rcc760
Member
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been on here!
I’ve officially had Charlie for one year, and she just laid her first clutch two days ago, at 18 months old! She laid a whopping 21 eggs.
I wanted to share my experience with her laying because I think others can learn from it. My mistakes could’ve been fatal, but thankfully everything worked out well.
Even though she’s already 18 months old, I did not have a laying bin in her cage until the day before she laid. BIG NO-NO. I know! Please don’t abuse me for it! I have many reasons why I didn’t. Here’s why:
She never got her mature colors, for one. She’s always been her basic green with occasional yellow and black. No blues and oranges at all ever, which made me think she wasn’t close to laying eggs. I learned recently, however, that they don’t always change colors (one of the clues that it was time to put a bin in).
She’s a very small chameleon, maybe about 6-8 inches from snout to vent? She did have parasites when she was younger, which I believe stunted her growth. Clearly, small size doesn’t mean she can’t have eggs. I have learned.
Going along with size, she never looked fat/gravid. No bumpy belly, no swelled look. She’s always just looked kind of normal. I’m going to work on weighing her more often because that, I know, is a better indicator than appearance alone.
She never had an aversion to food. She was eating voraciously until she laid her eggs. No change at all!
That being said, she was more pissy than usual and started spending time at the bottom of the cage, which was my real clue that it was time for a bin.
I know I made mistakes. Thankfully, I learned, and she didn’t have any major consequences as a result. Clearly, it’s best not to go on the usual indicators. Some chameleons don’t follow them I guess.
I’ve officially had Charlie for one year, and she just laid her first clutch two days ago, at 18 months old! She laid a whopping 21 eggs.
I wanted to share my experience with her laying because I think others can learn from it. My mistakes could’ve been fatal, but thankfully everything worked out well.
Even though she’s already 18 months old, I did not have a laying bin in her cage until the day before she laid. BIG NO-NO. I know! Please don’t abuse me for it! I have many reasons why I didn’t. Here’s why:
She never got her mature colors, for one. She’s always been her basic green with occasional yellow and black. No blues and oranges at all ever, which made me think she wasn’t close to laying eggs. I learned recently, however, that they don’t always change colors (one of the clues that it was time to put a bin in).
She’s a very small chameleon, maybe about 6-8 inches from snout to vent? She did have parasites when she was younger, which I believe stunted her growth. Clearly, small size doesn’t mean she can’t have eggs. I have learned.
Going along with size, she never looked fat/gravid. No bumpy belly, no swelled look. She’s always just looked kind of normal. I’m going to work on weighing her more often because that, I know, is a better indicator than appearance alone.
She never had an aversion to food. She was eating voraciously until she laid her eggs. No change at all!
That being said, she was more pissy than usual and started spending time at the bottom of the cage, which was my real clue that it was time for a bin.
I know I made mistakes. Thankfully, I learned, and she didn’t have any major consequences as a result. Clearly, it’s best not to go on the usual indicators. Some chameleons don’t follow them I guess.
