male just mated with female...not sure what to do (first time)

[CodyBaz]

My female is about 2 years old and ive gone through about 4 or 5 infertile clutches with her so im rather familiar. today as i was switching my male and female between cages i let them interact and he immediately jumped on her and did the dirty, this is my first mating. She has been hanging around the bottom of the enclosure for tthe last week before today and i would say she is about 2 -3 weeks before laying. she usually acts weird like that for a few weeks and then sends me a warning sign by dropping an egg or 2 on the ground, when that happens i immediately isolate her in her laying bucket which is in her enclosure at all times. so my question is, will this clutch be fertile? and if so how will i tell and what are requirements from laying to hatching. When do i dig them up to incubate? do i buy an incubator? what temps do i keep the eggs at? pretty much every detail from laying to hatching for a veiled cham? anything helps please and thank you.

 

[kinyonga]

First of all it bothers me that she is dropping eggs each time before she lays the clutch. How big are her clutches?

Whether or not the eggs will be fertile or not depends nowhere she was in her cycle when she was mated. Hard to be sure. You should be able to tell when they are laid whether they are fertile or not. Infertile eggs are smaller and not as white as fertile ones.

Don't let her see you watching her while she is digging/laying the eggs. When she is done laying them and has filled the hole in and tamped it down and returned to the branches you can dig up the eggs.

To incubate the eggs you need a place to put them in he dark where the temperature is around 74 degrees F....so if you can find a place like that in your house you don't need an incubator.

To incubate them...dig them up carefully and move them to the incubation container without turning them. The incubation container can be a plastic shoebox sized container with a lid. I punch two very tiny holes in the lid and fill the container about half full of slightly moist coarse grained vermiculite. To test for moisture...take a fist full of the vermiculite and if you can only squeeze a drop or two of water from it,it should be right. Make slight indentations with your thumb in the vermiculite in rows about one inch apart in all directions and place the eggs in the dents. Put the lid on it and place it where you intend to incubate the eggs. Beads of moisture will format on the sides of the container and under the lid.

Check on the eggs from time to time to see how they are doing.

 

[CodyBaz]

thank you very much for your input. like i said i am familiar with the laying process and as for dropping an egg or 2 before laying, it is something that concerns me also but this is something she simply does lately the last couple of clutches. i try to prematurely put her in the laying bin when i see the signs but she just claws at the sides and does not dig. usually i catch her the day she drops an egg or 2 and put her in immediately and she usually goes right into digging. i can try again to put her in but she has her own tendencies. im open to suggestions and i thank you again for your reply

 

[CodyBaz]

she always lays at least 25-30 eggs a clutch. it bothers me too kinyonga that she drops one but she simply does not dig when i put her in prematurely into the bin. i leave a stick in so she can climb out if she wants but she knows her designated spot. maybe i shouldnt give her the option and just isolate her as soon as she starts crawling around the bottom and ignore the scratching. im thinking she might also be at he bottom and attached to the door simply because my male is across the room and she knows that. thats why i switch the cages because he is in her original home. excuse my reasoning but these little critters have their own minds

 

[jonpfeiffer]

Perhaps your best bet would be to have a permanent laying bin in the enclosure.

 

[CodyBaz]

i do jon read the posts before u reply