Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, about a week ago I posted here asking if my female cham. was pregnant. I'm pretty sure she is not, since she hasn't layed any eggs.

I plan on having her lay some eggs to eventually breed. I don't plan on breeding often. I would just like to breed a clutch for the experience.

How do i incubate the eggs? Where can I read about caring for the eggs and eventually the hatchlings.
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Getting ready for my new Chameleon.

You said..."So, about a week ago I posted here asking if my female cham. was pregnant. I'm pretty sure she is not, since she hasn't layed any eggs"...do you have a place for her to dig in the cage in case she needs to lay eggs? Not providing a place for her can lead to eggbinding if she is carrying eggs.

You said..."How do i incubate the eggs? Where can I read about caring for the eggs and eventually the hatchlings"...
here's a site for panthers...but its the same procedure for veileds...except that I incubate them at about 74F.

Before you get to incubating them though you have to go through the mating and the egglaying.

To mate them, show the female to the male by holding her outside his cage so that they can see each other and watch for the reactions. If she puffs up, hisses, rocks back and forth, gapes, turns dark color in the background then she is non-receptive. Put her back in her cage and try another day. If she stays calm and green and doesn't inflate her body and walks slowly away from the male, she is receptive....and if the male gives the right signals they can be put together.

If the male holds his hand up close to the chin, hisses, gapes, etc. then he does not recognize her as a receptive female...give him a few minutes to settle down...if he doesn't move her back to her cage and try again another day.

If he seems interested in her but not aggressive, then it should be okay to put them together. Watch them for a few minutes though once they are together and be ready to separate them if there is aggression.

If they accept each other, you can leave them together until the background of the female turns dark and/or she starts to act non-receptive to him.

Now for the egglaying...
Do not let the female see you watching her whenever she is digging the hole. It will cause her to abandon the hole and this will lead to eggbinding if it happens often enough.

This is how it should go...about 30 days after the mating the female should be ready to lay her eggs. This can vary depending on where in her cycle you mate her....it can be earlier....but seldom later.

She will be restless, roam the cage looking for a place to dig, may slow down her eating or stop altogether, will likely drink a lot more.

She may dig more than one hole to start off with but should settle on one in the end and dig it until she is happy with it. It may take a couple of days. She will then turn around bum down (likely in the evening) and lay her eggs. When she is done laying them she will fill in the hole and tamp it down...and return to the branches.

She should be hungry and thirsty...so feed and water her well for a couple of days...then cut back her food for a while so she won't produce a large clutch the next time around. She will likely retain sperm and lay a second clutch even if you don't mate her.

Here's a site that talks about female veileds..
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Your right about me posting asking if my female is pregnant. And Honestly, I am still not entirely sure.

BUT, I put my male and female in the same tree for about 5 mins while I was cleaning their cages. I watched them closely to see how they were interacting. By the time I walked back into the room from cleaning their water bowels, they were already mating.

So, if she is not pregnant yet. She might be very soon. If she is not laying eggs soon, I might try and breed them. So she eventually will be.

I have a 8"x8" container filled with 6inches of dirt. I am planning to add another container in their to give her more dirt to choose from.

I have not seen her digging yet as there are no holes in the soil.

I am just trying to prepare myself. B/c I know an incubator is going to be needed as my chameleons are indoors. SO I want to know what others have used to breed?

Is a heat lamp above a tupperware container sufficent as long as the temperature is correct?
Do I need to buy something special? I've seen an incubator advertised for pretty cheap by one of the forums sponsors. Is that the way to go?
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Getting ready for my new Chameleon.

This is just one box of dirt that I have in her cage. I added another rectangular box of soil which is about .5inch deeper.
I hope she lays her eggs, she seems to be getting fatter every day.

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Getting ready for my new Chameleon.