hatchlings due in a few weeks.

[mary prefontaine]

Ok I'm starting to get nervous now that the time is getting closer for a possible hatch. I'm reading several different things on what to feed the babies. One says pinheads, the other says fruit flies. I'm going to be ready for both, but know nothing of how to culture fruit flies.Can anyone give me an idea of how to do this? Im going to get some now in case my babies hatch early. It has been around 5 months now. and from what I'm reading they will hatch around 6 months, so I dont have a lot of time left here. So far I have got a 29 gallon tank with screen lid, tiny dowels, A vine, plants to buy, paper towels on the bottom of the cage, a mister, 5.0 reptisun lighting and a basking light (75 watt). Is there anything else i need? And please help with how to culture fruit flies. I used to raise crickets so I'm not too worried about pinheads. This is my first breeding, so far I have around 30 white eggs( not rotted yet) and I just want to be ready. Also… how do you keep the flies and pinheads from flying/crawling out of the screen lid when you feed the hatchlings?

 

[TreeTopChameleons]

When feeding hatchlings in my experience, having a variety of prey items is never a bad idea. To avoid your feeders escaping you might want to try cup feeding, this way you can have a good idea on which chameleons are eating, and which are not. Also for the fruit flies, you can culture flightless fruit flies, and then no longer have to worry about them escaping. My only concern is your 29 gallon enclosure sounds awfully small for 30 hatchlings to be roaming around in, not to mention, unless they are pygmy chams, they will grow quite quickly, and that could lead to extreme over crowding...good luck with the hatch rate! It must be a very exciting time for you!

 

[laurie]

Hi Mary, a couple things, first congrats, the first babies you hatch are magic. i love all babies but that first set is just too special.

Next here is a link to a blog on the forum about ff's and if you need anything else about them just let me know

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/bocajan/643-fruit-fly-medium-you-can-count.html

The only way i have been able to keep ff's in a cage is to use the mesh butterfly cages. I will post a link to how I had mine. But again I have no idea what kind of babies you are having so consider this was a clutch of deremensis.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/little-something-unusual-66718/

I buy the cages from the monarch website.

I also agree you need to be very careful with that number of babies in one tank, but it may work.

Again, if you need more help or whatever, just let us know.

 

[JohnnyD]

We use smaller sized screen cages for our babies. Tried sterilite type bins that you'll read about others using but lost a few babies in the process. Much better results with the screen cages, almost 100% survival rate since switching to these. Check out Joshs Frogs, their should be some instructions on making fruitful cultures. Their prices and quality are great also.

 

[pssh]

Fruit flies will escape a cage if they can get through the mesh. Regardless of if they can fly or not they will try!

What species of chameleon are you hatching?

 

[mary prefontaine]

oops sorry

Im trying to hatch panther chams. and my first step is to place them in this elongated 29 gallon aquarium, then move them to a larger individual cages as they grow. im probably going to build a large outdoor enclosure here in central florida until it gets cold then move them inside into there smaller individual enclosure. somehow i dont expect, being the first clutch that all 30 will hatch as some are looking yellowish, maybe due to the staining of the vermicilite and again maybe due to them not being fertile. As I said I only candled a few of them. and saw blood veins and shadows in 3 so far.. I will get the butterfly netting, thanks for that. can they live off of pinheads and maybe very small phoenix worms alone,? and yes i will definatly use the cup feeding method. the reason i try to avoid the fruit flies is because I had released fruit flies into my large cham cage once to do clean up in the cage and now they are all over my house, driving me nuts!How maNY 2X2X4 CAGES FOR UP TO 30 baby CHaMS COULD I KEEP IN EACH ONE? Then Im also working on selling them. I have around 8 people so far that want one due to my male being so gorgeous, i think ill probably sell them pretty good. I have some posted on my page if anyone wants to see them or i have pics of my male and female on face book as well under my name/gallery pics, ill post pictures of my set up now of my 29 gallon tank as well.