jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
This little T. q. gracilior was in big trouble right out of the egg. Fortunately I opened the box to check on them very soon after he hatched. You can see he's still thickly covered in clear fluid and still partly in the egg. He was very weak, which doesn't seem to be unusual for a very newly hatched baby. Hatching seems to take a lot out of some who just lie there in a pile with their eyes closed for a long time, often hours.
I saw a lot of frank blood on the vermiculite. Normally, all their moving around slitting the eggs will cause the egg yolk to be pulled inside their body. Sometimes they are in a position inside the egg that just doesn't create whatever environment/movements needed to absorb the yolk. Often they will slit the egg and then spend another day or so quietly in the egg resting and I think absorbing the yolk. Sometimes they come out with a substantial amount of egg yolk that hasn't been absorbed.
This can be problematic on many fronts. First, there is the very real risk that they will rupture blood vessels around the yolk as they move around dragging it and bleed out. There is the risk of peritonitis, an infection of the abdominal cavity that is introduced through the opening in the abdominal wall that the egg yolk is pulled through and into the body.
There were ots of risks for this baby, the first one being getting him out of the incubating box without rupturing the yolk. Normally, I leave babies with yolks in the incubating box but this one's yolk was just too big to risk him dragging it through the vermiculite or allowing other siblings that were hatching to crawl over him and damage the yolk sac. He was much too weak to climb up on something so I scooped him and the vermiculite he was laying on up with a big spoon and put him in a "hospital" deli cup. I put wet paper towels on the bottom and misted the whole thing wanting it very wet so the yolk sac could slide more easily if he moved. I didn't want it to dry out, either, since I wanted as much to be absorbed before his body pinched it all off. I have a new empty incubator I'm running to check the temps that has a solid door so he went into that incubator in complete darkness. I left him for most of the day in complete darkness.
When I checked on him at the end of the day, he was perching normally on a little fold of wet paper towel and much of the yolk has been absorbed. I added some fern fronds, a piece of bamboo skewer and a few fruit flies and put him on my desk. By last night, all that was left was a big fleshy lump and by this morning, just a little stump. I found the fleshy lump that had been pinched off, but most important I did not find any egg yolk or blood. He was very normal and active so I put him in the big enclosure with his siblings.
When I first saw him, I honestly did not think he could possibly survive considering the amount of frank blood I found just outside his shell, the size of the yolk and how weak he was and stayed so long after hatch. They really are tough little things if you give them a chance.
In the first picture, you can see he's still partly in the egg.
The egg yolk was about the size of his head. Lots of nice red blood vessels....
He was so weak hours after hatch that he fell over and couldn't even right himself. The good news was the egg yolk was being absorbed. Nothing had ruptured--no blood or egg yolk in the cup. If you blow up the area around his navel, you can see a bright red blood vessel still pumping blood between the yolk and his abdomen.
A few hours later, he was stronger so graduated to the light on my desk with fern fronds, a perch and fruit flies.
This is this morning. Very blurry picture, but all that is left is a little stump. I found the fleshy bit in the bottom of the deli cup. He's now graduated to the big enclosure.
I saw a lot of frank blood on the vermiculite. Normally, all their moving around slitting the eggs will cause the egg yolk to be pulled inside their body. Sometimes they are in a position inside the egg that just doesn't create whatever environment/movements needed to absorb the yolk. Often they will slit the egg and then spend another day or so quietly in the egg resting and I think absorbing the yolk. Sometimes they come out with a substantial amount of egg yolk that hasn't been absorbed.
This can be problematic on many fronts. First, there is the very real risk that they will rupture blood vessels around the yolk as they move around dragging it and bleed out. There is the risk of peritonitis, an infection of the abdominal cavity that is introduced through the opening in the abdominal wall that the egg yolk is pulled through and into the body.
There were ots of risks for this baby, the first one being getting him out of the incubating box without rupturing the yolk. Normally, I leave babies with yolks in the incubating box but this one's yolk was just too big to risk him dragging it through the vermiculite or allowing other siblings that were hatching to crawl over him and damage the yolk sac. He was much too weak to climb up on something so I scooped him and the vermiculite he was laying on up with a big spoon and put him in a "hospital" deli cup. I put wet paper towels on the bottom and misted the whole thing wanting it very wet so the yolk sac could slide more easily if he moved. I didn't want it to dry out, either, since I wanted as much to be absorbed before his body pinched it all off. I have a new empty incubator I'm running to check the temps that has a solid door so he went into that incubator in complete darkness. I left him for most of the day in complete darkness.
When I checked on him at the end of the day, he was perching normally on a little fold of wet paper towel and much of the yolk has been absorbed. I added some fern fronds, a piece of bamboo skewer and a few fruit flies and put him on my desk. By last night, all that was left was a big fleshy lump and by this morning, just a little stump. I found the fleshy lump that had been pinched off, but most important I did not find any egg yolk or blood. He was very normal and active so I put him in the big enclosure with his siblings.
When I first saw him, I honestly did not think he could possibly survive considering the amount of frank blood I found just outside his shell, the size of the yolk and how weak he was and stayed so long after hatch. They really are tough little things if you give them a chance.
In the first picture, you can see he's still partly in the egg.
The egg yolk was about the size of his head. Lots of nice red blood vessels....
He was so weak hours after hatch that he fell over and couldn't even right himself. The good news was the egg yolk was being absorbed. Nothing had ruptured--no blood or egg yolk in the cup. If you blow up the area around his navel, you can see a bright red blood vessel still pumping blood between the yolk and his abdomen.
A few hours later, he was stronger so graduated to the light on my desk with fern fronds, a perch and fruit flies.
This is this morning. Very blurry picture, but all that is left is a little stump. I found the fleshy bit in the bottom of the deli cup. He's now graduated to the big enclosure.
Last edited:
