Hi everybody,
I'm keeping and breeding some panther chameleons. I found the hatch rate is very low (even lower than 50%).
Most of the babies died just before hatch. I found the egg shell was very think and it is difficult to break it. This happens to my Carpet chameleons too. (only 5 out of 18 eggs!) The hatch rate of my veiled chameleon is much higher (almost 100%). I
I tried to use "diapause period" and "without diapause" methods to incubate the panther eggs. For the "diapause period" method, I keep the eggs at ~25C (~77F) for 1 month and keep at ~18C
(64F) for the next 30~45 days. Then, I change the temp. to 26~29C (79~84F) until hatching. For the "without diapause" method, I just keep the eggs at 26~29C (79~84F) until
hatching. Is there any problem for my methods? Any suggestion?
Besides, I found some clutches of several females are infertile even the male actually mated with her. I fear that it is due to Vitamin A deficiency as I heard before. Moreover, some of my males show eye problem. I feed them with vitamin supplement for every 1~2 weeks and the crickets are feeded with carrots. I found some beta-carotene pills (for human) in health food store. I heard that beta-carotene is much safer and never will be overdose as it changes to Vit. A only if necessary. Is it suitable for chameleon as vitamin A source? Is there any method to ensure no vitamin A deficiency?






