PLEASE HELP!

[janjan20]

I have no experience with this species but, if she is skinnier, or looks sandy/dirty that would be a good sign she has laid the eggs. If you can tell she has explored the lay bin, hopefully you will be able to tell if she has dug a hole to lay eggs. Combine that with looking dirty and skinny. Good signs to look for, Hope all goes well!

 

[kinyonga]

Please try to give her as much peace as possible right now so she will feel safe to dig no lay the eggs. I'm opting she won't retain any.

Do you know how to incubate them?

 

[WhoopeeTheCham]

Hey guys! Sooo... I have been doing some digging and talking to carpet cham owners. I also got in touch with a gentleman that has been to Madagascar on multiple diffrent occasions to study the Furcifer lateralis or carpet chameleon aka white-lined chameleon and has been doing so for many many years. Any who..... I feel this is so crucial to any carpet cham owners. So I'm sorry this is gonna be kinda long and I'm gonna call out some names I'm not discounting their knowledge and their experience. However I am providing you with my experience in frantically trying to find information as there is not a lot out there sadly. I had quite the long conversation with Petr's Chameleon Page on Facebook and this is the man that has studied this species in the wild. He is extremely knowledgeable. He was kind enough to go over my husbandry with a fine tooth comb. And he did say that I was sadly mistaken about the temps that a carpet cham should be kept in. He had me adjust my temps to about 10 degrees cooler. As carpet chams live in the mountains and naturally experience much lower temperatures. so before this I was being told to follow Frank Payne his recommendations are to bring the temperatures in the 90's. However once she was in the 90's for a basking spot she was extremely dark and it was very concerning; which is why I did all this digging. Now that I have lowered her into the low eightys for a basking spot and set her basking on a 1 hour timer in the morning and a 1 hour timer in the evening for her heat lamp. She is absolutely stunning just after a 12 hours adjustment period. She is no longer turning black when I come near, now she is just protecting her babies. I even seen the first bits of bright orange today. I have never seen those colors in her. Again these are just my observations and where I recieved my information. Thanks for hanging in there with me guys.

 

[WhoopeeTheCham]

Please try to give her as much peace as possible right now so she will feel safe to dig no lay the eggs. I'm opting she won't retain any.

Do you know how to incubate them?

Yes I think I'm gonna use hatchrite in a plastic container. I'm still researching most effective humidity levels for a successful hatch. Also I feed and water before she wakes up and I peek in on her long enough to do a fogger water change and to see if she has dropped in size(maybe a minute I'm bugging her a day) other than that she is all by her little lonesome.

 

[kinyonga]

I've never used htchrite so I can't tell you what to do with it.
Coarse grained vermiculite is all I've ever used and since it worked I've never changed to anything else. I'm sure lots of people on here have used it though...hope they chime in.

 

[WhoopeeTheCham]

I've never used htchrite so I can't tell you what to do with it.
Coarse grained vermiculite is all I've ever used and since it worked I've never changed to anything else. I'm sure lots of people on here have used it though...hope they chime in.

I have seen that method as well. What's your ratios? And what do you hold you humidity at and for what species? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[kinyonga]

To test for proper dampness of the vermiculite substrate in the incubation bins...take a handful of the moist vermiculite. If you can't squeeze out more than a drop or two of water the vermiculite is moist enough. If the containers have beads of moisture on the insides of them they are humid enough. This is the way I've done it for many many years. Lots of people weigh the bins and measure the water and vermiculite...I'll leave it up to them to tell you about that.

When I started keeping chameleons over years ago there were no guidelines. We just figured it out as we went along.

BTW I've never hatched carpet chameleons...but I have hatched panthers, veileds, deremensis, Comoros island chmeleons, common chameleons, lots of gecko species, water dragons, tortoises, cone heads, etc.

 

[WhoopeeTheCham]

To test for proper dampness of the vermiculite substrate in the incubation bins...take a handful of the moist vermiculite. If you can't squeeze out more than a drop or two of water the vermiculite is moist enough. If the containers have beads of moisture on the insides of them they are humid enough. This is the way I've done it for many many years. Lots of people weigh the bins and measure the water and vermiculite...I'll leave it up to them to tell you about that.

When I started keeping chameleons over years ago there were no guidelines. We just figured it out as we went along.

BTW I've never hatched carpet chameleons...but I have hatched panthers, veileds, deremensis, Comoros island chmeleons, common chameleons, lots of gecko species, water dragons, tortoises, cone heads, etc.

That's awesome. Thats lots of animals... I could wing it... but I'd rather not hehe. Hats off to you though!

 

[kinyonga]

Better not to wing it...it was the only choice back then. Nobody kept chameleons much back then and there was no info anywhere about care or anything. I've just kept things that worked and changed things that didn't over the years.

 

[AmandaS]

How is this little lady doing @WhoopeeTheCham

 

[WhoopeeTheCham]

She is doing well. Still no eggs but she is now shedding. Lol I made a a couple more slight changes and she is loving it. She is wandering all over and enjoying her little chameleon life. Lol

Thank you for asking.