mybentley2010
New Member
Thank you!
Egg Laying
- Thread starter mybentley2010
- Start date
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
She is a female possibly 8 months, the store told me they thought she was 7 months when we got her so unsure what her age really is, Once they are fully grown, it’s almost impossible to determine age, so we’ll assume 8 months old. I have only handled her 3x once when we brought her home, then when we put her in her new bigger home and once to put her in her laying bin. She hates being held and hisses at me when I get near her This is pretty typical for veileds. You can build trust thru hand feeding and patience, but sounds like you are already hand feeding. so the only thing I really bug her about is eating she hisses when I feed her also but if I don't she won't eat what I put in there. Do you think she is unable to find the feeders? Have you tried using a feeding station? Something like the shooting gallery would be worth a try. https://www.rainbowmealworms.net/shooting-gallery-chameleon-feeder/ It’s great at keeping the feeders contained and your girl will always know where to find her food. Tong feeding is very risky and too many chameleons have had injuries to their tongues - often so severe that the tongue needed to be amputated. The store told me she hurt her eye but they didn't know how and that her eye has been like that for a few months and was treated by a vet and nothing worked so they said she is pretty much blind in it. Besides the supplements I suggested being great for general health, they have preformed vitamin A, which is excellent for eye health and definitely worth trying. There are two forms of A - proformed from plants and preformed from animals. The jury is still out if chameleons are able to use the proformed type, which the majority of supplements contain. The preformed is therefore better to use, but needs to be done cautiously (same with vitamin D3) as it is fat soluble and can build up if overused. I have a t5 light as well as a basking bulb I can't remember but it was the most expensive one and the one the employee told me they required, Basking bulbs don’t need to be expensive. Many of us use old fashioned incandescent bulbs. You can also use halogen. Just not LED as they put off little to no heat. lights are on 12 hours and off 12 hours, Perfect I feed her by tongs as much as she will allow which isn't a ton maybe 4 mealworms and 3 waxworms. Neither of these are very good staple feeders. I’m attaching some graphics below for you on feeders and what to feed to them - “gutloading”. Keeping your bugs well fed and healthy makes them nutritious for your pretty girl. Also, the amount you feed to her directly affects how many eggs she produces, so we are careful not to overfeed our girls. If I don't feed her she doesn't eat because I count what I put in her enclosure. She may not see well enough to hunt, so do try a feeding station. She does have crickets occasionally as well. I dust them all with calcium and give her multivitamin drops 2x weekly, As already said, the calcium is perfect…the liquid vitamin is not. Get the Repashy calcium plus LoD - the one with the very green Jackson’s chameleon on the label. Use that for one feeding every other week. her temp at top is 80 degrees and bottom is 75 degrees, night is between 60 to 65 sometimes lower. Excellent I have temp cages throughout her enclosure. Daytime her humidity is around 50 to 60 A tad high. Ideal daytime range for veileds is between 30-50%. How are you providing water to her? The standard is to mist for at least 2 minutes right before lights go on and off. At mid day if needed, you can either mist for a minute or use a dripper for about 15-20 minutes. The enclosure needs to be able to dry out in between. and night 80 to 100 excellent! This humidity boost at night helps with hydration by simulating the hydration they get in nature thru fog. I also have humidity monitors throughout, I use all live plants I don't know the names of all of them but the big one is the golden pothos , I looked all of them up and they were all safe and all were washed with soap and water and replanted in organic soil before placement, Perfect! Don’t be surprised if she eats her plants. I suggest taking clippings from your pothos and getting some new plants started to have a back up supply. we are located in Twin falls, Idaho. Her poop is occasionally hard and solid brown but them after she will poop a moist solid white? The solid white is her urine, called urate. The color is how we determine hydration status. White or with just a small end of yellow/light orange is ideal. If it’s dark or all orange, she’s dehydrated. Our cage is all screen 4ft tall I did cover two sides to help keep in moisture. Perfect!
I suspect she’s eating the soil because of a possible mineral deficiency or imbalance. With our girls is absolutely essential to have our husbandry as close to perfect as we can get in order to prevent any egg production or laying problems. In addition, thru keeping basking temps no higher than 80 and limiting feeding to 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week, we can try to reduce their egg production, usually with success. My one sweet veiled girl hadn’t laid eggs in 3 years. My other usually lays once per year, but I suspect it was triggered by her seeing my male. Since he passed, she’s skipped her annual laying. My little panther princess is 2 and has never laid eggs. Right now, since she’s already working on however many eggs, she needs good nutrition so don’t reduce her feedings until after she’s laid her first clutch.
