1.5 year old female, hasn’t laid or been receptive yet

[aduesler93]

I have an approximately 1.5 year old female veiled who has not become receptive or laid yet. She has had the proper lay bin in her enclosure for about a year and I have read up and am super prepared but she has shown no signs. I’ve heard of them laying once pretty young and not laying again after that but is it normal for a female veiled to just not lay? Or not lay till she’s older?

Photo is from a couple months ago just because…

P.s. yes she is a small girl, she has been to a reptile vet. When I got her she had some digestive issues and malnutrition, since being on anti and probiotics last year she has grown into herself and is still very strong, just little like me!

 

[kinyonga]

Please post a few more photos of her.

 

[aduesler93]

I can post more tomorrow. Her lights are off right now and I don’t have any better ones on my phone.

 

[Ghostbirb]

My girl is also around One and a Half year old, she also has yet to go receptive or lay. From the advice I’ve gotten about it I don’t think it’s anything to worry about her not going receptive or laying

 

[Beman]

What is your feeding schedule and amounts? What are your temps? Because if your following the reduced feeding and temps protocol to control clutch size this has another bonus where sometimes the females very rarely lay.

 

[aduesler93]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Female, veiled, 1.5 years old approximately, I’ve had her since end of November 2021
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once a week usually, depends on her mood sometimes she wants out (associates me with food), sometimes she prefers to eat from the feeder
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Variety of crickets and BSFL (both primary feeders) with silkworms when I can get them. She also gets the occasional horn worm as treat a couple times a month. Eats every other day, fed the equivalent of 7-8 large crickets, gut load gets mixed up between mustard greens and kale, carrots, and repashy bug burger
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed multivitamin WITHOUT D3 2x a month, flukers calcium with D3 2x a month, regular zoomed calcium on all other feedings
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Mistking system, sprays 2 minutes in morning right before lights come on, 2 minutes at 11am, 2 minutes at night right before lights go out, once at 2am for 2 minutes (must usually puddles on plant leaves) I have caught her drinking once or twice but she doesn’t do it much in front of us
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Large brown and white poos, consistently throughout the week, even goes in the same spot every time
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. About 6 months ago I had concerns as she was smaller than she should be and didn’t seem to be gaining weight. I “rescued” her from petsmart where she was not being cared for properly so there were concerns. Reptile vet checked for diseases and said she likely had a digestive issue (can’t remember her words) prescribed a probiotic and antibiotic, since then she has almost doubled in size and is constantly active and eating well.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen reptibreeze XL 24x48 I believe
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Basking lamp is 100 watt Zilla brand regular heat lamp, uvb is zoomed T5 replaced every 6 months, both lights are on currently from 7am-7pm, in warmer months heat lamp is from 10am-4pm
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking branch is around 82, lowest point of cage is around 72 depending on time of day, measure temps with digital thermometer with probe and temperature gun, night temp generally between 64-69.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity ranges from 50-60 during day (closer to 50 now with winter air) and 66-75 at night, mist periodically as noted above and run a humidifier with distilled water (cleaned regularly) at night
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes, she has a couple pothos and a large umbrella plant, she enjoys snacking on both types
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In a spare room low traiffic on the reptibreeze stand top of cage is about 8 feet high, there is a heat vent on opposite side of room
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Upstate New York

Here’s all her info and pictures from this morning! Yes she’s on her door she saw me getting her breakfast ready and got a little too excited

 

[Beman]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Female, veiled, 1.5 years old approximately, I’ve had her since end of November 2021
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once a week usually, depends on her mood sometimes she wants out (associates me with food), sometimes she prefers to eat from the feeder
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Variety of crickets and BSFL (both primary feeders) with silkworms when I can get them. She also gets the occasional horn worm as treat a couple times a month. Eats every other day, fed the equivalent of 7-8 large crickets, gut load gets mixed up between mustard greens and kale, carrots, and repashy bug burger
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed multivitamin WITHOUT D3 2x a month, flukers calcium with D3 2x a month, regular zoomed calcium on all other feedings
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Mistking system, sprays 2 minutes in morning right before lights come on, 2 minutes at 11am, 2 minutes at night right before lights go out, once at 2am for 2 minutes (must usually puddles on plant leaves) I have caught her drinking once or twice but she doesn’t do it much in front of us
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Large brown and white poos, consistently throughout the week, even goes in the same spot every time
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. About 6 months ago I had concerns as she was smaller than she should be and didn’t seem to be gaining weight. I “rescued” her from petsmart where she was not being cared for properly so there were concerns. Reptile vet checked for diseases and said she likely had a digestive issue (can’t remember her words) prescribed a probiotic and antibiotic, since then she has almost doubled in size and is constantly active and eating well.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen reptibreeze XL 24x48 I believe
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Basking lamp is 100 watt Zilla brand regular heat lamp, uvb is zoomed T5 replaced every 6 months, both lights are on currently from 7am-7pm, in warmer months heat lamp is from 10am-4pm
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking branch is around 82, lowest point of cage is around 72 depending on time of day, measure temps with digital thermometer with probe and temperature gun, night temp generally between 64-69.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity ranges from 50-60 during day (closer to 50 now with winter air) and 66-75 at night, mist periodically as noted above and run a humidifier with distilled water (cleaned regularly) at night
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes, she has a couple pothos and a large umbrella plant, she enjoys snacking on both types
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In a spare room low traiffic on the reptibreeze stand top of cage is about 8 feet high, there is a heat vent on opposite side of room
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Upstate New York

Here’s all her info and pictures from this morning! Yes she’s on her door she saw me getting her breakfast ready and got a little too excited

Could you pleas post a picture of her entire enclosure from the lights down to the bottom? I will work on your husbandry review.

