Gravidity and egg deposition

Gravidity

A successful mating between female and male of a chameleon species is followed by gravidity. Right after mating, the female usually does not want to be with the male anymore. In Madagascar, mating and gravidity fall within the rainy season, so depending on the season somewhen between October and April. In captivity outside Madagascar, it is possible that mating and gravidity take place outside these months, too. The length of gravidity varies between the different chameleon species. You can find data about the length under our species descriptions in “chameleons and habitat data”. In many chameleon species, females soon show a certain gravidity coloration which is very different from their normal coloration. See some examples below.

Already before mating, follicles have been growing on the female’s ovaries. At the time of ovulation, the follicles rupture and let the egg cells escape. The fallopian tube receives the egg cells. Fertilization of the female egg cells with male sperms takes place shortly after mating right inside the fallopian tube. The epithelium of both tubes builds the egg membranes. After a few days, lime begins to deposit on the egg membranes. This process continues until the egg membrane is completely covered by a thin lime shell. In chameleons, eggs are soft-shelled and not as hard as in birds or tortoises.

Concerning feeding, females may get a little more food during the last third of gravidity. Before gravidity, females should not be fed too much since this may lead to huge clutches that weaken the female enormously. During the whole gravidity, you have to take special care for supplementation. The vitamin content of the eggs directly depends on the vitamin supply of the mother. Additionally, the female needs more calcium during gravidity to build the eggshells. Studies prove that an ideal supply of the mother with UV-B radiation improves the hatching success of a clutch.

Gestation period

Females of different chameleon species are gravid for different lengths of time. The following table provides an overview of gravidity lengths.

Species	Gestation period	Source
Brookesia stumpffi	40 days	Schmidt, Henkel & Böhme (1989): Zur Haltung und Fortpflanzungsbiologie von Brookesia stumpffi. Salamandra 25 (1): 14-20.
Brookesia superciliaris	45 days	Lippe (1994): Wieder eine gelungene Nachzucht eines Erdchamäleons (Brookesia superciliaris). Chamaeleo 12: 3-4.
Brookesia thieli	31 days	Flamme (2005): Haltung und Nachzucht von Brookesia thieli. Chamaeleo 31: 37-43.
	30-60 days (up to 90 days)	Nash (2022): Keeping and breeding Brookesia thieli. Responsible Herpetoculture Journal 5: 84-91.
Calumma globifer	90-120 days	Weiß (2005): Chamäleons die unbekannten Wesen; Vorstellung von Calumma globiferum. Chamaeleo 31: 22-23.
Calumma linotum	22-40 days	Nash (2023): Keeping and breeding Calumma linotum. Responsible Herpetoculture Journal 7: ??-?.
Calumma parsonii parsonii	152-243 days	own experience
Calumma roaloko	22-40 days	Nash (2023): Keeping and breeding Calumma roaloko. Chamaeleo 49: ??-??.
Furcifer balteatus	90-120 days	Althaus, Weiß (2009): Vorstellung von Furcifer balteatus. Chamaeleo 29: 19-21.
Furcifer lateralis	40-45 days	own experience
	30-50 days	Schmidt & Tamm (1987): Nachzucht vom Teppich-Chamäleon, Chamaeleo (Furcifer) lateralis, im Terrarium. Die Aquarien- und Terrarien-Zeitchrift DATZ 40 (12): 561-563.
	30-52 days	Schmidt (2001): Haltung und Zucht von Furcifer lateralis in mehreren Generationen. Chamaeleo 22: 9-10.
	30 days	Schwarz (2008): Furcifer lateralis  – Das Teppichchamäleon: Pflege und Nachzucht. Chamaeleo 37: 34-38.
	30-40 days	Ludwig & Ludwig (2022): Erfahrungen mit der Haltung und Zucht des Teppichchamäleons Furcifer lateralis. Chamaeleo 48: 23-26.
Furcifer minor	64 days	Althaus (2008): Erste Erfahrungen zur Haltung und Nachzucht von Furcifer minor. Chamaeleo 37: 34-38.
Furcifer oustaleti	31-45 days	Smith & Abate (1999): Chameleon Profile, Oustalet’s Chameleon. Chameleon information network 32: 19-25.
Furcifer pardalis	30-40 days	own experience
	31-45 days	Schmidt & Tamm (1988): Furcifer pardalis (Cuvier). Sauria 10 (1): 101-104.
	28-45 days	Schmidt & Henkel (1989): Pantherchamäleons. Chamaeleo (Furcifer) pardalis im Terrarium. Die Aquarien- und Terrarien-Zeitschrift DATZ 42(5): 280-282.
	28 days	Deckers (2006): Zum Erkenen von rezeptiven Weibchen der Gattung Furcifer. Chamaeleo 32:8-10.
	19 days	Eckhardt (2018): Triplet from a single egg in the panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis). Herpetology Notes 11: 777-779.
Furcifer verrucosus	28-42 days	Abate & Kalisch (1995):  Chameleon Profile, Warty Chameleon. Chameleon information network 15: 17-24.
	56-70 days	Schneider (2002): Das Warzenchamäleon, seine Haltung und Zucht. Chamaeleo 25: 21-22.
	50-60 days	Starke-Huber (2007): Haltung und Zucht von Furcifer verrucosus. Chamaeleo 35: 30-33.

