Female laid eggs

[Chameleons]

It is that time of year again! Our female iguana has laid 66 eggs, 63 of which look good. The three bad ones were damaged during the burying of them by the female. As you can see from the photo the effort of laying the eggs leaves the poor female wrecked. It always amazes us how she fits 66 eggs, which are not far of the size of small chicken eggs, inside her body. Just after she laid the eggs we needed to reassure ourselves that she was still alive, as she was exhausted but she was fine, just dirty.

For the first day or so after laying she kept returning to the laying box to inspect the eggs, oblivious to the fact they had gone. That was a week ago. She has already lost the 'empty' sides and is getting stronger every day, with a good diet. This is her fifth year of laying fertile eggs. Now all we have to do is wait for the youngsters to hatch.

Just to let you know, the male is over 1.5 metres long - so if you see a cute green iguana for sale, remember that they do grow into monsters!
David
http://www.sa-chameleons.com
or visit http://www.mantispress.co.za for details of our new chameleon book

Moved

[rolandslf]

Awesome news Duse, congrats. Kudos to you for posting that warning about how big they get, people do not realise things like this.
I must add that the female looks wasted after laying all those eggs. Just a quick question, Do you breed her every season, or do you give her seasonal breaks?

[Rishaad]

Congrats and good luck with the eggs.

[Chameleons]

Thanks, they seem to be doing well in the incubators. She lays eggs every year but my wife works hard to build her up during the year with a good and varied diet. They are kept in a specially designed room, 4m by 2m by 2.5m high, with under floor heating, tiles floor with guttering for easy cleaning etc.

Hopefully the first ones will hatch mid December.
David

[LeglessDragon]

Congrats on the eggs. Sounds like a nice room for them.

[Skilpad]

Will you be selling the hatchlings and at what age?
Johann

[Chameleons]

I will be posting them here and on our web site www.sa-chameleons.com when they are ready. They will have to be about 3 weeks old before I sell them. If you are interested, drop me a PM or send an e-mail via the web site.
David
083 443 0735
www.sa-chameleons.com
www.mantispress.co.za

[HOUSE OF DRAGONS]

congrate C
hope the eggs are fine, your female did well. mine suprised me with a whole batch she was dropping in the water bowl.
she did dig like crazy, but i found her bump over a branch dropping the eggs in the water. i manage to catch about 15 mid air, the rest i took out the water, 56 eggs. is a week now, will have a look to-nite to see whats cooking!!
last season she buried them all, but this time she really took the water- birth thing to far!!!!!
good luck with the book

[Chameleons]

Good news - they've started hatching. They might have chosen better weather but as we are keeping a room warm for the chameleons its no so bad (and the forecast promises improvement later in the week....)

Now comes the task of getting them off to a good start! Fortunately, Lesley (my forbearing wife) is the one who gets to look after such things and she lavishes great care and attention on them- they are better fed than the human side of the family. What isn't grown in the garden invariably comes from Woolworth's.

Hope your water born eggs develop well. And thanks for your comment about the book - it is going far better than I could have hoped for.

David
http://www.sa-chameleons.com
http://www.mantispress.co.za

[Fooble]

Nice that pictures is so cool.
One can never get tired of seeing hatchling anythings hatching!

[Loretta]

Very nice photo Chameleons! Congrats!

[Rishaad]

Wonderful. Congratulations.

[Chameleons]

The little fellows are a lovely green - and so active! When we open the cage they are in we have to do so in a room with a tiled floor. That way if one does escape (they shoot out like bullets!) they can't get far as their little legs motor away but they stay stationary on the slippery floor.

I can't believe the response to the advert - they were nearly all sold before they were two weeks old - but only collected later. They are now about 4 weeks and we are down to the last few.
David