 

[Beman]

See my feedback in red bold.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Female, veiled, 1.5 years old approximately, I’ve had her since end of November 2021
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once a week usually, depends on her mood sometimes she wants out (associates me with food), sometimes she prefers to eat from the feeder
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Variety of crickets and BSFL (both primary feeders) with silkworms when I can get them. She also gets the occasional horn worm as treat a couple times a month. Eats every other day, fed the equivalent of 7-8 large crickets, gut load gets mixed up between mustard greens and kale, carrots, and repashy bug burger.. So to control clutch size we always recommend a reduce feeding schedule and temps for females. This would be 3 feedings a week with 3 feeders.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Zoomed multivitamin WITHOUT D3 2x a month, flukers calcium with D3 2x a month, regular zoomed calcium on all other feedings. When you say regular zoomed on all other feedings are you talking about the without D3 version? Other supplements are fine just make sure you are rotating week to week between them.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Mistking system, sprays 2 minutes in morning right before lights come on, 2 minutes at 11am, 2 minutes at night right before lights go out, once at 2am for 2 minutes (must usually puddles on plant leaves) I have caught her drinking once or twice but she doesn’t do it much in front of us. If she is a shy drinker adding a dripper can be helpful. This can be done with a plastic solo cup and tiny pin holed in the bottom fill with ice cubes for a slow melt off. Place on top of the cage on the screen over plant leaves.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Large brown and white poos, consistently throughout the week, even goes in the same spot every time
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. About 6 months ago I had concerns as she was smaller than she should be and didn’t seem to be gaining weight. I “rescued” her from petsmart where she was not being cared for properly so there were concerns. Reptile vet checked for diseases and said she likely had a digestive issue (can’t remember her words) prescribed a probiotic and antibiotic, since then she has almost doubled in size and is constantly active and eating well. If she had a rough start and her growth rate was not normal this may be linked to why she has not gone receptive or laid a clutch yet.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen reptibreeze XL 24x48 I believe
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Basking lamp is 100 watt Zilla brand regular heat lamp, uvb is zoomed T5 replaced every 6 months, both lights are on currently from 7am-7pm, in warmer months heat lamp is from 10am-4pm 100 watt bulb is quite strong typically we recommend a 60-75 watt regular white incandescent bulb.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking branch is around 82, lowest point of cage is around 72 depending on time of day, measure temps with digital thermometer with probe and temperature gun, night temp generally between 64-69. Basking for a female on a reduced diet to control clutch size should be 78-80 max. Make sure your probe is hooked in on the branch directly below the heat. If it reads 82 there then its actually more like 84-86 higher where she rises up depending on your bulb type used. Stronger bulbs or flat bottom basking bulbs have a much hotter range the closer you get to them.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Humidity ranges from 50-60 during day (closer to 50 now with winter air) and 66-75 at night, mist periodically as noted above and run a humidifier with distilled water (cleaned regularly) at night Daytime humidity your looking for 30-50% range.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes, she has a couple pothos and a large umbrella plant, she enjoys snacking on both types
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In a spare room low traiffic on the reptibreeze stand top of cage is about 8 feet high, there is a heat vent on opposite side of room
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Upstate New York

Here’s all her info and pictures from this morning! Yes she’s on her door she saw me getting her breakfast ready and got a little too excited

All of your husbandry is pretty spot on. I would love to see images of the entire cage including the lighting on the top and of her lay bin.

Since she has not been on a reduced temp and food plan to control clutch size I am betting her rough start has contributed to the delay in being receptive and gravid. They really need to be healthy and to weight for their body to start the process.

 

[aduesler93]

Could you pleas post a picture of her entire enclosure from the lights down to the bottom? I will work on your husbandry review.

 

[aduesler93]

Thank you for the feedback! I left out that she does have a dripper as well that you can see in the picture. And yes, calcium without D3 is my regular Zoomed. We use 75 watt bulb normally but with wonder temps and the drop it was getting under 70 at her basking area during the day. I have been hesitant to reduce her feeding amounts just because she still looks small to me and have read not to reduce until her first clutch but that could be wrong, I know you know your stuff and appreciate it!

 

[Beman]

Thank you for the feedback! I left out that she does have a dripper as well that you can see in the picture. And yes, calcium without D3 is my regular Zoomed. We use 75 watt bulb normally but with wonder temps and the drop it was getting under 70 at her basking area during the day. I have been hesitant to reduce her feeding amounts just because she still looks small to me and have read not to reduce until her first clutch but that could be wrong, I know you know your stuff and appreciate it!

Overall set up looks great. You can lift the basking fixture up off the top of the cage to control temps too. She is an adult female so reducing feeding would be a good idea to control clutch size. The larger the clutches the higher risk of egg binding and consistent large clutches shortens their lifespan. But the temps have to be reduced at basking as well because this helps with slowing the metabolism which in turn helps with the reduced feeding.

Make sure you can dig a tunnel in the playsand and that it holds. You do not want it to be packed down or she will have a hard time digging when the time comes.

But nothing in your husbandry would indicate a reason for the delayed laying. Again I am going back to her rough start in life and lack of correct husbandry being the cause. But with her diet I would not be surprised if you see her go receptive sometime in the near future. She looks to be a very healthy size for an adult female.