Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, This is coming in two parts for me, as you'll shortly understand...

I have two nearly full-size veiled chams who decided they wanted to have cute babies together... She's about 2 weeks gravid, I think. She developed orangy brown and dark green spots all over her at all times and she is hiding in the fake plant in the middle ALL the time now unless she's eating or drinking (and both will use a bowl - it's nice to not have to fill a drip, tho I do mist each day.) So... How long until she will likely lay eggs??? I have about 10-12" of soil in a bucket in her cage for when she's ready.

And here's part two of the problem. I DO have eggs. The gravid female from the pet store I get supplies from has been laying a few eggs a day for a week now, and we think she's got more, and I took all the fresh ones out today and brought them home. The others were all dry, but there were about 15 that were either still sticky or almost fully plump.

So now I've got 15 tiny eggs, most of them full and plump. I have X eggs going to be laid in Y days.... What now?

I have the eggs on damp coconut fiber stuff I use in so many areas with the miriad of critters. They presently have light covering of the same crumbled/sprinkled on top to make sure they plump up and have SOME chance to survive. My house is quite dry except IN the cham cage, so I want to make sure they're able to stay moist.

What are the rules with eggs? What do I do? What do I NOT do at all costs? What temps do you suggest? My house is ALWAYS between 75-82*F, and I read one place to incubate between 75-80*. How damp do I keep the substrate? Since the female was gravid for over 4 months, how viable are those eggs likely to be? How do I tell? What's the average time for hatching? 5-7 months is what I think I heard.

I'm going to look into a hovabator from the feed store tomorrow, I think, just because I have a bunch more coming sometime soon...

Thanks ppl!

~Krystie

You said...."She's about 2 weeks gravid, I think. She developed orangy brown and dark green spots all over her at all times and she is hiding in the fake plant in the middle ALL the time now unless she's eating or drinking (and both will use a bowl - it's nice to not have to fill a drip, tho I do mist each day.) So... How long until she will likely lay eggs??? I have about 10-12" of soil in a bucket in her cage for when she's ready."...are they both in the same cage? Most veileds lay the eggs about 30 to 40 days after mating.

You said..."The gravid female from the pet store I get supplies from has been laying a few eggs a day for a week now, and we think she's got more"..if they are not providing a proper place for her to lay the eggs she could retain some and become eggbound and die. Its not normal for them to lay eggs all over the place or a few today and a few another day.

You asked..."What are the rules with eggs? What do I do? What do I NOT do at all costs? What temps do you suggest? My house is ALWAYS between 75-82*F, and I read one place to incubate between 75-80*. How damp do I keep the substrate?" & "What's the average time for hatching? 5-7 months is what I think I heard."....I take a plastic shoebox sized container and punch two very small holes in the lid. I fill it about half full of BARELY moist vermiculite and place the eggs on top of it in slight dents being sure not to turn them or rotate them from their original orientation. To judge if the moisture is right in the vermiculite, take a fist full of it and you shouldn't be able to squeeze more than a drop or two of water out of it. I put the lid back on. I incubate them at about 78F...but they can go slightly lower...in the dark. BTW, I can't tell you if the ones you already have will survive the way you are doing it or not. The eggs take about 220-250 days at about 78F.

You asked..."Since the female was gravid for over 4 months, how viable are those eggs likely to be?"....as I said above, the time of mating to egglaying should be about 30 days. Sperm can be retained from one clutch to the next but the second clutch will also be laid about 30 days from the previous. (Its a little more complicated than this depending on the timing of the mating, etc....but generally this is the way it goes.)