Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Rickeezee]

I find that when my chameleon eggs pip the cham usually emerges within a few hours or up to two days after piping the egg. Invariably the quicker the cham is out of the egg I have found these ones to be the strongest and most viable of the clutch.

On occasion I have gently helped the egg to pip where there seems to a problem, and / or where the cham appears to have a problem emerging have helped the cham out of the egg fully or partially out. When I have had to do this the survival rate has been low for the assisted hatchlings.

Now this makes me wonder the reasons for this is it:

Weak chams that would not survive anyway and can not cope with the hatching process?

My interference causing their death by helping them out of the egg?

Any ideas on this anyone?

I have found that just leaving the eggs when hatching is taking to long leads to a dead cham anyway, and helping them out does not allways lead to a better survival rate. Happily this does not happen that often and most of my eggs hatch out fine. Perhaps these are just chams that are not meant to be? Have varied humidity level to ensure eggs are supple enough to enable piping, that does not seem to be an issue.

Any thoughts on this or ideas on why some cham eggs get to the piping stage then the cham dies?
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

[Rickeezee]

Two days ago a panther egg started to pip , good size star cut in the egg shell, shell nice and moist so should have been no problems. Checked again this morning cham not emerged from egg, so I gently enlarged the egg slit and replaced the egg. Enlarged the split just enough so the the baby panthers head was showing at the egg opening. Just checked again and found the baby in the foetal position a few inches away from the empty egg.
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[Jase]

Sounds like a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If you interfere and the baby survives then great, it worked. If you interfere and the baby dies, did you cause it?

Maybe like you say, some just aren't meant to be

If you think of them in the wild, these aided hatchlings wouldn't survive and there has to be a reason for this, perhaps it's to limit competition with the others, it is survival of the fittest after all
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A lil bit of Madagascar

[Rickeezee]

Yep must admit that tends to be my conclusion, if they are going to make it they will if not they wont. Without sounding harsh I think its best if the weaker ones dont survive anyway, natural selection etc.
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

[Phil1988]

Totally agree mate, I think it is just natural selection at work. They aren't all going to make it and I guess if they aren't strong enough to get out of the egg themselves then they aren't strong enough to survive out of the egg anyway, even if you help them.
I still think though that if you see an egg pip and then nothing happens that you should slit the egg a little just incase it can make it out and survive - if it's going to die in the egg anyway you might as well give it a go.

[adriankidd]

this happened to me on my beardie clutch all hatched but one, the one that didnt hatch was going moldy, i was going to throw it in the bin but out of curiosity i opened it to see if the baby was fully developed, i opened it gently and peeled of the membranes, the little guy was all curled up and lifeless but fully formed, i was just holding him in my hand for a few minutes and he started to move a little, this is the part where i felt guilty for opening the egg, maybe he would have hatched, i put him back in the incubator and just layed the egg shell with all the egg white around him and tucked him up in vermiculite, 2 days later i looked in and he was on his feet, he walked around with his eyes closed for around 3 days and then a further 6 days without eating, when he started eating i was happy he Had made it and decided to keep him for myself, over the next nine weeks he went from being the smallest in the clutch to the biggest! but on week 10 i found him lying on his back in the viv! no idea what caused his death, just one of those things where you never know what outcome your actions in helping or not helping will have

[mcfluffin]

Sounds like that one was doomed anyway...very sad...
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[Rickeezee]

Well his on the move now and seems Ok at the moment.
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www.rickslivefood.co.uk

[mcfluffin]

Oh...was he not dead?
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[adriankidd]