concerns about early pregnancy for my vield

D

DcabMEX

New Member
i have a pretty young female vield chameleon(about 4-6 months old) in which i have observed behaving very differently latey. just now as i was feeding her crickets, i found her lying on a vine asleep. and as i look more closely, i realized she had a abnormally large belly! i doubt she is pregnant but this is the first time i found her like this in the middle of the day with so much food around her? what should be done? and please dnt say vet if you dnt have any other advice to give, thank you =)
 
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do you have a laying bin?

female veields as young as 6months will lay infertile egg clutches...(they will continue to do ths for the rest of their life.

she might be eggbound but you might need a vet, sorry....
 
yea the sleeping is one thing. but i know sometimes my girl sits/lays certain ways tghat make it look like she has a large belly. but once she starts moving around or changes position you can tell otherwise.
 
Please fill out the out for help form and post some pictures when you can. Here's a link to my egg laying/laying bin blog: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

How to ask for help

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Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information, you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.


Pictures are helpful
 
sorry but i have no way to take a picture of my chameleon.....
but here is wat i can give u


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - I have a 4-6 month female vield chameleon. I have taken care of her since the end of november.

Handling - I pick up out of her cage on rare occassions to try and have her used to me more and more but also to give her her space.

Feeding - I mostly feed her small crickets. In a day i give her 6-12 crickets depending on how many i have to last a week. My schedule for her feeding is just the 6-12 crickets during lunchtime at around 3:30. I give my crickets the
flukers diet and thirst quencher.

Supplements - i dust the crickets the vitamin D3 suuplemenet called repti calcium and it hapens in the same schedule as the crickets but its not daily. i also have a a spray that is meant to give electrolytes and vitamins through the skin, i jus started using it this week only 3 times on times when i feel that she might need it.

Watering - I have spray bottle for misting, and i only use drinking water for it, i pump the mist about 8 times while i mist twice in a day. i also have a junior dripping system which i let run during the day until i turn off the lights. i have never seen my vield drink the water.

Fecal Description - she is normally defecating with a good amount of blackness and browness with the white calcium about a litlle less than half of the blcak feces. I have never tested my chamlelon for parasites.

History - i see as if she has baggy eyes which im to blame for for turnin her lights at different times in the past. but i made a schedule now and its almost going away.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have a 16 x 16x 24 screen cage

Lighting - i have 2 different light fixtures, one is a round dome lamp from flukers i believe. it uses a blue european 60 watt bulb for the day and a red 60 watt bulb for the night (both are for heat sources). the other is a 12 inch zoo med terrarium hood using a 5.0 uvb repti sun bulb. my daily lightening is pretty much light by day and red light by night.

Temperature -i feel that the temperatures reach from bottom to the top at 70 to 90. at night, it probably is from 60 to 80, yet i dnt have a way to measure the tempurature becuse it seems that i dnt have any ways to install one on the screen.

Humidity - again i have no way to install any gauge on the screen. and i cant really measure humidity.

Plants - I am using fake plants.

Placement - i put the cage in my room on a small desk with drawers not near any vents at about hip height to the floor, near the window.
Location - i live in south cali in the san fernando valley next to L.A.

Current Problem - I think my chameleon might be pregnant. but my biggest concern is that she is not awake in the day! i jus left crickets roaming around the cage for her to eat but she is not even waking up for that. i also have a grave feeling for the worse, but i pray that its not.
 
You don't need any heat at night unless the temperature goes down below the mid 60'sF at night. All you need for a basking light is a regular incandescent household light in a dome fixture. I don't use them on female veileds though...I use a double fluorescent fixture with a UVB light in one side and a regular fluorescent bulb in the other side so that the temperatures stay in the low to mid 80'sF. The lights you are using could be causing the issues with the eyes being shut (not the UVB one but the others).

Please see the supplement information I've added lower in the post. It explains what to do and why. Check out the gutload info too.

If the cage is near the window she may be getting a draft at night or overheated during the day...if the light hits the cage.

Does she have mustard/yellow splotches on her? Bright blue dots? Dark or green background? Is she sitting low or high in the cage?
Do you have a laying bin in her cage?




Here's some information you might find helpful......
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
 
Hey so want asure eryone that my chameleon did wake up the next day and is alive!=)
but now she is doing this wierd thing where she kinda stands on her hind legs and straightens her tail out and up!? what does this mean?
 
Is the front of her raised up in the air? Is she opening her mouth while doing this?

Does she have mustard/yellow splotches on her? Bright blue dots? Dark or green background? Is she sitting low or high in the cage? Sleeping during the day? Drinking more than normal?

Do you have a laying bin in her cage?
 
The front of her wat?

she doesnt change in color, only having green to light brownish skin. she sets more at lower parts of the cage. and i only saw her sleep in the day once. and ive never seen her drink any water
 
One more time...Is the front of her raised up in the air? Is she opening her mouth while doing this?
Do you have a laying bin in her cage? If she has no suitable place to dig and is producing eggs she could die eggbound.



Its not good that she's sitting low in the cage unless your cage temperatures are too hot higher up in the cage.

If she is gaping and raising her head up in the air its not a good thing either.
 
i geuss wat you are trying to say is if she is raised up from the front part. well, i have not observed her doing that at all, she also didnt open or gape her mouth.
she is a very special chameleon because now she is going all around the cage like she normally does?
 
i really would like to take pictures but idk how i can post it.
anyways, i would like to correct on how old she is; instead of being 4-6 months, she really is 2-3 months old.
so, about the laying bin, i was wondering wat that looked like and wat i put in it?
 
DcabMEX said:
i really would like to take pictures but idk how i can post it.
Click to expand...

Okay, the change in age is probably hugely important, but I'm not an expert on that.

What I can do is help you with the picture thing. If you have a digital camera, then take a picture and save it to your computer. If all you have is a cell phone camera, take a picture and send it to your e-mail and from there, save it to your computer.

Come here. Use the POST REPLY button, not the "quick reply" box. Click POST REPLY and you will get a box with more tools. One of those is a paperclip. That allows you to upload a picture directly from your computer to the post. Just click the paperclip and browse to where you saved your picture. Click UPLOAD. It will appear in the post as a thumbnail which enlarges when clicked on.
 
to kinyonga: im not sure that my chameleon is old enough to be laying eggs. like i said, she is more likely 2-3 months old and i highly doubt she is mature enough to start laying eggs? shoud i still try, but with a smaller bin instead?

to Elizadolots: i can try to get good pictures of her activity with my phone but it has a very bad camera. should i just take pictures of the setting and cage?
 
I suggest trying to get pictures of everything. You may be surprised when you get the pictures onto your computer. I thought my cell phone camera was terrible until I sent one to my computer. It was, in fact, crystal clear and quite big....it turns out the view screen on my cell phone is what's bad.
 
You said..."im not sure that my chameleon is old enough to be laying eggs. like i said, she is more likely 2-3 months old"...That's why I asked if she has mustard/yellow splotches on her? Bright blue dots? Dark or green background?...to determine whether she might be ready to lay eggs.

You can put a smaller bin in if you want to...but when/if she does need to lay eggs if she isn't happy with the container she might not use it.
 
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