Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well finally Coconut layed her eggs, she had been down in the soil for quite awhile Tues afternoon and night, I saw her come up and she was dirty, and seemed smaller.

She layed a very small clutch, only 8 eggs, one is really small too, the rest are good size, all are nice firm and white, even the little one.
I usually see that people say their females layed larger numbers of eggs than Coconut, is there any reason she would only lay 8 eggs? Is this normal for her, do the size of the clutches vary each time?

Digging for Coconuts eggs, I found them

-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Glad to hear that she laid her eggs! Mine only ever laid clutches of 15 or so...but then, I restricted their diet at appropriate times to try to keep the clutches small. I'm more interested in my chameleons living long lives than in producing large clutches.

If she has a ton of eggs, I just was wondering if something may be wrong since I had never bred panthers before. She always has a fabulous appetite, much more so than the male Cadberry, so her small clutch was surely not due to cutting food back.

That's why I asked that question, is this normal to only have 8 eggs. Your amount seems to be about what I hear most in the teens (as the least amount)
-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Congrats! Small clutches do occasionally happen... Mine are also usually in the high teens, highs in the mid 30's, lows around 8 eggs. Sometimes, if she is interrupted during the laying process she might stop laying and retain the remaining eggs, but if she did the whole process and buried the eggs without disturbances, she's probably just done. If eggs are retained, she may try to do the process again in a few days. Just keep an eye on her with extra hydration the next week or so. You can probably plan on the small egg going bad within 3 weeks, although it might pull through. Every few clutches will have a small egg or two, and they almost always go bad eventually. Err on the dry side for the incubation medium!
-----
Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

Congrats Eve! I bet Coconut is pretty tired. I can't wait to see all the little "Coco-Berry's" when they hatch!
-----

That name, LOL I must steal it and use it for one youngster (if all goes well) COCO-BERRY,

Thanks buddy!
-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

the nesting site to me looks extremely damp for her to be laying her eggs in, is it just soil?

might i suggest using a washing up bowl filled with avary sand which you can add water to to get a moist but not wet consistancy - im thinking this could be a reason for a small clutch - i also notice when mine lay eggs they tend to do it to the near side of plants because they hold moisture for the eggs not to dry out which might also be an idea, but congrats thats an achievement

The potting soil was not really all that wet, dampened , just appears really darkish, it was all the way at the bottom of a 30 gallon trash can, and it was about midnight so the colors in the pic are a bit off. Thank you for the info and suggestion I do really appreciate everything I learn

Hope all goes well.
-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

LOL! No problem... glad you liked it.
-----