Assistance regarding female Veiled

[Ponyboy]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Female veiled chameleon, approximately six months old, I've had her since she was three months old.
• Handling - Never, Mohammed is exemplifies the chameleon characteristic of "territorial".
• Feeding - I gut load large crickets with Flukers high calcium cricket diet, apples, kale, and use orange cubes for water and other vitamins. I also feed her a few superworms which I use potatoes, apples, and oatmeal for gut loading. All I dust in calcium with vitamin D ultrafine powder.
• Supplements - See above.
• Watering - I use a "Little Dripper" which constantly drips above my shefflera tree, and a mistking system which mists from the top down once every three hours for 45 seconds, and I also mist liberally with a hand bottle when I'm home if I notice the shefflera leaves are dry near the basking spot/height.
• Fecal Description - Mohammed has never been tested for parasites; feces is normal and urates are normal
• History - Nothing at this time.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - 24x24x48 ReptiBreeze XL
• Lighting - Heating bulb and Zoomed UVB bulb, 12 hour timers from 6am to 6pm.
• Temperature and Humidity - I use Zoo-Meds dual thermometer and hydrometer gauges in the middle of the cage and at the top. Humidity is a steady 70% and basking temperature is roughly 80-85; middle of the cage about 75, bottom about 5 degrees lower than that.
• Plants - I have a tall shefflera tree which takes up most of the cage in addition to a camella plant at the bottom which reaches roughly the middle of the cage.
• Placement - My cage is in my man cave, about two feet off of the flower, the top of the cage is slightly taller than I am so at a little over six foot; Mohammed spends most of his day at or above my shoulder level.
• Location - North Carolina, coastal region.

Current Problem -

Well, my veiled is concerning me, and being a worry wort in general I think I have a situation on my hands.

My concerns are two-fold:
1. Is my veiled gravid?
2. Egg laying pot setup/soil recommendations

So...

Mohammed keeps going down to the bottom of the cage and in the egg laying pot and large tree pot and I think, is ready to lay eggs.

Mohammed's eating habits haven't changed, she's in good health, but is still very young, less than six months old, so I have my doubts.

I've included pictures of Mohammed as well as my egg laying pot and would like some recommendations/suggestions.

I use all natural organic potting soil for both plants, and the dirt isn't dry it's kept moist to facilitate digging/burrowing. Both are 14 inches in height; the plant pot is about 14 inches in diameter and the egg laying pot is about 12.

Thanks in advance!

-Steven

 

[bobcochran]

She's not displaying typical gravid coloration. Probably not going to lay eggs anytime soon.

 

[Ponyboy]

What do you think of the egg laying pot? I have a feeling it may not be wide enough across for her to comfortably dig in without feeling confined but I cannot fit anything else in the cage - despite it being the largest cage commercially available. (24x24x48)

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. Your girl could have eggs. It's hard to say with these girls. My girls never showed the topical gravid colors. I would recommend a bigger lay bin. You might find these blogs helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/entry/egg-laying-and-the-laying-bin.345/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video.77225/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[Ponyboy]

Yep, I've dove into all those resources. The plant pot shown in the second video is nearly exactly identical to the pot I use, I just feel like it's not big enough maybe because I have a massive shefflera tree pot next to it.

12 inches + is what I have available for her to lay in; the shefflera pot has much more width and the soil is a bit more dense than the one I built specifically for egg laying but she could still lay them there. Hopefully my Dragonstrand atrium order goes in next week then I can have two of the very large pots with no issues regarding space and provide her with a consistent, constant, secure place for her to lay eggs in with no concerns regarding width of the pot.

I will just have to keep a more watchful eye on her every day like I normally do (I think my wife believes I have become obsessed with my cham, for better or worse) and if she starts showing more obvious signs of gravidity such as a wider abdomen, overly-frequent visits to the bottom of the cage, dietary shifts, behavior change, coloring, or any of the other signs, I will just go ahead and remove the shefflera tree and re-organize my pothos, camellias, and baby shefflera into the cage in order to facilitate egg laying. In the mean time, I'm also going to adjust her basking spot and drop it to about 80-84, and cut her feeding down from 10 crickets/2 superworms per day to 8 crickets per day 4 in the morning and 4 in the evening.

Thanks for all the feedback and I really appreciate you all and this forum!