I’m also adding on a couple of pics of my girls right before they laid their eggs. My one girl - only her spots darkened. The other‘s patterns darkened and kind of ran together. While each girl has her own unique ‘style’, in some manner they generally darken up when gravid and about to lay.
I suspect she’s eating the soil because of a possible mineral deficiency or imbalance. With our girls is absolutely essential to have our husbandry as close to perfect as we can get in order to prevent any egg production or laying problems. In addition, thru keeping basking temps no higher than 80 and limiting feeding to 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week, we can try to reduce their egg production, usually with success. My one sweet veiled girl hadn’t laid eggs in 3 years. My other usually lays once per year, but I suspect it was triggered by her seeing my male. Since he passed, she’s skipped her annual laying. My little panther princess is 2 and has never laid eggs. Right now, since she’s already working on however many eggs, she needs good nutrition so don’t reduce her feedings until after she’s laid her first clutch.
I’m also adding on a couple of pics of my girls right before they laid their eggs. My one girl - only her spots darkened. The other‘s patterns darkened and kind of ran together. While each girl has her own unique ‘style’, in some manner they generally darken up when gravid and about to lay.
mybentley2010
New Member
Thank you this is very helpful. I put her feeding cup by the dripper because the water makes the leaves move and she stares at it constantly with her good eye and actually got her to eat 2 waxworms out of it but she wouldn't touch the mealworms so I took it out and will put it back in tbe same spot tomorrow. It's hard because I work 12 hour shifts so I'm not home some days until it's time to turn her stuff off so I have a hard time with controlling the dripper. Also I don't know how you guys drain the bottom of the enclosure we drilled 2 holes in the bottom and put a bucket under yet none of the water goes in it so I use an entire roll of paper towels daily to wipe it all out so the moisture level isn't to high during the day. We have plastic containers we put in the bottom at night but still the water from the fogger goes everywhere including between the plastic containers . I ordered her the vitamins you suggested today so those will be here soon. Also one more question how do you store and gut load like waxworms and mealworms? Do you take all the shreddings out of their containers when you get them and add food? I know how to do the crickets those are easy but my bugs die so fast it would be nice to get tips on how to keep them alive longer and how to care for them as well. I ordered her Dubai roaches, waxworms, mealworms and hornworms a couple of days ago and bought her crickets today. She is starting to look darker than normal so hopefully with the kids in school and me working 12 hours tomorrow it will be less hectic so hopefully she will go to the bottom. So far she is just staying in the same spot.
elizaann2
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hello! @MissSkittles is currently unavailable so I am going to step in and see what help I may offer.
elizaann2
Chameleon Enthusiast
See my responses in bold
Thank you this is very helpful. I put her feeding cup by the dripper because the water makes the leaves move and she stares at it constantly with her good eye and actually got her to eat 2 waxworms out of it but she wouldn't touch the mealworms so I took it out and will put it back in tbe same spot tomorrow. That is a great start, I also strongly suggest some form of shooting gallery or feeder run, you can get them for $25 on FramsChams or if you want to go all out my favorite ones are the lunch log from Sunset Chameleons. With her only having one good eye it will be really important for her to know where her food is each time. As far as feeders go, I get mine at dubia.com (they also have caresheets for all of their bugs which is nice), I order in bulk about every 4 months. I get my crickets from Josh's frogs (again in bulk) and recently purchased some silk worms from FramsChams that I am very pleased with. If your girl is struggling to eat trying different feeders may help as well, silkworms are great for encouraging eating. It's hard because I work 12 hour shifts so I'm not home some days until it's time to turn her stuff off so I have a hard time with controlling the dripper. Do you have your lights set on timers? If not I strongly encourage that, you can get a cheap countdown timer at Walmart for around $5, or you can get ones that connect to your phone via bluetooth and wifi. They are a little more expensive but worth the price in my opinion. I use the Govee ones. Also I don't know how you guys drain the bottom of the enclosure we drilled 2 holes in the bottom and put a bucket under yet none of the water goes in it so I use an entire roll of paper towels daily to wipe it all out so the moisture level isn't to high during the day. We have plastic containers we put in the bottom at night but still the water from the fogger goes everywhere including between the plastic containers. I've attached photos of my draining situation for you to see
. My floors have something like 30 small holes in them, if you find that water still pools then put a potted plant on the bottom (one that likes low light obviously) and set it near a group of holes, this will help the water drain better. I have my enclosures sitting on top of a drain tray similar to ones you would use for a washer unit and to keep the enclosure off of the bottom of that drain tray I have PVC pipes set up underneath the enclosure. The Chameleon Academy has a great page on how to set this up step-by-step. I ordered her the vitamins you suggested today so those will be here soon. Also one more question how do you store and gut load like waxworms and mealworms? Waxworms actually eat honey, I put my waxworms in a plastic shoe bin and mix oats and honey together. Thats it . They are high in fat though so I suggest only feeding them as a treat bug. My treat bug day is on Saturdays for example. Mealworms do well in a bran flake stuff I find in the bulk section at Winco, then I throw in some fresh produce for gut loading and hydration. I dont' feed these to my chams though, these are for my hamster Do you take all the shreddings out of their containers when you get them and add food? I clean my bug bins out when I feed my chameleons on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. These days I remove any dead bugs, sheddings, replace substrate if needed, throw out the old gut load food and replace with new. I know how to do the crickets those are easy but my bugs die so fast it would be nice to get tips on how to keep them alive longer and how to care for them as well. I ordered her Dubai roaches, waxworms, mealworms and hornworms a couple of days ago and bought her crickets today. She is starting to look darker than normal so hopefully with the kids in school and me working 12 hours tomorrow it will be less hectic so hopefully she will go to the bottom. So far she is just staying in the same spot. Where is her enclosure located in your house? Is it a high traffic area?
