Knightangel20
New Member
Im a little worried about my girl I think she might be ready to lay eggs. But im not sure the first pic is her today and the dec is her 2 weeks ago. Her patterns have changed. Help please?
6 month old veiled chameleon
- Thread starter Knightangel20
- Start date
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hi and welcome. 
She’s a very lovely lady. It’s a bit hard for me to tell, but in the older pic, had she developed her colors or is that the new change? What about her activity level? Has she been very active and almost non stop moving about her enclosure and if so, how long ago did that start? Does she have a lay bin? How much and how often have you been feeding her? Last question (for now), can you post a pic of her entire enclosure including one of her lights?
She’s a very lovely lady. It’s a bit hard for me to tell, but in the older pic, had she developed her colors or is that the new change? What about her activity level? Has she been very active and almost non stop moving about her enclosure and if so, how long ago did that start? Does she have a lay bin? How much and how often have you been feeding her? Last question (for now), can you post a pic of her entire enclosure including one of her lights?
Knightangel20
New Member
That's like dark spots are new
Knightangel20
New Member
sorry about all the typos the dark spots are new and I put a lay box in her cage today
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Ok, but it’s important to answer my other questions. I see a couple of things that give me some concern that your pretty lady’s husbandry may need a bit of upgrades to prevent her from having any problems when it’s time for her to lay eggs. It’s not easy to find correct info on chameleon keeping and all too often we see heartbreak here because of it. You don’t know, what you don’t know.
Knightangel20
New Member
She as act as she has always been. She gets 5 crickets and 2 mill worm twice a day
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MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thank you. It looks like you have the chameleon kit and unfortunately, very little is correct for your little sweetheart. Let’s just focus on the barest of essentials though which will prevent her from having any problems such as egg binding. The biggest problem with the kit is the uvb provided doesn’t put out any uvb past 2-3” and is essentially doing nothing. You’ll need to get her a T5HO fixture with either a 5.0 or 6% uvb bulb. Then her basking area needs to be about 8-9” away for the perfect uvb levels. The next most important part is getting the supplements right. This is actually something the kit does well. You want to lightly dust every feeding with the phosphorus free calcium without D3. At one feeding every other week, you’ll use the ReptiVite with D3 instead. Between the correct uvb light and correct supplements and schedule, your lady will be not only getting calcium, but she’ll be getting what is needed for her body to convert the calcium into a usable form. Without uvb/vitamin D3, there’s no way to use calcium and it all just passes thru.
Next in importance for our ladies is feeding and temps. It is a bit difficult to know how much to feed them so that they’ll get enough nutrition to fully grow until she’s gone through her first cycle. However, at her age of 6 months, you are overfeeding her. She should be fed just once in the morning. You can keep the same amount of 7-8 feeders daily for now. The more we feed them, the more eggs they produce and the higher the risk of problems. Also, laying eggs greatly shortens their lives so we take actions to reduce their egg laying. It’s much easier than it sounds. I feed my fully mature girls 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week (plus occasional treats) and keep their basking temp at 80 and no higher. One of my girls hadn’t laid eggs in 3 years, another usually lays just once a year and my third hasn’t ever laid eggs. Even though I know they rarely or don’t at all lay eggs, I stay prepared and keep a lay bin in their enclosure and ready at all times.
There are other improvements that your chameleon needs, but I don’t want to overwhelm you right now. Getting the correct uvb, supplements and other items I mentioned are the barest of essentials. I do want to also guide you to the site where you can take your time to learn all that is current and correct which is, https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ or you could check out Neptune the chameleon on YouTube. Then come on back and we can help you get the other needed changes made. Here’s a few graphics that may help you. I didn’t talk about feeders or plants, but am including graphics on them. Regarding plants, our ladies like to eat their plants…some devour them! That’s why it’s important to have only safe live plants. It only takes one nibble of a fake leaf to cause a potentially deadly bowel obstruction. Pothos is one of the best plants for chameleons and so easy to start with. Do feel free to ask any questions you may have.
It looks like you have the chameleon kit and unfortunately, very little is correct for your little sweetheart. Let’s just focus on the barest of essentials though which will prevent her from having any problems such as egg binding. The biggest problem with the kit is the uvb provided doesn’t put out any uvb past 2-3” and is essentially doing nothing. You’ll need to get her a T5HO fixture with either a 5.0 or 6% uvb bulb. Then her basking area needs to be about 8-9” away for the perfect uvb levels. The next most important part is getting the supplements right. This is actually something the kit does well. You want to lightly dust every feeding with the phosphorus free calcium without D3. At one feeding every other week, you’ll use the ReptiVite with D3 instead. Between the correct uvb light and correct supplements and schedule, your lady will be not only getting calcium, but she’ll be getting what is needed for her body to convert the calcium into a usable form. Without uvb/vitamin D3, there’s no way to use calcium and it all just passes thru.Next in importance for our ladies is feeding and temps. It is a bit difficult to know how much to feed them so that they’ll get enough nutrition to fully grow until she’s gone through her first cycle. However, at her age of 6 months, you are overfeeding her. She should be fed just once in the morning. You can keep the same amount of 7-8 feeders daily for now. The more we feed them, the more eggs they produce and the higher the risk of problems. Also, laying eggs greatly shortens their lives so we take actions to reduce their egg laying. It’s much easier than it sounds. I feed my fully mature girls 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week (plus occasional treats) and keep their basking temp at 80 and no higher. One of my girls hadn’t laid eggs in 3 years, another usually lays just once a year and my third hasn’t ever laid eggs. Even though I know they rarely or don’t at all lay eggs, I stay prepared and keep a lay bin in their enclosure and ready at all times.
There are other improvements that your chameleon needs, but I don’t want to overwhelm you right now. Getting the correct uvb, supplements and other items I mentioned are the barest of essentials. I do want to also guide you to the site where you can take your time to learn all that is current and correct which is, https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-basics/ or you could check out Neptune the chameleon on YouTube. Then come on back and we can help you get the other needed changes made. Here’s a few graphics that may help you. I didn’t talk about feeders or plants, but am including graphics on them. Regarding plants, our ladies like to eat their plants…some devour them! That’s why it’s important to have only safe live plants. It only takes one nibble of a fake leaf to cause a potentially deadly bowel obstruction. Pothos is one of the best plants for chameleons and so easy to start with. Do feel free to ask any questions you may have.
