Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was wondering when my chameleon lays eggs if i kept the eggs in a temp. enviorment of 74-76 for almost the whole time and at about 6 months put it up to 79. see my room is up stairs and the temp in my house is 76-75 so when my panther eggs are layed i will put it in a tupperware with humdity and put in closet for a few months and last month or so bump temp up. last question, i live in south florida and was wondering how much water to put in the tupperware. I have vermiculite and i no only to drill to holes, but i always get humdity wrong. also how often should i look in and add water if any time. i am so anxious all the time, i need to just chill out.

The cost of a Hovabator, which is probably the absolute top of the line incubator avaliable for the public to buy, costs as low as $40. Your hatch and survival rate will be greately incresed I have been told.

You have to take into account that your A/c could break, a heator malfunction and etc.

What is a measly $40 to pay for an amazing hatch ratio and a bunch of healthy babies?

Good luck with your endavor and remember to post photos as things progress.

Sincerely Will Hayward.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
1.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizard
500 Escaped Crickets

Hi, I hatch my Panthers out in the top of the closet also. The temperatures sound fine and you probabaly have adequate relative humdity in Florida already. I put the tupperware container on the scale and zero it. Next I add a good amount of vermiculite. Then to the weight of the vermiculite I add 75% water by weight. This should make the vermiculite so that if you squeeze some of it, you can feel the moisture in it but no water drips out. You should check the eggs after the have been incubating for two weeks. If they are not fertile you should see some of them starting to grow mold at that point. Check them again in another two weeks and through out any that are bad. Check them every month until you near the hatch time then start checking them every day. As far as drilling holes, if you don't drill holes then the vermiculite won't dry out however if your babies hatch early then they might not have adequate air to breathe so I wouldn't risk it. Going without holes works fine for Leoprad Geckos that will hatch in 60 days but not very good for Panthers. Drill some holes then check the vermiculite every month if it has dried out some give it a mist. It is okay to mist the eggs also. A lot of people preach against this but if they were in the ground in Madagascar they would be getting some moisture once in a while. If you do purchase an incubator (hovabator) be sure to get the one without the fan. The fan sounds like a good idea to circulate the humidity but in reality the heat from the fan moter raises the temprature. Good luck and let us know when the big day arrives. Oh yeah, after they hatch to reduce your post hatch mortality rate I put my hatchlings into kritter keepers or small screen cages. I only put 4 or less per kritter keeper. Start thinking abut what you are going to feed them long before they hatch.

Hi, How long for the incubation? What's your hatch rate? My hatch rate is very low. Most of the babies just died before hatching as they can't break the egg shell. Thanks.