Age or Size to start worrying about eggs with Veiled

[jajeanpierre]

I have a young female veiled, around 4 months old. When I bought her three weeks ago she weighed 28 grams. Today she weighs 40 grams. She looks very plump and round.

Surely she is too young to even think about eggs. When do I have to worry?

I intend to put her on a restricted diet/heat/lighting to try to avoid her laying eggs but at what age/size is she fully grown? I don't want to stunt her.

I'm going to re-read the articles on dealing with gravid females, but none seem to give a size/age when to start cutting back on things.

I know the area they are native to, having lived in Saudi Arabia for many years and traveled through the south west, and it is a very harsh environment. I think the abundance of food and water in captivity is a problem for them.

What is the weight of mature female and male Veileds?

Also, I'm new to chameleons buying my first, the above-mentioned female, mid November and the second,a bigger male, a week ago.

 

[kinyonga]

Does she have mustardy yellow splotches and/or bright blue dots on her yet?

 

[jajeanpierre]

No, just green with pinky color down her back, the edges of her casque and some tan splotches.

Here's a picture I just took of her. She's puffed up a bit, but she really is pretty round. You can see how small she really is, holding a wire for a thermometer. She looks like a baby to me.

When do I start cutting her back?

http://imgur.com/cREcPRx

 

[jajeanpierre]

Here are some pictures taken today. Someone suggested that she looked gravid.

Is that possible? Surely not!

She only weighs 40 grams and stretched out is only 10" long from tip of nose to tip of tail (give or take a bit for wiggle).

Here are some pictures taken today. I thought she was just gaining weight and maybe getting fat.

http://imgur.com/a/UsKKx

 

[kinyonga]

She looks a little plump. You don't want to constantly overfeed her. She's not showing adult colors yet so she's not likely gravid but if you make her fat it could cause her problems later. I feed them as much as they will eat in a couple of minutes and then leave one or two crickets loose in the cage for a snack.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thanks. This has been a scare!

I want to keep her so she doesn't cycle--I thought I had months before I had to worry about that and cut her food down. It looks like I'm doing it all wrong. I was trying to make sure she ate, making it too easy for her instead of making her do all the worrying over getting enough.

I need to take her back to her roots. I know how harsh her natural habitat is, having traveled many times through the area they are native to.

Back to square one, feeding.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Kinyonga, People like me must drive you crazy. I know you've posted all this information about gravid veileds before. It must be tiring for you to answer the same questions over and over, to see people like me who have no idea what they are getting into when they buy a cute little female lizard in a pet shop.... Just know that I really appreciate all the help you and others like you give the ignorant masses, of which I am a card-carrying member.

Here's a picture taken of her almost two weeks ago. The day before this picture, I had taken her outside in the direct sun. (I'm a huge believer in natural sunlight.) I think she was quite stressed by the whole outside thing and stopped eating for a few days. The day after she had been out in the sun, she turned this really weird color. I am hoping you will tell me that it is within the normal color range of a juvenile, but now people have me worried. Could the sunlight have triggered her reproductive tract and she turned color because something was going on very different reproductively?

http://imgur.com/2AmpvfT