Egg Ownership

[yokazooma]

i was just curious.. if after a chameleon lays its eggs. does it put up a fight to protect them (when the breeders take them and place them in insulators for safe keeping) or is it just more of a drop off and they don't really care about the eggs?

 

[Lancecham]

I have never had a female give me problems when I remove her from her laying container.

 

[yokazooma]

I have never had a female give me problems when I remove her from her laying container.

hmm... that's really interesting. i figured they'd keep a close eye on them until they hatched and not let anything get close to it. they're usually territorial and easily irritated so i'm surprised they arent as protective of their clutch

 

[Lancecham]

If you think about it, most chams live in trees in the wild. They only come down to lay eggs. After they lay the eggs, it is back in the tree, otherwise they are an easy meal for a predator.

 

[yokazooma]

If you think about it, most chams live in trees in the wild. They only come down to lay eggs. After they lay the eggs, it is back in the tree, otherwise they are an easy meal for a predator.

hmm... yeah i guess that makes sense since chameleons don't make nests or anything thanks

 

[summoner12]

I just had Caddie in the laying bin. She wasn't happy to see my hand reaching in there... I don't think it was in defense of the eggs though.

Females don't lay until they know its safe to dig and hide the eggs well so that they don't have to guard them. That is another reason they like to dig under a tree... roots make it harder for a predator to dig up the eggs.

 

[yokazooma]

I just had Caddie in the laying bin. She wasn't happy to see my hand reaching in there... I don't think it was in defense of the eggs though.

Females don't lay until they know its safe to dig and hide the eggs well so that they don't have to guard them. That is another reason they like to dig under a tree... roots make it harder for a predator to dig up the eggs.

oh i see. i didn't know they buried the eggs either. sorry guys, the question just popped in my head earlier and since i was already here i just figured i'd ask. a little knowledge doesnt hurt : ) thanks

 

[dondeb562]

They drop and go! lol! No motherly instinct at all. In fact if they were near a hatching nest they would probably mistaken them for lunch!lol!
There are other species of lizards though that do guard there nests. Uros will, leos, etc, but not chams. They bury those nests back pretty good and head straight back for the trees when done.

 

[summoner12]

Here is how they look as you start to dig for them. They are just in a little group.

They cover up the digging area as if nothing happened there....

 

[dondeb562]

For sure. Took me over an hour to find my panther egg nest a couple weeks ago and I even knew the general area on where they were. They pack them down really tight and make it look just like the pick that Kevin posted, as though there was never a nest there.

 

[summoner12]

To kinda give you an idea of the amount of effort they are willing to put in... I didn't have enough dirt in Caddie's new laying bin. She wanted to dig deeeeep and with all the dirt flat, she couldn't go very far down. Caddie kept digging new holes and moving around. The whole bin was full of craters. So I took her out and put her back in her cage for a day or two. Before putting her back into the bin I pushed a lot of the dirt to one side but left the bottom of the bin still covered. I then hung a fake plant over the mound of dirt. I even made a starter hole. She went for the starter hole first, but I guess wasn't happy with it. She went to the other side of the fake plant and dug in deep. She was so deep that when I came home from work I couldn't see her because of the angle she dug. I was seriously worried the dirt had fallen in on her or that it could. I found her poking her head out a little a while later. She filled the massive hole up and THEN started to try and level all the dirt in the bin. She started with filling in the two starter holes she made and then started to work on moving the mound of dirt to make the bin an even layer of dirt....

At this point I picked her up and gave her a shower and put her back in her cage and fed her and misted her. They will do all they can to make the area 'natural'.

My Melleri, Lenny, even put leaves over the laying area when she was done filling in the hole. I don't know if she did it on purpose or what, but they were right above where she laid the eggs.

This is the new laying bin:

As you can see she is pretty small. This photo was taken before I moved the dirt to one side.

 

[Todnedo]

I put a thin layer of white sand on top of the darker sand to help find the nest after she lays.

 

[siz]

She was so deep that when I came home from work I couldn't see her because of the angle she dug. I was seriously worried the dirt had fallen in on her or that it could. I found her poking her head out a little a while later. She filled the massive hole up and THEN started to try and level all the dirt in the bin. She started with filling in the two starter holes she made and then started to work on moving the mound of dirt to make the bin an even layer of dirt....

My Melleri, Lenny, even put leaves over the laying area when she was done filling in the hole. I don't know if she did it on purpose or what, but they were right above where she laid the eggs.

That's really interesting. I didn't realize they literally dug a huge hole, haha. Super funny that she leveled out all the dirt, I lol..ed.

 

[Miss Lily]

That's really interesting. I didn't realize they literally dug a huge hole, haha. Super funny that she leveled out all the dirt, I lol..ed.

Yeah, they do! Lily packed her soil right down as hard as she could. Makes it quite a task to get to the eggs though!