest NO holes in the lid of the container. Every week briefly open the container to let in some fresh air/inspect the eggs. Keep an eye out for eggs collapsing … this is a sign that they are not getting enough moisture and it’s your queue to add a little water to the container/AROUND the eggs but not directly upon the eggs. Eggs that are too wet will look water logged and not bright white so again this is your queue to keep the lid off for a day to allow some of the excess moisture to evaporate.

Keep the container out of direct sunlight and the temps should be around 72-75F. After 79 days or so you should have some hatchlings. Eggs should only be handled when putting them in the Tupperware container and try not to rotate them. She may lay more down the road without being bred but after time the offspring are not as viable.

What you have now is probably all she has in her – cant be 100% sure though. Typical clutch size is between 1-4 but 5, 6, 7 are not unheard of. She will be perfectly fine if you don’t breed her.

Good luck!

-roo

Thanks, roo! I know you know what you're talking about. She spent the last two days up on a stick very close to the top of her cage, same position, so I was a little worried...but today she's down closer to the ground. It wasn't the height that worried me, just that she didn't seem to be moving. We'll watch the egg!