gravid or not?

My cham is around about 4 and half to five months old and has been displaying bright colours recently. She has also become plumper towards her lower belly which led me to beleive that she may be gravid? She does not nor have I ever seen her on the bottom of her viv but she has been rarther restless and exploring constantly... even on the top of her viv at times! I have put a sand box in her viv but she only seems to want to eat the sand apart from sand she has not eaten now for about 4 days (which is very worrying and not like her at all) She no longer poops (apart from the odd sand ball) and despite my efforts spraying, misting, dripper ect I have not seen her drink! she no longer produces urate.

Is she gravid? Is she not gravid? Does she need to see a vet? Would the stress of going to the vet be the worst thing possible at this time? Should I be doing anything different for her?

You said she hasn't been pooping, that could mean she might have an impaction. That would also lead to her belly looking the way it does. She is still fairly young, so I don't think she would be gravid yet. Have you introduced her to a male at all? You also mentioned she eats sand, I think that has been known to cause impactions. If you do a search of past threads for impaction you should be able to get quite a few threads. But take a look and if you could it would be good to post pictures. I am a paranoid person, so I am at the vet the second I think something is wrong. I would see what the more experianced keepers have to say and go from there! I hope everything works out for you!

You said that she doesn't poop but still passes sand balls...so I wouldn't think that she's impacted.

What kind of sand do you use? (What does it look like too??)

You said that she's been displaying bright colors...anything like this?
http://www.adcham.com/images/images-species/Ch.calyptratus/CCalyptratusGravidF1.jpg
http://www.wildeyereptiles.com/cpg132/displayimage.php?album=34&pos=4

Or this...
http://www.wildeyereptiles.com/cpg132/displayimage.php?album=34&pos=25
http://www.wildeyereptiles.com/cpg132/displayimage.php?album=34&pos=26

well she does look a BIT like the latter two pics. Yes she was plump before I added the sand box. She poops sand balls which are wider than her normal poop. Kind of egg shaped sand balls. The sand is standard reptile sand, not the calcium sand or anything. It just looks like play sand. Her spots dont seem to show up much on the pic in the link. She does have spots. They were probably more evident before the other colours emerged though. The spots appeard ths day before the other colours did.

Sand????

May I ask why you have sand in her cage? It's not something she should be eating. My instinct says get her to a good herp vet. Pooping sand and not drinking does not sound good. Gravid females may not eat for a few days before they lay but they will usually drink.

well I only put the sand in there in case she was gravid and needed a sandbox to dig a hole to lay her eggs in! actually as an update..... Tilly has been digging in the sandbox now but I have found no sign of eggs in there as yet. the sand's totally messed up this morning and Tilly had sand all over her feet lol. There was not a hole but i figured that she had filled it in again maybe. She seems OK in herself. I don't usually catch her drinking very often, and then only a sip and thats it. She does normally eat well tho and that includes gut loaded critter- crickets, locusts, mealies, occasional waxies and a substantial amount of veg (cress,dandelion,lettuce). I dust her food maybe every other day or so with calcium and once a week with vitamins. I presume that she gets a fair amount of moisture from her food normally? She always has access to water one way or another...

um isnt she to young to be gravid

Generally, a veiled that is close to egglaying time is quite thirsty.

Has she been mated (she asks hoping the answer will be NO)?

Is the sand moist enough to hold a tunnel?

A veiled chameleon will often dig more than one hole or dig in the same hole more than once....but should settle on one hole and lay the eggs there in the end. She should fill the hole in completely, tamp it down and return to the branches. She should (of course) look thinner when she is done.

Do not let her see you watching her when she is digging or she may abandon the hole. If she abandons it often enough it can lead to egg binding. (Digging and stopping in between sessions when not being watched is normal.)

If she digs a hole and fills it in and hasn't laid her eggs, this is not good.

I have had lots of female veileds eat the sand....as long as its a type of sand that passes through them it doesn't seem to be a problem...just like eating dirt/soil doesn't seem to be a problem as long as it passes through them. The danger is if it causes an impaction...of course there is no way to know if this will happen.

No she was NOT mated! She left her brothers when she was 8 weeks old and has not seen another chameleon since then. i am only guessing that she had dugg a hole... she may have just been scratching around I suppose? the top of the sand box was quite messed up, not tamped down. I thought the digging activity was a good sign....but now I am just at a loss as to what I should be doing for her?

I have tried to get the sand of a moist consistency so that it will hold together but this is a big learning curve and never having been shown the right consistancy I can only make an educated guess.

Hi Bugeyes1. she is 4 and a half months ish! I don't honestly know but from what information I have gleaned on the internet... 4 and a half months is about the normal age! anything from 3 months being possible to 6 months.......... with special starvation style diets up to year old.

You said...."i am only guessing that she had dugg a hole... she may have just been scratching around I suppose? the top of the sand box was quite messed up, not tamped down. I thought the digging activity was a good sign....but now I am just at a loss as to what I should be doing for her?"...the digging is a good sign! Most of the time the chameleon will do what she's supposed to do. If there are husbandry problems or physical issues then the chameleon won't dig the hole and lay the eggs. Let's just hope/assume that all is well until we have a reason to think its not. She looks good and healthy in the picture! I only mentioned filling the hole in and not having laid the eggs so you would be aware of it being a bad sign.

You said..."I have tried to get the sand of a moist consistency so that it will hold together but this is a big learning curve and never having been shown the right consistancy I can only make an educated guess"...I just dig a hole myself in the sand and if it doesn't fall in and isn't sopping wet then it should be okay..

thank you for such a prompt reply! I'll keep my fingers crossed for her ^__^ and let you know how things progress!

Wow I never knew they could be gravid that early!

IMHO, when the nutrition and the care are right (or a little bit overly bountiful), a female of any creature will develop sexual maturity early.

Hey presto EGGS!!!!

Wow I was in shock at just how many Tilly has layed! 60 eggs....How on earth did she fit that many eggs into her little belly? I am reading with interest the posts about cutting food intake and reducing the chams heat a little.... I am a tad worried that laying this amount of eggs is going to be very bad for her in the long run. How long does this egg process normally take? is it 40 days? She first started showing bright colours late november! and she layed a couple of days ago after digging for about a week. Poor girl must have been totally worn out. I was very worried for her. She is looking very skinny and not so plumpshous. Her eyes were quite sunken but are improving a lot now. She is eating and drinking again.... Thank goodenss!

Excellent.
Give her lots of food and water and rest for a couple of days.
Be sure to dust all her feeders with calcium (no D3) right now as well.
Female Veiled care article will be published on this site soon:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

Thanks

Will do and thanks for the great link. I will have a good read and see what I can learn.

littleliz said:

Hi Bugeyes1. she is 4 and a half months ish! I don't honestly know but from what information I have gleaned on the internet... 4 and a half months is about the normal age! anything from 3 months being possible to 6 months.......... with special starvation style diets up to year old.

Click to expand...

What type of Chameleon is she?

Tilly is a veiled/yemon chameleon.

Quick question!

I have noticed this morning that there is a slightly lighter patch underneith the base of Tillys tail and her vent???? I am worried what this can be???? Does this mean infection or internal problems? is her tail dieing? could it be caused by constipation maybe? or is it something which normaly occers? I have never heard or seen anything about this happening?????

Thank you for all the help you have given me so far. I hope that one of you will know what this is and if I should be concerned.