Reptile & Amphibian Forums

"When I go for incubating chameleon eggs of "tropical species" I like the eggs to be able to touch each other, so I keep them in clutches. As I have noticed that eggs kept in clutches tend to hatch harmoniously, usually over a couple of days, whereas when eggs are kept singly, they may well hatch over a period of two months, I came to thinking that the eggs are able to hormonally communicate with one another, and that every egg is put to contribution to help a fellow in the need of oxygen or water whereas having several babies digging together to get out increased the chances of getting out of the ground."

Excerpt from chameleon news "Incubation Strategies" by Francois Le Berre http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/july2003/incubation/incubation.html

I have always heard that you should space out the eggs during incubation, what do you guys think about this?

Hi-

Different strokes for different folks. Either way seems fine, but one thing to think about is if they are all touching and one molds, the mold will spread much faster! Hope this helps!
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John @ Chameleon Paradise
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers
1.2 Rhampholeon uluguruensis

What I have read about this is that eggs that are in close proximity will tend to hatch out together, but this isn't necessarily a good thing.
Mass hatchings are good out in the wild, increasing the survival of any one hatchling, but this could be a bad thing in captivity. Eggs left touching have a lower survival rate because some individual eggs that aren't ready to hatch are forced into hatching because of 'hormonal' cues received from its clutchmate.
Thus one of the reasons for spacing eggs out. Plus, as John pointed out, you can keep one bad egg from spoiling your whole clutch.
But, whatever floats your boat. If you have a technique that works for you, go for it!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

The hatching baby could flip over the eggs right next to him as he hatches out. (just a thought but do whatever works for you)