Breeding site

**NickBoudin** · 9th January 2009, 03:59

Is there some kind of container I could put in my tank with sand in it, or some kind of substrate so that my chameleons hopefully lay inside of it? That way I can smooth the sand out. Obviously if it's disturbed I can check for eggs, and easily remove the container.

Good idea? Yes or no? I have 5 pygmys. 4 females and 1 male. Thanks.

**Skunky_Bifta** · 9th January 2009, 10:43

Hiya Nick,

Right as far as i no, pygmy's do not lay in sand, as its too dry for the eggs, the perfect laying substrate would be damp coco fibre, or some kind of soil basically. If u were to put sand in the bottom of the viv, then soil in the tub, my guess would be that it would seek out the soil as this is more humid and then lay the eggs in there. Or even if u kept the bottom of ur viv floor quite dry then the tub nice and damp, then hopefully the pygmy would recognise this and lay in the tub. Once you have eggs, then uve gotta decide if the soil is gonna be ur permanent incubating substrate, personally i used vermiculite with success as it hold moisture really well, only problem i had was that room temps seemed to warm, ideally somewhere between just over 60'f and 70'f being ur warmest i think would be ideal.

Hope this helps, any more questions let us no.

**vetdebbie** · 9th January 2009, 14:18

Hmm, I tried that IN my first viv, in fact I think it's still there buried in the substrate. They didn't use it.

**NickBoudin** · 10th January 2009, 05:40

My substrate is a mix of top soil, cocofiber, and sand it's always moist. I have automatic misting heads that spray 3 times a day for all the plants, and chameleons.

I've dug out 3 clutches of brown soggy eggs before that were obviously dead.

Is it just too moist?

Thanks

**vetdebbie** · 10th January 2009, 11:25

Quite possibly. It's a good idea to allow the substrate to dry out a little in between mistings. I also have quite a bit of drainage under mine in case the substrate gets too wet - at least then it's not waterlogged as the water can collect underneath it.

**NickBoudin** · 12th January 2009, 04:29

It's weird because I have about 2 inches of pea gravel for drainage and around 2-3 inches of substrate. Hmm.

**vetdebbie** · 12th January 2009, 16:03

Hmm that should do it. I would try and reduce the mistings a little and also try to concentrate over one area - that way some of your substrate can dry out and some remain wet/damp. The pygmies can then choose where to lay and hopefully choose the best environment.

**NickBoudin** · 14th January 2009, 04:15

I found 4 eggs today when I was replacing the substrate in the tank. It's been about a year and I found the springtail culture was really starting to die out. So I scooped them all out and started culturing them in a seperate container about a month ago. I'll be putting new substrate down soon and redoing most of the viv.

These eggs are huge, they're tripple the size of tic tacs, but rock hard. Very bright white with brown spots or patches all over them. Any ideas if they sound good, or bad?