Test tunnels and egg-laying

A Furcifer pardalis female lays her eggs in the sand, near Diego Suarez

It needs some preparation before a chameleon female can lay her eggs without problems. The female should be inside a terrarium with deep soil of 20 to 30 cm in height. A mixture of sand and forest soil has proven to work especially well for burrowing. During the last days of gravidity, the soil should always be kept humid, because it is easier to dig in the humid ground. Most females stop eating shortly before egg-laying. Plants rooting directly in the soil are very attractive for chameleon females. Heat mats under the soil are rather counterproductive – the soil becoming warmer in the depth may disturb the female while burrowing or in the worst case, prevent her from laying eggs at all.

The same place one day later: You can hardly recognize that there are eggs below

Better place a privacy screen in front of the cage when the female begins roaming around the bottom of the terrarium – she is looking for a suitable place for her eggs. The less you disturb the female, the fewer problems she has in laying eggs. Especially young and inexperienced females dig test tunnels some days for the actual tunnel for the eggs. They dig burrows but do not lay eggs yet. This behavior is normal and disappears with increasing age and increasing numbers of gravidities. Has the female finally found the right place – they love to dig between roots – she digs a deep hole. If deep enough, she turns around, and usually, only the heads look out the burrow while she lays her eggs one by one. After egg deposition, the female turns around again to put the soil back in place carefully. She even puts leaves on top of the burrow so you cannot recognize where she dug afterward. This behavior is part of the egg-laying process, so do not disturb the female until she has finished her works completely and climbs back up on branches. If you have carefully peeked into the terrarium before, you however already know where she laid her eggs.

From some species such as Furcifer lateralis it is known that some females let eggs drop from branches instead of digging a hole. We have never watched such behavior in Madagascar yet. Leaf chameleons (Brookesia ssp.) usually lay only one or two eggs and they do not bury them, but hide them under pieces of wood and foliage. Every egg laying is very exhausting for a chameleon female. So please grant your female peace and silence after successful egg deposition. Offer supplemented feeders and a working dripper. The chameleon female does not care for her offspring after egg laying.

If a female stops digging completely but has not laid eggs or if the female becomes unusually calm or even closes her eyes during the day, you will need to see a vet as soon as possible. Your female may be egg-bound which will end deadly if left untreated. Please do not hesitate and act quickly.

It is good to know that females may build eggs even without mating. These eggs are infertile. Many Malagasy chameleons are able to “store” semen after one single mating and thus are able to build more fertile clutches without more mating. In these cases, the number of fertile eggs decreases with an increasing number of clutches. Please dig out clutches quickly after egg deposition to move them into incubators. You can find more information about the incubation of chameleon eggs in this article.

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Clutch size

In terraristics, clutch sizes are usually somewhat larger than in nature because the females can be very well cared for during pregnancy. In nature, they depend on the rainy season, which is more intense or shorter depending on the year. Accordingly, the food supply on Madagascar can change – and with it the possibility of the female to mate and produce eggs. The following table gives an overview of the clutch sizes of Madagascan chameleon species known so far.

