Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I have 2 days and counting before I leave for school and she hasnt shown any signs of wanting to lay yet arg..... Just sits there looking very fat. Should I have a lamp over the tub to keep her warm? It is on the bottom of the cage surrounded by the umbrella plant leaves in there, and kind of shady but light gets through.
How do you guys do it by the way? Those of you who breed chameleons have my complete respect for being able to put up with this wait. Seriously its almost to the point now that she doesnt yawn without me breaking out the chameleon health webpages...
"Oh god! Yawning is a sign of being eggbound! I know it!!!"
Meanwhile she just kind of glares at me and I swear she rolls her eyes as well...

Quick question on the eggs though. Will I be able to know immediately if they are bad or good because of the color? Or do I have to wait a bit to see what happens? If they stay whole or start to rot?

Gonna go start packing I guess

Erin
-----
1:1 Veileds (Gene and Aurora)
1:1 Albino Clawed Frogs (Phedre and Jos)
?? Fire belly toad (Harold)
Various cats and dogs

Hey Erin,
When my gravid girls stop eating, I wait until they either start clawing at the cage, or walking around on the cage floor. Then I place them in a 5 gal. bucket that is filled 1/2 way with damp packed sand. I have a peice of plexiglass (with ventilation holes drilled in it) placed on top of the bucket and a 25 watt bulb for her light sitting directly on top. A higher wattage bulb will warp the plexiglass. Anyway, if they are not done digging & laying by the time the lights go out, theirs goes out too. Chameleons in the wild do not stop laying at night, so I use the regular photoperiod.
Now, as for the eggs, I can always tell if they are good or bad. But I've had years of experience. If the eggs are pearly white & feel solid, they're good. If there's any that are yellowish & mushy-like, then they're bad.
I know other people have different ways of doing things. This is just the way that works best for me.
And I hope that I've helped you. Good luck with your girl,
Cricket

A good way for a beginner (like myself!) to tell if an eggs i good:
put the egg up to a bright light and due the the egg's slight transluscency, you will be able to see the embryo and its veins throughout the egg.

dark center of the egg (embryo)=good
all one colour=nothing in it!

>>Hey Erin,
>> When my gravid girls stop eating, I wait until they either start clawing at the cage, or walking around on the cage floor. Then I place them in a 5 gal. bucket that is filled 1/2 way with damp packed sand. I have a peice of plexiglass (with ventilation holes drilled in it) placed on top of the bucket and a 25 watt bulb for her light sitting directly on top. A higher wattage bulb will warp the plexiglass. Anyway, if they are not done digging & laying by the time the lights go out, theirs goes out too. Chameleons in the wild do not stop laying at night, so I use the regular photoperiod.
>> Now, as for the eggs, I can always tell if they are good or bad. But I've had years of experience. If the eggs are pearly white & feel solid, they're good. If there's any that are yellowish & mushy-like, then they're bad.
>> I know other people have different ways of doing things. This is just the way that works best for me.
>> And I hope that I've helped you. Good luck with your girl,
>> Cricket
-----
1:1 Veileds (Gene and Aurora)
1:1 Albino Clawed Frogs (Phedre and Jos)
?? Fire belly toad (Harold)
Various cats and dogs

Erin,

I think the article on ChamNews about egg laying discusses fertile/infertile issue (how you can tell - I THINK, not sure). As for the light I did that with luna and she would go down and bask!! At least she knew the pot was there. I eventually removed it so it did not seem to have any bearing on her laying or not. Be sure she knows it is there - put her in it, event though she will probably give you a dirty look and then run off! LOL!

How far is school from home? I sympathize with you having to leave at this crucial time. If they did mate what was the date it happened? Are your folks prepared? If they are fertile you then need to have your incubator set up...here's a link to the article.

lele
Eggs: laying to hatching

-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

Hehe, yeah Ive put her in there before and your right about the dirty looks...
Theoretically if they did mate it was about the 29th of July. But again im not sure iof anything happened or not. She may have just started carrying eggs.
So who knows, my parents are ok with what has to be done but I would just feel better if Iw as the one tobe here and have everything set up. Grr... Maybe I can sneak her into school and says shes a new air-breathing fish....
Thanks for the link it helped!
Erin
-----
1:1 Veileds (Gene and Aurora)
1:1 Albino Clawed Frogs (Phedre and Jos)
?? Fire belly toad (Harold)
Various cats and dogs