NEW BORNS
- Thread starter CHIMP
- Start date
Reptofreak
Chameleon Enthusiast
Lmbo so do I, I’m expecting a similar sized clutch very soon!
how long was your incubation period?
Reptofreak
Chameleon Enthusiast
Great idea!!!!
CHIMP
Established Member
I have herd everything from 9 to 14 months. mine have been a little over 8 months.
CasqueAbove
Chameleon Enthusiast
Do you have an idea of how many cultures per cham? I will be here soon, well 3 months. Just want to have my ducks in a row.
CasqueAbove
Chameleon Enthusiast
I had 59 way too many from over feeding, I learned. I am going to cull some because I am just not prepared to properly care for this number.
I was expecting 15-20.
CasqueAbove
Chameleon Enthusiast
Well this story sounds familiar lol. That is how I got to where I am. My space is limited as well. I still plan too breed but on a slow scale. My current plan is to keep no more than 10, unless spoken for.
I have 6 reptile shows that come near me and this is where I plan to sell. I have been keeping an eye on the number of veileds I see at the shows.
My plan is to create proper set ups to provide long, healthy lives. The Cham will be free with set up.
I do not plan to profit it is a hobby, if I break even I am happy. I just want to share what we see in these little guys.
CHIMP
Established Member
Well I thought 50 cultures might be a bit much. After making cultures I stand by that. I do about 8 cultures in a 32oz cup at a time and I have more than I know what to do with. I would say it takes about two weeks before the numbers start growing. After that they start producing by the bucket load. Each one of my cultures lasts about a month and it only takes a small amount in a new container to get a new culture started. I suggest playing with the amount of food you put in to determine how long you want them to last but after a month it goes bad. There are a lot of culture recipes out there online. I think they all work. I tried two and had no problems with either. I am adding the one I suck with from a youtube video. I wish you good luck with your babies.
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CHIMP
Established Member
Also i add a little extra water to it. it just seams to me to be a little too thick. and its not a mater of culture per lizard. 1 culture pending when it was created could feed the whole lot. but you may go through them faster. What I have learned is more to cycle them. have one or two started before you need it.
Brodybreaux25
Chameleon Enthusiast
I stand by my original statement. Every hatchling will eat 15-20 flies a day, start now.
CHIMP
Established Member
How big of cultures are you referring too. I ask because I did 32 oz cups and after two weeks of growth I would say I am producing a couple hundred a day per culture. multiply that by 8 cultures and you see the numbers I am talking about. I just do not see the need for 50 cultures based on that. mind you i am still new and still less than a week in with baby chameleons, but they do not even come close to eating that much.
CHIMP
Established Member
I agree they need to start now. Get them going and perfecting any errors. but for me, I have a container full of frozen ones I am using for fish food. Just because I have so many. I even tried selling cultures but no one in my area actually wants them. So at this point I have a surplus of fruit flies. I will add with the corona going around this is not a bad thing. Everyone seams to be closing down and supplies are limited as to what you can get. There are still sellers out there online. but as a word of caution to everyone I recommend starting your own insect colonies.
CHIMP
Established Member
Well if multiple people are saying 50 cultures is the number than maybe it is. I personally do not have the space for 50 but I also breed crickets and now roaches so I think I will be fine. being I am new I do not want to discredit anyone. I just see what I see and I could be wrong!
Brodybreaux25
Chameleon Enthusiast
I do 16oz. The 15 a day figure is for 3-14 day old hatchlings. This will jump up considerably in a very short period of time. There will be a period of time where they are demolishing flies but not ready for pinheads yet. This is when having a surplus is critical. It’s also an insurance policy should any of your colonies suddenly crash, your babies won’t starve.
Kaizen
Chameleon Enthusiast
Each baby eats ~10 food items/day, so that’s 480 food items/day. You’ll be rearing them for at least 6 weeks (yes I know, but their veileds and lets be realistic). So 42 days at 480 food items = 20,000 food items. 50 ff cultures, 20 bean beetle cultures, and as many pin heads and baby supers as you can.
CHIMP
Established Member
Ok, so according to your figures I am at the equivalent of sixteen 16oz cultures. to which your saying is still not enough for once they get growing. I know from my figures I can double or triple that in two weeks time, maybe more. My roaches are just starting, I have about 50, but my crickets I have been doing a while now and I started with 1000 adults in 1 bin. I now have twenty 30-50 gal bins with different sizes. 8 of which have newborns atm, to that I can only guess I have about 5k in each container. The medium and adults I separate out for better spacing and further breeding. I also breed meal and super worms and those I am guessing I have about 150k, maybe more, its a rack system. meal worms are for my geckos not the chameleons. But this in total is what I have. You have already stated you think I am low on the flies, I can improve on this if you think it is necessary. I also apologize if you feel I am giving incorrect info, however as you can see I did take your advise. Just after I had so many I started questioning it. I am also assuming you stagger your production? in other words like 15 ready to go, 15 a week in, and 15 started? not correct numbers just an example. If not how do you deal with that many and what do you do when your colonies start exhausting the resources?