Brookesia desperata	2 eggs	Glaw, Köhler, Townsend & Vences (2012): Rivaling the World’s smallest reptiles: Discovery of miniaturized and microendemic new species of leaf chameleons (Brookesia) from Northern Madagascar. PLOS ONE 7(2): 1-24.
Brookesia exarmata	2 eggs	Schimmenti & Jesu (1996): Brookesia exarmata sp. nov. (Reptilia, Chamaeleonidae): A new dwarf chameleon from the limestone outcrops of western Madagascar. Systematics & Zoogeography 63(2): 193-197.
Brookesia minima	2 eggs	Schmidt (1988): Brookesia minima Boettger. Sauria 10(4): 33-36
Brookesia stumpffi	3-5 eggs	Schmidt, Henkel & Böhme (1989): Zur Haltung und Fortpflanzungsbiologie von Brookesia stumpffi. Salamandra 25 (1): 14-20.
	2 eggs	Raxworthy (1991): Field observations on some dwarf chameleons (Brookesia spp.) from rainforest areas of Madagascar, with description of a new species. PLOS ONE 7(2): 1-24.
Brookesia superciliaris	4 eggs	Lippe (1994): Wieder eine gelungene Nachzucht eines Erdchamäleons (Brookesia superciliaris). Chamaeleo 12: 3-4.
Brookesia thieli	3-4 eggs	Flamme (2005): Haltung und Nachzucht von Brookesia thieli. Chamaeleo 31: 37-43.
	3-5 eggs	Nash (2022): Keeping and breeding Brookesia thieli. Responsible Herpetoculture Journal 5: 84-91.
Brookesia tristis	2 eggs	Glaw, Köhler, Townsend & Vences (2012): Rivaling the World’s smallest reptiles: Discovery of miniaturized and microendemic new species of leaf chameleons (Brookesia) from Northern Madagascar. PLOS ONE 7(2): 1-24.
Calumma globifer	15-30 eggs	Weiß (2005): Chamäleons die unbekannten Wesen; Vorstellung von Calumma globiferum. Chamaeleo 31: 22-23.
Calumma linotum	2-3 eggs	Nash (2023): Keeping and breeding Calumma linotum. Responsible Herpetoculture Journal 7: ??-?.
Calumma parsonii parsonii	24-45 eggs	own experience
	35 eggs	Kalisch (1994): Chameleon profile Parson’s chameleon. Chameleon information network 12: 10- 18.
	20-31 eggs	Tröger (1997): Remarks about the long-term captive care and first steps towards captive breeding of Calumma parsonii. Chameleon information network 25: 29-36.
	69 eggs	Laube, Negro, Augustin (2020): 781 days in the egg: Prolonged incubation time in Calumma parsonii parsonii (Cuvier, 1824) resulting in a healthy juvenile and revealing circumstantial evidence for sperm retention in this species. Herpetology Notes 13: 425-428.
Calumma roaloko	2 eggs	Nash (2023): Keeping and breeding Calumma roaloko. Chamaeleo 49: ??-??.
Furcifer labordi	8 eggs	Kuypers (1993): Chamaeleon labordi. Chamaeleo 7: 3-4.
Furcifer lateralis	10-15 eggs	own experience
	4-23 eggs	Schmidt (2001): Haltung und Zucht von Furcifer lateralis in mehreren Generationen. Chamaeleo 22: 9-10.
	6-11 eggs	Schmidt (1985): Chamaeleo lateralis Gray. Sauria 7(4): 25-26.
	6-33 eggs	Schmidt & Tamm (1987): Nachzucht vom Teppich-Chamäleon, Chamaeleo (Furcifer) lateralis, im Terrarium. Die Aquarien- und Terrarien-Zeitchrift DATZ 40 (12): 561-563.
Furcifer major	10-16 eggs	Böhle (1998): Einige Anmerkungen zu Furcifer lateralis “major”. Chamaeleo 20: 8-9.
	8-23 eggs	Rutsch (2006): Erste eigene Erfahrungen mit der großen Form von Furcifer lateralis. Chamaeleo 33: 13-14.
Furcifer minor	14 eggs	own experience
	9 eggs	Althaus (2008): Erste Erfahrungen zur Haltung und Nachzucht von Furcifer minor. Chamaeleo 37: 34-38.
Furcifer oustaleti	up to 61 eggs	Smith & Abate (1999): Chameleon Profile, Oustalet’s Chameleon. Chameleon information network 32: 19-25.
	17-72 eggs	Smith, Vinci, Anderson, Eckles, Ridgley & Mazzotti (2016): Observations on nesting and clutch size in Furcifer oustaleti (Oustalet’s Chameleon) in South Florida. Chamaeleo 12: 3-4.
Furcifer pardalis	15-35 eggs	own experience
	12-50 eggs	Ferguson, Murphy, Raselimanana, Ramanamanjato, Annis (1994): Chameleon Profile, The Panther Chameleon. Chameleon information network 11: 11-20.
	16 eggs	Deckers (2006): Zum Erkenen von rezeptiven Weibchen der Gattung Furcifer. Chamaeleo 32:8-10.
	16-44 eggs	Schmidt & Tamm (1988): Furcifer pardalis (Cuvier). Sauria 10 (1): 101-104.
	22 eggs	Raxworthy (1991): Field observations on some dwarf chameleons (Brookesia spp.) from rainforest areas of Madagascar, with description of a new species. PLOS ONE 7(2): 1-24.
	16-29 eggs	Lutzmann (2006): Untersuchungen zur Ökologie der Chamäleonfauna der Masoala-Halbinsel, Nord-Ost-Madagaskar. Dissertation, mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.
	24 eggs	Eckhardt (2018): Triplet from a single egg in the panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis). Herpetology Notes 11: 777-779.
Furcifer timoni	10-14 eggs	Glaw, Köhler & Vences (2009): A distinctive new species of chameleon of the genus Furcifer (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae) from the Monatgne d’Ambre rainforest of northern Madagascar). Zootaxa 2269: 32-42.
Furcifer verrucosus	up to 30 eggs	Schneider (2002): Das Warzenchamäleon, seine Haltung und Zucht. Chamaeleo 25: 21-22.
	18-26 eggs	Starke-Huber (2007): Haltung und Zucht von Furcifer verrucosus. Chamaeleo 35: 30-33.
Furcifer voeltzkowi	7 eggs	Glaw, Köhler & Vences (2009): A distinctive new species of chameleon of the genus Furcifer (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae) from the Montagne d’Ambre rainforest of northern Madagascar). Zootaxa 2269: 32-42.