Veiled Cham Laying Eggs?!?!

Okay, so here's the deal. I bought a (what I believe to be female) Veiled Chameleon from the pet store about a month ago and it was at that point in time already several months old. I always kind of thought she was a bit chubby but I didn't think anything else of it. Well I came back from my classes today and my veiled appeared to be laying eggs. It was in a very stressed color, perched on one of it's logs, and sure enough below it were four, very smooth, white eggs. I guess she must've mated before I purchased her? Regardless, I had not intended on having this happen and now I am very confused as to what to do next to take care of the eggs. I'm kind of freaking out because it was so sudden and I don't want the embryo's to die, any suggestions please?!

happy trails,
-jay

Here is a link which should help. I have no personal experience with this. Others with experience will probably offer some help this afternoon. Hope this helps in the mean time.
http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/mar2003/eggs/egg_incubation.html

Congratulations! Hey, but I'm not to experienced with laying eggs and such. How many eggs? Only four?? Did she lay them on any substrate? She prob has more to lay!
From what I understand it's prob best for you to give her a container (pot/bucket/trashcan) with plain soil in the bottom, a bit moist, you don't want her to become egg-bound. They normally dig in the dirt to deposit the eggs.
I would search the forums they are the best resource to find out more. Also you could check out these sites:
http://www.angelfire.com/fl/chameleons/veiled/veiled.html
http://webspinners.com/coloherp/careshts/lizards/veilcham.php

child molestation of your chameleon

This is a clearest case of child molestation I've ever heard of.
She's too young to be dealing with this sorta thing.
damn pet brokers dumping all the animals in one big cage together.

Re: eggs
she's likely to have more inside of her
and they should be let out.

What I would do is (depending on your cage)
place a large wide mouth gardening pot (5-7 gallon)
filled with soil and place that inside of her cage
make sure it's got some type of foliage so that she's
"covered" and not out in the open

have the soil somewhat slightly compacted and moist.
you might also want to give her a really good spraying
so that things are all wet.

with any luck, she'll trigger and start digging

if you can't fit anything into the cage
go with the trashcan method a good description
was given to apple this last week
I'm sure you can do a better job with it.
If you don't want to read that thread
there's lots of descriptions available via a quick google search.

jrjorgensen2519 said:

I'm kind of freaking out because it was so sudden and I don't want the embryo's to die, any suggestions please?!

Click to expand...

In all sincerity, Better to have the embryos die, than to have the neonate chameleons suffer, then die. If you cannot commit 100% to the care, knowledge, and (pretty difficult for you now...) the experience needed to maintain the lives of the babies, it's best that there are none.

Also, personal observation/experience; If she is not laying the eggs and instead "pooping" them out, then there is a higher risk for a prolapse and complications of her health.





FOR LAYING FEMALES:

I use Sand, Topsoil & Coco fiber mixed together. It should me misted with water, then mixed up, and misted again, and again, under the mix has a strong feel to it so that if she digs a long tunnel it will hold up and not collapse. If shes in there for extended amounts of time you'll need to mist to keep the soil moist enough.

I do mist for drinking water in the morning, no dripper as you don't want to saturate the bottom of the tubs soil. I usually place a few silkworms inside in the event that she will eat- although many will not. I usually put my computers webcam inside to spy on her. If she sees you she could abandon the whole shes digging and eventually become eggbound and die.

The eggs might be fertile or they might not be...it will depend on the age she was when she was with a male..if she was with a male. Veiled chameleons can lay (infertile, of course) eggs without having been mated.

At any rate Jeweledchameleons is right about the need to get the other eggs she has out. You need to set up a suitable place for her to lay them ASAP so she will still be able to lay them. If she digs a hole...do not let her see you watching her when she digs. She will abandon the hole and may end up eggbound if it happens often enough. A female may dig the same hole more than once or she may dig several test holes until she decides where to lay them. If she doesn't dig then I would be concerned.

As for incubating the eggs...I use shoebox sized tupperware-like containers. I put two very small holes in each lid. I fill the boxes about half full of coarse-grained vermiculite that is barely moist. (You shouldn't be able to squeeze more than a drop of two of water out of a fist full of it.) I lay the eggs in small dents in rows about 1" apart in the containers and put the lids on and incubate them at about 74F.

Good luck!

My female layed 53 eggs. It was a pain because I had her in a tub for a week before she layed. She would dig a deep hole and then not lay, dig another, not lay and finally a week later she dug one that she was happy with Just try not to turn the eggs over and put them in a vermiculite or vermiculit/perlite mixture. Hopefully they are viable for you but she will be laying more than 4. Get her in a tub with clean dirt. Good luck to you. Getting eggs is fun but waiting forever for them to hatch isn't

jrjorgensen2519 said:

Okay, so here's the deal. I bought a (what I believe to be female) Veiled Chameleon from the pet store about a month ago and it was at that point in time already several months old. I always kind of thought she was a bit chubby but I didn't think anything else of it. Well I came back from my classes today and my veiled appeared to be laying eggs. It was in a very stressed color, perched on one of it's logs, and sure enough below it were four, very smooth, white eggs. I guess she must've mated before I purchased her? Regardless, I had not intended on having this happen and now I am very confused as to what to do next to take care of the eggs. I'm kind of freaking out because it was so sudden and I don't want the embryo's to die, any suggestions please?!

happy trails,
-jay

Click to expand...

