Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I always get annoyed at newbies coming in to my preferred forums and asking tons of new questions about a critter they know nothing about, AND going on to ask about breeding at the same time, or within days. So I thought people here might feel the same.

BUT....

I know NOTHING about Chameleons. NADA. They got funky feet, weird eyes, and change colors. Okay... now you know how ignorant I am.

SO... what am I doing here?

I know some kids both of whom are my former students (I'm a high school teacher)... they recently purchased three "Sunburst" Chameleons (what is that?) for $80 each. Well shortly after they purchased them one of them laid something like 49 eggs???!!! This was a day or two ago, and they've been sitting on damp cloths in a cupboard since then. (Some are squashed?). In ANY case, since I'm sitting on 50 or so snake eggs, and at least know how to do that pretty well, I offered to take the eggs and try to incubate them for them, as their setup/knowledge is perhaps a little lacking (they know more about the chameleons though... they've at least SEEN them).

SO Tomorrow I'm getting 49 Chameleon eggs (minus a few dried out, drowned, or squished ones???) and I thought it was time to try to beef up on my knowledge and understanding so that I can do my best to hatch at least SOME of these little guys!

So if I had NO resources whatsoever... people to talk to, websites to check out, kingsnake.com, books to read, etc, the following is what I would do to hatch these guys out... based only on my knowledge of hatching out cornsnakes and kingsnakes, this is what I would do:

Moisten some vermiculite (damp enough to clump, not so damp it drips when squeezed). Place the eggs in the vermiculite half buried, and close up, to maintain high humidity.... incubate at 80 - 84 degrees for 60 days until they hatch.

I Realize this might be completely inappropriate for chameleon eggs. Heck, I realize that I may not have even given enough information to GET help! (Jeeze, I hate not knowing stuff!).

In any case, for those who wonder, my next plan is to surf this website, perhaps the photo forum as well, see what I can learn, and try to gather the necessary information in this way. I just thought that the likelihood of my getting a response to my question before I leave for work (and to get the eggs) is greater if I post the question before looking for the answers to my question. Please pardon my ignorance.
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~Sasheena

Hi Sasheena,
theres an excellent article on chameleon news about incubating and hatching out veileds. If you need more information than whats in the article Im sure TylerStewart or one of the other veiled breeders can help you out. Good luck with the eggs
veiled incubation article

For not knowing what to do, you've come up with a fairly good game plan! Lesse here.....
>>Moisten some vermiculite (damp enough to clump, not so damp it drips when squeezed). Place the eggs in the vermiculite half buried, and close up, to maintain high humidity.... incubate at 80 - 84 degrees for 60 days until they hatch.
Ummmm, yes and no. Some prefer perlite to vermiculite, but you do have the important moisture thing down. Also, I keep my veiled eggs slightly warmer than room temp. You can hatch them at the warmer temps you suggested (which will hatch them in about 5-6 months), but that's a bit hot for them and the hatchlings tend to be weaker than cooler incubated babies. BTW- my last clutch of veileds took about 9 months to hatch.
One other thing- was the female bred to begin with? If not, the eggs are infertile and will not hatch anyways.
Definitely surf this site and other sites suggested. Best of luck with this!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

I have vermiculite around just "laying around the house" so I will use that. The available room temperature is 80 - 84 at the current moment..... in October it will start to drop, and the last 3 to 4 months of incubation will be at a lower temperature (nearer 70). I read they need darkness as well, so my game plan, now that I've read a bit more, is to use the previously discussed ratio of water and vermiculite, put them in a cupboard at floor level that is never opened.... peace and the coolest location possible. (I live in Arizona, just can't AFFORD to have a cooler temperature).... I guess I could bring the eggs to my classroom where they traditionally keep the air conditioning set lower. Put them in a dark cupboard there.... (that's what I'll do!)

As far as the female's size, age, weight, and even if she was bred... I have no idea. I believe she was bought from a petstore (kept in a communal setting?) along with two other chameleons. I do not know if they are now kept communally. I realize the eggs could be infertile, and I'm guessing they'll start to mold and die eventually (or even look like snakey "slugs" which I can recognize.) Since I'm only incubating them for a friend and a single Chameleon is the most I would get for my trouble, it's not like I'm going to freak out if they aren't fertile. It's just the THOUGHT that they could be fertile and wanting to give those babies a chance at life that makes me want to do this. Aside from waiting FOREVER, hatching Cham eggs doesn't seem to be that labor intensive. So it's not a big deal to give it a shot.

