Julir's Bertha II laid 67 eggs today

[Chameleons Northwest]

Julirs' Bertha II laid 67 eggs today. This is a larger clutch than one would want a veiled to lay, but she ate and drank afterwards and seems to be doing fine. After she recovers from the clutch we will reduce her food intake in hopes she will have smaller clutches in the future. But, she is a BIG girl.

It is midnight here and she just finished up a little bit ago so I will take photos tomorrow. I am kicking myself that I did not take any photos of her before she laid the clutch. We have been very distracted lately with our Meller's, and so although I was keeping a close eye on Bertha I wasn't very handy with the camera.

BACKGROUND: Julirs sent us her large female veiled, Bertha II, earlier this year to mate with Botero. Well, she spent a few days with him in June, when she was 11 months old. She did not display gravid coloration afterwards but it did become obvious that she was developing a clutch. I think sometimes just being with or near a male can stimulate a veiled to develop that first infertile clutch.

Botero had impacted hemipenes plugs (we didn't realize at the time), and so we don't know if they really did breed. You would assume this first clutch of hers is unfertile, but most of the eggs look so good I am incubating them anyway. Bertha and Botero were together at least 2 days, so something may have transpired when I was not watching.

Anyway, the eggs are tucked away and Mom is hopefully asleep by now.

 

[summoner12]

yay good news. she is prolly dreaming of lighter days lol

 

[haleybobl]

It should be interesting to see the outcome of these eggs after hearing about the sperm plug ordeal. Hopefully they are fertile!

 

[Julirs]

Holy moly-she is taking after her mother! Carla laid 81(?-I have to go back and look) which was the clutch Bertha was in and 69 all hatched-they were also huge babies and are huge Veileds. Carla never showed gravid colors unless she was mad at me-and I think once when she was digging. I so hope they are fertile! I think they will make beautiful babies! Oh-and Carla always double clutched-but the 2nd batch always proved to be infertile.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Today's photos of the new svelte Bertha II:

TELL ME HONESTLY, DOES THIS BRANCH MAKE ME LOOK FAT?

Female veileds are not very photogenic. She is sucking in her tummy for the camera.

Hmmm. Sad to say, this morning the eggs don't look as good as I thought they did at midnight last night. But we shall see.

 

[AJA]

Congratulations Sandy! I am happy that Bertha II is doing well after the egg laying. You could use some good news about now.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Pictures?

Wow! What a lot of work you have been doing over the last month. So many things going on at once. The pictures showed up as red X's for me......I'd love to see them. Will keep my fingers crossed for the eggs. Even if fertile a few are bound to go bad. The original Bertha's huge clutch was amazing too. I can't imagine caring for all those hungry little ones.

I was thinking of Botero last week. I did a bunch of breeding last week. I watched three different males after they were presented with their female for mating. Along with the head bobbing stuff, I watched all three males internally move their "stuff" around inside their tail bulge. You could see them working it. All three worked out a fresh and pliable smegma plug. After that process they went forward with breeding. Watching this I was thinking that the breeding process must actually help them clean out that stuff on a regular basis. They apparantly needed to do that to make way for the breeding "DNA transfer". It made me think of Botero. One way to maybe help him stay clear in the future is to provide him with some regular play time with the ladies

 

[eisentrauti]

sorry, don't want to hijack this threat, but I must always think about Bertha from "two and a half man"

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Our hosting company is doing upgrades today, and so none of our photos are showing up now. They show up on my computer, but not on my husband's or anyone else's! Can't do anything about it now. Will just have to wait.

 

[SimonBolivar]

What a trooper!

 

[AJA]

You could see them working it. All three worked out a fresh and pliable smegma plug. After that process they went forward with breeding. Watching this I was thinking that the breeding process must actually help them clean out that stuff on a regular basis. They apparantly needed to do that to make way for the breeding "DNA transfer". It made me think of Botero. One way to maybe help him stay clear in the future is to provide him with some regular play time with the ladies

This is probably a stupid question, but you don't know until you ask. I know you can spay a female, but I am wondering if she would still mate with a male?

The reason you might want to do this would be to check for the following male misfunctions of a plugged hemipene or low sperm count or whatever, without using up a good female that you don't want to breed to that particular male. Probably not cost affective?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

This is probably a stupid question, but you don't know until you ask. I know you can spay a female, but I am wondering if she would still mate with a male?

The reason you might want to do this would be to check for the following male misfunctions of a plugged hemipene or low sperm count or whatever, without using up a good female that you don't want to breed to that particular male. Probably not cost affective?

Ah, I see the photos are back!

Botero had his "medical procedure" last monday (getting impacted hemipenis plugs removed). Over the weekend I put a female in with him that had never been mated. She stayed by his side, very receptive all day. Though I did not see them go at it I was not able to be in there most of the day. The next day she was showing full gravid coloration, and has maintained those colors ever since, and is already "filling out". So, I do think Botero got the job done. He's a high strung dude, though, and so perhaps he will not actually get down to the real business as long as I am within sight.

Catherine had a good idea. I've watched our male veiled Guido work out the smegma before breeding too. We do have 5 adult veiled females in the harem, and so will endeavor to service Botero pretty regularly now that he has had his impactions removed.

If Bertha didn't get fertilized by Botero in June, we will be able to try again in a few months.

 

[chams1]

Yay for the Gesangs!! I love seeing eggs..... This is great news.

(Re the pics: I love it when they try to suck it in.... )

 

[laurie]

Sandy glad somethings are starting back to normal, but that clutch may be pushing normal past the limit. Congrats and I hope their are some fertile ones.

About the breeding of a male to help them get the plug out, would it work if you put them in with the female long enough to "get the plug" out and removed the male prior ti the act taking place? I have never watched my kids but just wondered if this might be an option as that is way to many babies for this household.

 

[Pure]

Wouldn't it be just as good to give the male a "sock" Or a blow up cham.

Seriously if you wanna save the ladies the pain of breeding, a stuffed animal cham might be in order.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Great pictures........

Those pictures are great. She is SO skinny now! She does look big (and pretty). That's great that Botero is back in business. I like that idea of once in a while putting a female in long enough to clean the male out. Sounds like Botero doesn't like audiences though so it would not work for him. I don't know about socks for chams but my male iguana gets a cotton glove several times a year. I put the glove on and pet and rub my female iguana (including the underside where the scent pores are). Then I remove the glove and give it to my male iguana. He will bite it and hump it Too many iguanas in the world and my female tried to kill him the couple of times they have been together. She was fixed so I thought maybe he could have some fun with her. She hates him with a passion though