Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female panther chameleon laid her first clutch of eggs this past Saturday. She laid 29 in all and they look great! As you can see I decided to keep the eggs close together so that there is a better chance of them hatching together and any hormonal signals that are naturally passed through the eggs to their siblings can occur. If I do not have the moisture content correct does anyone know how long it would take the eggs to burst or shrivel up. Since it has already been 2 days I think I might have it correct but I just wanted to know what others' experiences have been with egg bursting.

Hey... congrats!! Be sure to post pictures of the little ones when the hatch. Baby chams are so CUTE with their giant googly eyes and "I'm so tough" behaviors! Good luck with those eggs!
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1.1.0 Leopard Geckos (Booger, Gimp)
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon (Lucutis)
0.0.1 Quince Monitor (Pollux)
1.2.0 Thayeri Kingsnakes (Korben, Leeloo, Artax)
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes (Beetlejuice, Maraca, Kodos)

Keeping the eggs close to each other is the way it would be in the wild and they will all hatch at about the same time, as they do in the wild....but its a necessity for them to all hatch at about the same time in the wild so that they can dig out of the ground.

I have had a better survival rate when they all hatch individually though. Its always been my feeling that each egg gets to incubate for the time needed for it to be the best possible instead of being "forced" to hatch all at once. No scientific proof...just my own idea.

You asked..."If I do not have the moisture content correct does anyone know how long it would take the eggs to burst or shrivel up"...the shrivelling up will occur quite quickly (several days) but it takes quite a while (months, usually) to explode/burst. Its terribly sad to see perfectly formed but slightly premature babies laying there with their eggs burst....so I hope that you won't see that. Panther and veiled eggs all grow, but if they are too moist, they become too large too fast and then burst.

What temperature are you incubating them at?

Good luck with them!

they are currently being incubated at about 67 degrees during the day and 65 at night for the first two months. Next I plan on gradually increasing the temp until I get to about 76 once they are out of diapause. So basically you're saying there is no way to tell if the medium is too moist. I'll just just have to wait a few months and have the eggs explode.

You said..."So basically you're saying there is no way to tell if the medium is too moist. I'll just just have to wait a few months and have the eggs explode"...not exactly, the problem is that I can't tell you how to tell if the eggs are swelling too fast...its something that I've learned from experience....and its very difficult to explain. If you realize that they are growing too fast, then you can lower the humidity and hopefully save the eggs....the problem is that (as I said) I can't tell you how to tell what too fast is.

Wish I could figure out a way to tell you.

>>You said..."So basically you're saying there is no way to tell if the medium is too moist. I'll just just have to wait a few months and have the eggs explode"...not exactly, the problem is that I can't tell you how to tell if the eggs are swelling too fast...its something that I've learned from experience....and its very difficult to explain. If you realize that they are growing too fast, then you can lower the humidity and hopefully save the eggs....the problem is that (as I said) I can't tell you how to tell what too fast is.
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>>Wish I could figure out a way to tell you.

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Michele