Anyway, I VERY MUCH appreciate the help and support that I've received from you and others. It will help me to at least do my best in seeing that these guys get the strongest shot at life. Of course once they hatch, then it'll be interesting to see what to do with them. My thought, at the beginning, is to keep them together for a few months in a plant filled 40 gallon with lots of places to climb and hide, until they have flourished for a while, and then let them return to the owner of the mother, or try to sell them if they do not want them..... but since that's a LONG TIME from now... I'm thinking that I won't worry about that for a bit!

>>For not knowing what to do, you've come up with a fairly good game plan! Lesse here.....
>>>>Moisten some vermiculite (damp enough to clump, not so damp it drips when squeezed). Place the eggs in the vermiculite half buried, and close up, to maintain high humidity.... incubate at 80 - 84 degrees for 60 days until they hatch.
>>Ummmm, yes and no. Some prefer perlite to vermiculite, but you do have the important moisture thing down. Also, I keep my veiled eggs slightly warmer than room temp. You can hatch them at the warmer temps you suggested (which will hatch them in about 5-6 months), but that's a bit hot for them and the hatchlings tend to be weaker than cooler incubated babies. BTW- my last clutch of veileds took about 9 months to hatch.
>>One other thing- was the female bred to begin with? If not, the eggs are infertile and will not hatch anyways.
>>Definitely surf this site and other sites suggested. Best of luck with this!
>>-----
>>Victor Gomez
>>gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
>>gomezvi@yahoo.com
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~Sasheena

>>I have vermiculite around just "laying around the house" so I will use that. The available room temperature is 80 - 84 at the current moment..... in October it will start to drop, and the last 3 to 4 months of incubation will be at a lower temperature
Yes, I think your biggest issue will be keeping the eggs cool until the weather cools. Seems counter-intuitive I know; just stating what has worked for me.
>>As far as the female's size, age, weight, and even if she was bred... I have no idea. ... It's just the THOUGHT that they could be fertile and wanting to give those babies a chance at life that makes me want to do this.
Infertile chameleon eggs will eventually go bad. May take a short time, may take months. Assuming you can keep them from getting too hot, too cold, too moldy, too humid, and too dry, they will also start to form veins. You'll be able to candle the eggs and check the development of the fetus.
Just a thought here... don't know if this would be appropriate in your class, but you can also use them as study aids- you could show them to your students on a weekly basis, check the status and development of the eggs. Maybe some of your students may even decide they'd like to adopt some of the babies if/when they hatch.
Just thoughts.....
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

And they are yellowish.... left little fairly bright yellow impressions on the papertowel they were kept on. They are a week old, and they do not have veins. Two are developing mold. About 45 are NOT moldy. I candled them, couldn't see any veins... but I could be slightly spoiled by snake eggs whose veins are quite large in comparison to the size of the cham eggs.

The person whose chameleon had them wants all but two of the babies back, which is fine with me. We'll see if they hatch. Doesn't hurt to put them in the coolest location in the house. In three weeks I'll transfer them to my school classroom, where the Air Conditioning will keep them much cooler. There they will stay, checked once a week, until we determine they are dead, or until they hatch. If they start to develop veins you can be certain you will see me back here, asking tons more questions so that I will know what to do with them when they hatch.

Thanks again for answering my newbie questions.
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~Sasheena

>>The person whose chameleon had them wants all but two of the babies back, which is fine with me. We'll see if they hatch.
You're the one who's gonna do all the research, you're the one who's gonna watch them for several months, you're the one who's gonna spend all your time and resources in hatching these little guys, and this person wants them ALL back, save a measly two?
Sorry, but what a jerk! Yes, sounds like this person is still in high school, but that's old enough to know what's fair! I have to wonder what this little toad intends to do with all these little chameleons? And what's he gonna feed them until they get big enough for him to sell off? And just who does he think is gonna pay for the food bill of all those little babies?
Sorry, truly; I know I'm getting a little huffy here. It just sounds like you're gonna get shafted on this deal.
But then again- probably not. Sounds like the eggs may not be good to begin with. But just in case they are, you should re-think the split of hatchlings to something more fair!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

There is a really good recent article covering all your questions on this site:

http://www.chameleonnews.com

The articles are organized by quarterly issues. You can easily search past issues by clicking on them and looking at the contents. You'll be looking for articles by Bill Strand on breeding, egg laying and incubation. Should help you out.

But, again, if the female wasn't actually bred the eggs will not hatch. Veiled chams do produce infertile eggs regularly.