4 fertile 31 infertile!?

[chameleonneeds]

Hey

I had a female that laid eggs on the 3rd of march, 35 of them.
So I have checked up on them now and it seems I have only 4 fertile eggs.

I wonder why though?
Male is about 7 or 8 months old.
She was receptive for about 2 weeks before I introduced them, I put the male in her cage every day, they mated and after 3 or 4 days of that the female was unreceptive. Gestation lasted +- 40 days.

What went wrong?

 

[chams1]

Well, #1 thing is that I would never breed a male who is only 7 or 8 months old. While they already like the ladies at that age, they are not fully mature or developed enough (IMO) for breeding. My males are at least 12 months of age before they breed. How old was the female?

 

[chameleonneeds]

Ok. That could be a factor but I though 7-8 months was fine for a male.

Oh and I dont think I mentioned but they are veiled chameleons.

Female is 3 years old now. This was her 2nd clutch.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

I have bred a male panther at 5.5 months and had a healthy clutch out of it.

 

[Lancecham]

Yes, I agree with Ryan.
It could the time was just off a bit.

 

[chams1]

Yes, I agree you can breed them that young, too, but I said (IMO) because I just don't until they are big and robust. Tomato = TomAto.

 

[chameleon master0091]

Well, #1 thing is that I would never breed a male who is only 7 or 8 months old. While they already like the ladies at that age, they are not fully mature or developed enough (IMO) for breeding. My males are at least 12 months of age before they breed. How old was the female?

I agree with this.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Just didnt have perfect timing maybe. Doesnt always "take" Might be fertiles in a subsequent clutch.

I too prefer not breeding before one year, but certainly males are capable of it without issue.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

No one has said anything but maybe the male has low sperm count. lol He may not be quite ready for breeding/slow to fully mature sexually.

 

[ChromaChameleons]

If the first clutch was fertile , then the second may have been produced on retained sperm, not from the recent mating .

How many days after the mating , did the female lay the eggs?

 

[chameleonneeds]

If the first clutch was fertile , then the second may have been produced on retained sperm, not from the recent mating .

How many days after the mating , did the female lay the eggs?

Yeah I think you have a point with that ay.

Well the father of the clutch last year was the father of the veiled I have now. Which was my friends male.

I didnt mark the days but I would say 35-40 days after mating she laid the eggs.

 

[Courtney]

I have bred a male panther at 5.5 months and had a healthy clutch out of it.

my 7 month old veild produced a 100% fertile clutch with a female of same age...it was an accident by the way....33 eggs..i made sure to only feed her what she needed..i didnt want my lilgirl to explode...she laid like a champ and is doing fine

 

[STRYDER]

Maybe your female was preparing to drop a infertile clutch and the mating caused some of that clutch to become fertile. All you can do is try again at a later stage.

 

[chameleonneeds]

That could also be true Styder as I did only breed her about 2 weeks after she started being receptive.
But Im looking for a new adult female veiled to breed with, as I wont have my panthers nor veileds breeding in atleast another 2 or 3 months. I know you have a few (if you want to get rid of one.... let me know)

I want to swop my 2 male leopard geckos and a huge setup for a female veiled and its enclosure.