6 mo panther (fake) mama. egg laying problems

[Enochlg]

Okay so my female of about 6 1/2months is very much gravid...
She has been very round the last 2weeks, just starting to show the basic coloration. The eggs are infertile, everyone as work has been referring to her as my " baby the fake mama".

Thursday, she kept running up & down her cage, probably about 20 times throughout the morning/mid afternoon.
I was as at work at the time, so my girlfriend calls me, i rush home leaving work early around 2pm (nervous cham owner much?) as I had the supplied purchased the day before for the laying bin in my car.

Well of course after the bin is put together in the cage, she is stuck up on a perch, refusing to move.
So after a couple days of this behavior, I decided to try to force her into laying as i've heard on many blogs & videos...
By this time, she is showing the "gravid colors" full-on black with the peach pink spots.

So i went & got a large wheeled trash can, filled about 12in of washed play sand, premium top soil mix, setup her light fixture on top (no heat lamp afraid it would cook her - but temps stay a constant 73 dropping a bit lower around 67 at night (lowest).

I have a IP camera rigged up to look in on her, and she has just been stuck up in the little plant i put in there for her.
Should i take the plant out?
I don't want to stress her or rush things...
I just moved her in there yesterday (saturday)

How long can i safely leave her in there>? I don't want to stress her further by moving her from her cage to her... trash can (I call it what it is to keep a sense of humor about the whole thing as stressful it is)

Should i be misting her? Setup a dripper?
Should i be dropping food inside?
I fed her a large hornworm before moving her to the trash can, which she always eats readily..
She had been refusing all crickets, only eating hornworms & superworms for a few days prior to this.

Is it better to have her in the trash can, or back in her original cage, where there is a smaller laying bin (12in diameter, 12in deep)?


Thank you all so much for the help.. I know there are so many of these, and I will probably look back on this & laugh..
But i'd rather look back & laugh than something terrible happen.

Attached is a picture of her in the bin/trash can. The hole you see was made by me hoping to encourage her.

 

[Lathelia]

Can you post photos of her? She might to be ready to lay just yet, so leaving her in laying bin would not make sense and just stress her out.
I'm just guessing, as I don't have much experience in that matter. Hope someone will chime in soon.

 

[Enochlg]

Sure her is the most recent one..

 

[camimom]

I would just put herin her cage, with her lay bucket,and leave her be.

As was said, she's probably not ready to lay yet.

 

[jezzie]

We left our veiled be with the laying bin in her normal enclosure. She wandered the cage for a good week before she would even get in the bin but once in she didn't leave until she layer lol

 

[Enochlg]

I think y'all are right. I went ahead & moved her to her regular cage with the 12in diameter 12in deep pot/laying bin.

Wouldn't you know it, the first thing she does is jet down her plant (which doesn't have appropriate soil or size to dig). I realized there were some bushy plants blocking her view to the laying bin from that route, so I immediately moved them over.
Right away, she quickly crawls thru the new path and hangs out on the vine an in above the dirt/sand.
We left her alone, but she just sat & stared for a few minute before climbing up to her sleeping spot(it was her bed time by now).
But I added another branch going into the soil from that same vine. It seemed like she was scoping everything out.

Hopefully spending a day in the trash can (which I took out the plant bc although safe it was sapping) she realizes that a little dirt won't hurt ya!
So I will give her some calcium crickets tomorrow morning like normal, a good misting , and leave her be. I will be gone all day at work, but can watch via my IP camera.

I heard they like to lay closer to evening so when I get home around 5 I'm gonna cut her large UV light off leaving only the extra light I have from Ikea which creates an evening like mood, casting shadows & what not.

Any additional advice is greatly appreciated, id like to know if this sounds appropriate.

Should I continue offering food each morning as normal?

 

[jannb]

I would continue to offer food and make sure to dust with calcium. This is also an excellent time to give her a drop or two of liquid calcium every two to three days. I free range all of my chams and use the large trash can method but never leave my girls in the can more than a couple of hours. If they show no interest after a couple of hours they go back in the free range and then I will try again in a coupe of days. The only way to know for sure if she has eggs is to have her X-rayed. I do this quite often. My vet can tell from the x-ray how far along the eggs are so I'll know about when to try the trash can. Often they will climb down the stick into the can when they are ready to lay. I've only had two little girls that were stubborn about laying and had to try the can method with no way out several times before they got busy digging.

 

[Lathelia]

I would give her privacy, but keep offering food and water. She should lay on her own in the laying bin in her cage. Just keep an eye on her, especially if she stops eating/drinking/moving (some if not most stop eating few days before laying).

 

[Enochlg]

Sounds like great advice... I offered crickets this morning we will see after work how many she eats if at all. She always eats the good stuff but hasn't been interested in crickets as much the past couple days.

I have the IP cam fixed on her laying bin (still in her regular cage as seems to be the general consensus).
She has gone down twice so far.
First down her regular plant; a few minutes later she literally was hanging like a bat no more than an inch or so from her laying bin.
The whole time watching from work I'm just praying for her to get in! lol
After about 5min she went back up.

Driving me crazy is her favorite thing to do of course!

If anyone is interested you can see the cam here:

http://76.88.95.180:8080
User ID: nexxus3
PW: eggs3

Although this cam, like I said, is fixed on her laying bin. Hopefully we will see some action soon!

Thank you all so much! I will keep you posted.

 

[Enochlg]

Well it seems to be that Nexxus was playing a little joke on me!
Being a picky eater, showing gravid colors, and running up & down her plant turned out to be all for a good laugh!
See here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/pregnancy-scare-my-horny-lil-girl-w-hd-pictures-103665/

Is it possible that a female panther will be receptive & potentially mate with a male even if she is gravid?