Thank you this is very helpful. I put her feeding cup by the dripper because the water makes the leaves move and she stares at it constantly with her good eye and actually got her to eat 2 waxworms out of it but she wouldn't touch the mealworms so I took it out and will put it back in tbe same spot tomorrow. That is a great start, I also strongly suggest some form of shooting gallery or feeder run, you can get them for $25 on FramsChams or if you want to go all out my favorite ones are the lunch log from Sunset Chameleons. With her only having one good eye it will be really important for her to know where her food is each time. As far as feeders go, I get mine at dubia.com (they also have caresheets for all of their bugs which is nice), I order in bulk about every 4 months. I get my crickets from Josh's frogs (again in bulk) and recently purchased some silk worms from FramsChams that I am very pleased with. If your girl is struggling to eat trying different feeders may help as well, silkworms are great for encouraging eating. It's hard because I work 12 hour shifts so I'm not home some days until it's time to turn her stuff off so I have a hard time with controlling the dripper. Do you have your lights set on timers? If not I strongly encourage that, you can get a cheap countdown timer at Walmart for around $5, or you can get ones that connect to your phone via bluetooth and wifi. They are a little more expensive but worth the price in my opinion. I use the Govee ones. Also I don't know how you guys drain the bottom of the enclosure we drilled 2 holes in the bottom and put a bucket under yet none of the water goes in it so I use an entire roll of paper towels daily to wipe it all out so the moisture level isn't to high during the day. We have plastic containers we put in the bottom at night but still the water from the fogger goes everywhere including between the plastic containers. I've attached photos of my draining situation for you to see
. My floors have something like 30 small holes in them, if you find that water still pools then put a potted plant on the bottom (one that likes low light obviously) and set it near a group of holes, this will help the water drain better. I have my enclosures sitting on top of a drain tray similar to ones you would use for a washer unit and to keep the enclosure off of the bottom of that drain tray I have PVC pipes set up underneath the enclosure. The Chameleon Academy has a great page on how to set this up step-by-step. I ordered her the vitamins you suggested today so those will be here soon. Also one more question how do you store and gut load like waxworms and mealworms? Waxworms actually eat honey, I put my waxworms in a plastic shoe bin and mix oats and honey together. Thats it . They are high in fat though so I suggest only feeding them as a treat bug. My treat bug day is on Saturdays for example. Mealworms do well in a bran flake stuff I find in the bulk section at Winco, then I throw in some fresh produce for gut loading and hydration. I dont' feed these to my chams though, these are for my hamster Do you take all the shreddings out of their containers when you get them and add food? I clean my bug bins out when I feed my chameleons on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. These days I remove any dead bugs, sheddings, replace substrate if needed, throw out the old gut load food and replace with new. I know how to do the crickets those are easy but my bugs die so fast it would be nice to get tips on how to keep them alive longer and how to care for them as well. I ordered her Dubai roaches, waxworms, mealworms and hornworms a couple of days ago and bought her crickets today. She is starting to look darker than normal so hopefully with the kids in school and me working 12 hours tomorrow it will be less hectic so hopefully she will go to the bottom. So far she is just staying in the same spot. Where is her enclosure located in your house? Is it a high traffic area?
