Worry about a Gracilior Hatchling

jajeanpierre

Chameleon Enthusiast
Early this evening, my fifth gracilior hatched. When I opened the box to check--oh, it feels like Christmas every time I look into the incubator!--I didn't get a good feeling about the baby. His/her egg yolk is not completely absorbed. I left him/her in the incubator (vermiculite) for the night. Is there something else I should do?
 
Early this evening, my fifth gracilior hatched. When I opened the box to check--oh, it feels like Christmas every time I look into the incubator!--I didn't get a good feeling about the baby. His/her egg yolk is not completely absorbed. I left him/her in the incubator (vermiculite) for the night. Is there something else I should do?

That can happen. If its out of the shell and walking around the incubation container, I go ahead and put them in the cage. It dries up and falls off pretty quickly. I'd worry more if it were kept soft and they keep dragging it around picking up debris and tugging on it while stumbling over it. I put them in the cage and lightly spray it to dislodge any debris and let them go from there. Eggs are sometimes known to communicate with each other to illicit a mass hatch to not only help each other dig out but the slower growers are also predatory distractions. Incubating eggs too close or letting the hatchlings walk over the other eggs could possibly cause a hatchling to emerge sooner than it would otherwise. This is just my opinion and what I've done in the past. If someone has a different experience I'd like to hear it.
 
Thanks. I found it late, when lights were going off within the hour. It just didn't seem as strong--sort of tipped on its side and in a tangle--as I would have liked. Maybe it had emerged from the egg just a few seconds before. It's dark and lights are out. Leave it in the incubator or put it on a branch in the dark?
 
Leave it in the incubator, they don't do much the first 2 days anyway. Take it out tomorrow, it's just going to sit around until it absorbs the last bit of nutrients.
 
If you put a baby in the cage and the yolk gets stuck to something it can sometimes pull the inards out of breath chameleon as it tries to get free.
 
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