Incubating Panther Eggs in Montana!

[Emilia]

Hello all! I'm new to the chameleon world and I am due to receive Panther Chameleon eggs this week. I see online that most people put them in boxes and generally hide them in a closet or somewhere quiet. I understand doing it that way is the norm and is easy down south or in warmer climates, but I am in North Central Montana and we will soon to be very experiencing cold weather. I did find a video on YouTube showing how to make a styrofoam cooler into an incubator but I am looking for more details on the humidity and temperatures I need to keep the eggs. Any insight on incubating and raising Panthers in colder climates would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Scottsquatch]

Wet some vermiculite and wring it out to the point that you might get one drop of water if you squeeze a fistful. Poke a few very small holes in the lid of a container (I like to use the zip loc containers for egg incubaion) and place it in your styrofoam box or incubator. Place a container of water in there too to maintan humidity. I was taught to incubate at 72-73 degrees because you get a better hatch rate with the slightly cooler temps. Some people go 75-76 degrees, but that is the very upper limit they can take and you will get lower hatch rates at those temps. Good luck!

 

[Emilia]

Thank you very much. How about humidity?

 

[Scottsquatch]

Like i said above about how to wring out the verm. That with a container of water in the box at those temps will hold the humidity where it needs to be. Not sure of the %.

 

[Emilia]

perfect! thank you

 

[kinyonga]

The egg containers will form beads of moisture on the inside of the lid and walls of the containers. That's normal. If you take the lid off once in a while to check the eggs don't leave the lid off long and if the eggs/vermiculite appear to be drying out and you need to add a bit of water do not get it on the eggs...add it around the edges of the container. When putting the vermiculite in the containers, leave "head" room....in outer words don't fill the containers full. If when you check the eggs there are ones inside that look bad, etc move them to another container but don't give up on them until they are definitely bad. Make sure the eggs are in a dark spot to incubate them...no lights on inside the incubation container.

 

[Scottsquatch]

Yeah, Kinyonga always remembers to mention those point that I always forget. Those points are equally important. Don forget them!

 

[Emilia]

I've been doing a bunch of research and it seems like different people have different bits of advice some say it is okay to have a light bulb in the incubator and some say not. My temperature in my incubator box I made gets as low as 64 when no light is on for 24 hours and right now I believe it is at around 80 something with the light on as low as it can go but it is a 40 watt bulb so I'm thinking maybe a smaller bulb. That is if it is okay to have a dim bulb in the incubator box. If it is not okay to have light, what do you suggest I use for a heat source? Keep in mind I am in Montana and our temperatures are beginning to fall. For example today it is about 32 degrees. My house temperature ranges between 68 and 72 on a daily basis but watching my thermometer on its high and lows shows that the temperatures drop lower.

 

[Emilia]

here are a few photos of the incubator box I made...

 

[laurie]

Hello Emi, I told you that CF would be a great place for you! Just incubate the eggs in a warmer part of the house, not next to an outside wall.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

here are a few photos of the incubator box I made...

Maybe you could use heat tape, but make sure you hide the window, or make sure that light is minimized. Where did you get the eggs from? How many, and what locale? Just curious

 

[kinyonga]

@Scottsquatch said..."Yeah, Kinyonga always remembers to mention those point that I always forget. Those points are equally important. Don forget them!"...thanks for the comments! I've learned over the years that if you don't mention every thing you can think of it will come back to haunt you!

There was a study done concerning incubating eggs in the light or dark and that the dark produced better babies and a better batch rate. I don't know if I can find it or not to show you. It was something like 37% hatch rate if incubated in light and 81% in the dark. I think it was Petr Necas woh wrote about it.

Can you do/put something to block the light but still let the heat through...like use a very opaque container to put the eggs in inside the incubator?

Here's one but not the study I was looking for...read under incubation....
http://www.turtledoctor.freeservers.com/custom3.html

 

[Scottsquatch]

I would suggest a smaller bulb. The ups and downs are not good for development. All the people I have talked to who breed seem to stress that consistent temps are very important. I have also been told to keep them dark.