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How Many Babies Do Chameleons Have

Are you considering breeding chameleons?

Do you want to make sure you know what you’re getting into before you try breeding these reptiles?

We don’t blame you at all!

Before anyone should try breeding chameleons, they need to know some things about the process.

You may wonder:

How many babies do chameleons have?

The number of babies a chameleon has depends on the exact species and other environmental factors. In general, expect a chameleon to lay between 12 and 30 eggs in the clutch. After these eggs have been laid in a warm earth borough, it takes up to a full year before they hatch.

Look ahead at the rest of the article for more information on chameleons and babies.

how many babies do chameleons have

Babies In A Chameleon Clutch

After a meeting between a male and female chameleon has occurred (read more on our chameleon care sheet), the female will gestate the eggs for 30 days.

If you’re doing this in captivity, the key to watch for is when the female chameleon starts to pace on the bottom of the tank.

This is a sign she is looking for a place to lay her eggs.

At this point in the wild, the female chameleon will take a burrow in the dirt to lay her eggs.

She will then lay 12 to 30 eggs in one clutch.

After she is done laying her eggs, the female chameleon then covers up the eggs with a dusting of dirt.

Surprisingly, this simple covering provides more than enough protection for the eggs.

The soil keeps the eggs away from predators, and it also acts as a heat barrier to keep the eggs warm enough to incubate.

In captivity, we can simulate this when the female starts pacing around by moving her to a container with soft soil parentheses on treated with chemicals and parentheses.

She will then dig a borough just like the chameleon would do in the wild.

After the female chameleon has laid her eggs, you should remove her and put her back in her regular tank.

In the wild, female chameleons will then leave the egg borough and never return.

After 10 to 12 months of incubating in the soil, the eggs will hatch.

The chameleons inside the eggs will usually wait until they sense a heavy rain has fallen.

This provides more humidity, which makes it easier for them to get out of the soil, and it increases the chance of them finding insects early on as insects are more active on the surface of the soil after heavy rain.

From here, the baby chameleons are on their own (although in the wild, they will sometimes find an older chameleon to grow up near for extra protection).

Note: Even from birth; the baby chameleons can change the color of their skin.

This is commonly believed to be for camouflage, but their skin color is more likely to change due to temperature and mood changes as well as a means to communicate with other chameleons.


Caring For Baby Chameleons

In this section, we’ll go over the basics of caring for baby chameleons.

Though they’re not much different from caring for than adults, there are some important differences you need to be aware of.

Learn more about how to care for baby chameleons.

Cohabitation

Unlike adult chameleons, which should not be kept with more than one in the tank, baby chameleons can share a common space.

We recommend keeping between 5 and 8 baby chameleons in one area at the most.

As they get older, around 3 to 6 months, they should only be kept in groups of three-five.

Then when they’re fully grown, you need to move each chameleon into its separate tank.

Adult chameleons don’t share space as well, even members of the opposite sex.

When forced to share space and food, the larger chameleons will often attack the smaller ones.

And if they’re the same size, the encounters may result in permanent damage or death.

Temperature

The temperature requirement for baby chameleons is the same as with adults.

The only additional concern comes with the fluctuation of temperature.

If the temp drops due to a power outage or another such event, adult chameleons will be fine.

Too much of this for babies may result in health problems.

Here are the overall temperature requirements:

  • Basking spot – 85° – 90° degrees Fahrenheit (29-35° C)
  • Overall temp – 72° – 80° degrees Fahrenheit (22-27° C)
  • Nighttime – Greater than 50° degrees Fahrenheit (10° C)

Humidity

The chameleon comes from tropical environments with high humidity.

The normal relative humidity requirements for chameleons are at least 50%.

Baby chameleons still need the humidity at 50%, but higher would be better.

Keeping it up closer to 75% would be safer.

The main concern with low humidity is respiratory infections.

This is a concern for all chameleons, but babies are more likely to get it.

And they’re bodies are more fragile, so if they do get an infection, it’s much more likely to result in death.

Lighting

Coming from the tropical environment also means the reptile needs a lot of UVB.

Vitamin D they get helps them to absorb calcium and other minerals better.

This, in turn, helps them to have healthy bodies.

A dedicated UVB light should be on for 12 hours every day. 


Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed learning a little more about how many babies a chameleon can have.

12 to 30 eggs in a clutch may seem like a lot, but this is common with reptiles. 

It’s always important to know about something before you get into it.

So now you know a little more about the breathing process, and what to expect, you may decide for yourself if it’s something you want to get into. 

Baby chameleons aren’t any harder to care for than adults as long as you make sure to keep the humidity up well above 50%.

If you do decide to have chameleon babies, enjoy those cute little reptiles while you can!

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