Need help with pygmy chams!!!!

[chamgal]

I have had two pygmy chams for a few months now, and my female died about a month ago. So I ordered two more females online and they arrived two weeks ago. One female is VERY tiny...must be a baby and the other was meggo preggo!!

My male was SO HAPPY to have females back in his tank. He became active again and followed them around everywhere!! Last night, the pregnant female died. What is going on here!! I don't have very high temps but keep it very humid (as per the species requirements). Why are all my females dying!! Does anyone else on here have pygmy cams?

I thought that the first female may have died from egg impaction...but another female too!!!???!!!

Another question....how large are pygmy cham eggs. I went "egg hunting" in their tank today after burying the female and found nothing. I was told by one person that they were like tic tacs, and another person told me that they were fairly large (hard to believe due to the size of the chams).

Anyways....any advice? Can anyone help answer my questions?
THANKS!!

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Greetings, and sorry to hear about your struggles with the pygmies. I personally don't have pygmies now but did breed pygs for a little while before selling them all.

Please describe your tank enclosure to us, and your temps, humidity, how you provide the humidity, and how you measure your temps and humidity. Also your feeding schedule. And how you provide lighting. This will help the folks here to respond intelligently to your query.

 

[lisa h]

The eggs mine laid looked like tic tacs. She was pretty big when I got her. Follow gesang's advice and provide more info. Keep in mind that they are not long lived. If they were wild caught maybe they were just old.

 

[chamgal]

Thank you everyone for the responses. I do believe that it was in fact stress that must have killed her. I had 3 pygmy chams in a 20G tall enclosure and figured that they would have had plenty of room to hide and get away from each other. My male never "mounted" the gravid female...but he did definitely stalk her. Maybe that was too much for her. It makes me sick to know that I did this to her (unintentionally).

I am using eco-earth as substrate over a false bottom for drainage, and have planted the tank with TONS of live plants and branches etc. The temperature stays around 68F and the humidity ranges from 60-80%. They do get UVB day lights 12 hours per day (mostly for the live plants). I am feeding flightless fruit flies and pinhead crickets dusted with calcium. The fruit flies tend to hang around the tank more and don't get eaten as much as the crickets. I am replenishing their food supply every 2-3 days depending on what is still alive and hopping around in there.

The little baby seems to be doing really well. I have moved both the male and the baby girl into a 12*12*18 exoterra (with live plants, vines, branches, etc) for the time being as I am going to thorougly clean and disinfect the old tank.

I really hope that I don't screw up again, and that everything goes well for my two little pygmy chams!!!