Eating sand
- Thread starter Kristal
- Start date
Stacey5089
Member
I seen mine doing this the other day she would flick her tongue at the sand and eat it but she hasent done it since so i dunno why she was doing it lol
Stacey5089
Member
I hadent giving her any calci dust for about 4 days could that have been why she was eating sand?? She had the white stuff coming out of her nostrils so i figured i wouldnt give her it for a while.
IMHO its important to dust with calcium at almost all feedings partly because the insects we use as feeders usually have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. To the best of my knowledge the white stuff around the nostrils is salts the chameleon is getting rid of...but they are not calcium salts from everything I have read.
Stacey5089
Member
I thought it was excess calcium and salt i give her calcium daily again now but that could be why she was eating it.
Kristal
New Member
I took the pail out, but I noticed she was acting restless again and walking around on the bottom of the cage, so I put it back in. I have now been watching her continuously eat sand for the past 1/2 hour! I'm really at odds here. I am using just plain playsand, and there are no bugs in it. I don't want to give her nothing and die from becoming egg bound. I guess I wait til she poops to see if it goes thru? But, if it doesn't, wouldn't it then be too late?
Stacey5089
Member
I dont know why yours is doing this chamelia only done it once or twice and has stopped now maybe someone else will beable to help you
NachoTacular519
New Member
That's odd. I would agree and say sounds like a nutritional thing. Animals may eat dirt for a variety of reasons though. Sometimes for nutrient lack, sometimes because of poisoning/toxicity in the body, sometimes from nutrient lack from pregnancy(which apparently human women do in some cultures. Yummy sand 
). Hard to really say unless you're the cham or a vet. Did she come into contact with anything toxic like live plants? If she has eggs make sure you leave her alone with the laying container. My female veiled last year refused to lay until she was almost bursting. I finally covered the whole tank so nothing could see her and she laid. I would suggest that it is something else though if she is obviously eating it. I would wait to see some stool. She will likely swell up significantly if she has eggs. Its generally obvious but not always.
). Hard to really say unless you're the cham or a vet. Did she come into contact with anything toxic like live plants? If she has eggs make sure you leave her alone with the laying container. My female veiled last year refused to lay until she was almost bursting. I finally covered the whole tank so nothing could see her and she laid. I would suggest that it is something else though if she is obviously eating it. I would wait to see some stool. She will likely swell up significantly if she has eggs. Its generally obvious but not always.
Olimpia
Biologist & Ecologist
Females of lots of egg-laying species will taste the soil they are going to lay eggs in to make sure that it is a suitable place to lay. It's possible she needs to lay and she's starting to look around for a good place to lay them. It's not always super obvious when a female has eggs, especially if it's a small clutch. So I would put the laying bin back in and give her privacy and see what she continues to do.
And definitely keep supplementing with calcium, the deposits on her nose are salts and not calcium.
And definitely keep supplementing with calcium, the deposits on her nose are salts and not calcium.
NachoTacular519
New Member
+1 on the tasting
Stacey5089
Member
I hadent thought of this she is pretty fat but ive put her in her laying bin about 3 times before thinking she had eggs and she didnt so she was getting pissed with me putting her init lol
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