Female Veiled chameleons if not matted at sexual maturity lay infertile eggs they do about 2 to 3 times a year its not to be concerned about but keep moist sand for her to always be able to lay eggs in her cage at all times but if she has been with someone else for a year b4 being with you it could be fertile eggs so you should found out about its history hope this helps you

jrjorgensen2519 said:

Okay, so here's the deal. I bought a (what I believe to be female) Veiled Chameleon from the pet store about a month ago and it was at that point in time already several months old. I always kind of thought she was a bit chubby but I didn't think anything else of it. Well I came back from my classes today and my veiled appeared to be laying eggs. It was in a very stressed color, perched on one of it's logs, and sure enough below it were four, very smooth, white eggs. I guess she must've mated before I purchased her? Regardless, I had not intended on having this happen and now I am very confused as to what to do next to take care of the eggs. I'm kind of freaking out because it was so sudden and I don't want the embryo's to die, any suggestions please?!

happy trails,
-jay

Click to expand...

I also have a female chameleon she is approx 10mths old and has been digging on and off for about 12 days. The hole kept collapsing so my husband strengthened and supported it for her when she was out of the cage. As soon as we put her back in she went straight to her tunnel and started to dig again. She was in her tunnel for 24 hours and then she came out and filled the whole thing in. She was knackered. She rested that night and today (Next day) she is fine and eating and drinking. We took her out of her cage today and had to take her eggs away as she has not been fertilized by a male chameleon. We were amazed she had laid 76 eggs. We just couldn't believe that many eggs could have been inside of her. Just phenomenal. Im not an expert at all but I do know that if they have nice moist dirt about 10inches deep they will dig and make a nest for the eggs. Im sure your chameleon has more eggs to lay. If you are concerned a vet can xray her to see if there are any eggs left. He will tell you if she is egg bound or not. Hope this helps. Good Luck
Tracy

May not be fertile.....

I'm thinking they may not be fertile. Females seem to know this somehow and take less care of infertiles. They will often just spit them out like that. If they were fertile she may retain them until she found the right place to lay even if it meant retaining them until she died. In any case, take all the suggestions for her laying the rest. Its the same hardship on her body either way. She is going to need extra monitoring after laying to make sure she drinks and eats enough to recover. If the eggs are infertile they will go bad within a month. I'm glad she spit some out for you to see so you could take care of her needs

jrjorgensen2519 last posted in this thread 10 14 2007...I think by now the problem has already been figured out.

veiled chamelion laying eggs

i just figured out my veiled chameleon is female i am still learning about her i have had her about 7 months now and i guess she is adult now last night before bed she ate really well she was pretty green color and i held her for a bit and i woke this morning to find about 42 eggs in the bottom of the cage on the floor and she was black in color and very cold like i said this was to my amazement that she is a female i did not know why she was black i read she might be dehydrated so i misted her and the leaves and i fed her some crickets she is moving around and i think her color is coming back do i remove the eggs can they fertilize themselves or because she did not lay them in the right conditions are they just bad i don't want to cause any more stress to her what do i do next

Its too bad that you didn't know that she was a female after having her for 7 months.

You may be very lucky that she laid the eggs....most females that don't have a proper place to lay them die eggbound. I hope she hasn't retained any.

The dark coloration is non-receptive coloration. It may come and go for a while now...until she becomes receptive again. Veiled chameleons can lay eggs even without being mated...but, of course, they will be infertile if not mated. The eggs do not fertilize themselves.

Hopefully she laid all the eggs and will return to her normal behavior. If she shows any signs of going downhill (sleeping during the day, not eating or drinking, eyes sinking in, etc.) you will need to get her to a vet ASAP.

Because of the number of eggs she laid, you might want to feed her well for a couple of days and then cut back somewhat on the feeding so she won't lay a large clutch next time....or maybe won't even produce a clutch next time.

IMHO you should also put an opaque container at least 12" deep x 12" x 8" full of washed playsand in her cage so she has somewhere to dig to lay eggs next time she needs to (which could be in about 120-130 days). This way you won't miss the sometimes subtle indications that she is ready to lay them.

It would also be a good idea to fill out the questionaire in the post at the top of the health section titled How to ask for help so we can make sure that your husbandry is good.

thanks for the update

since this morning my chameleon has gotten most of her color back and yes i will try to figure out the sand thing for the next time this happens she did show the signs she went for a while without eating and she was on the floor of the cage this week alot but as i said i did not know what was happening or that it was a female this is a learning experiance and i am glad i found this site i will try to do as you said and go the the help thing but i have to read the directions again thanks

vjbibb said:

since this morning my chameleon has gotten most of her color back and yes i will try to figure out the sand thing for the next time this happens she did show the signs she went for a while without eating and she was on the floor of the cage this week alot but as i said i did not know what was happening or that it was a female this is a learning experiance and i am glad i found this site i will try to do as you said and go the the help thing but i have to read the directions again thanks

Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear that your female is alright. I also have a female veiled and I have a blog about egg laying and the laying bin that you might find useful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html