Egg Laying Due??

[Luna2009]

Yemen Chameleon Female - possibly over 4 months.

Recently brought a female yemen chameleon - lately seems to puffing up in size and hanging around bottom of the enclosure and seems to have a ballooned shaped stomach, as far as i am aware she hasnt laid any eggs previously. How old do they have to be when they can start laying eggs??

The pet shop we got her from told us she was a male which we recently found out this was incorrect due to no spurs.

We would like some info on egg laying as we have now discovered she is a girl.

Thanks for advice!!

 

[Miss Lily]

A photo of her will help a great deal if you have one. Do you have a laying bin in her cage so she has somewhere to lay her eggs?

 

[Luna2009]

I will post picture tomorrow and We will be getting a laying bin for her also tomorrow.

We also see her with her mouth open mainly when she is under the basking lamp and also towards the middle of the enclosure?? She has only done this with the last week or so.

Any help would be great new to the forum!!

 

[Miss Lily]

If she is sitting in her basking spot with her mouth open, then the temps are probably too high and she's trying to cool off. They don't always realise that they can actually move to a cooler area in the cage! Fill out the 'How to ask for help' form to give us more info. You can find it here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/. Just copy and paste it into your thread and fill in the details for your cham.

With the laying bin, make sure that the play sand or soil/compost that you use is damp enough to hold a tunnel so that when she starts digging it won't collapse on her.

 

[kinyonga]

Does she have a proper place in the cage where she can dig to lay eggs if she needs to? If she is truly only 4 months, then I wouldn't expect she needs to...but there are always acceptions.

Is she pooping? Do you have a substrate in the cage? Is she drinking more than normal?

 

[Luna2009]

Well we were orginally told she was around 6 months but when we went to a different reptile shop he thought she was around 3-4 months. She is still pooing and as for the drinking front I have never seen her drink. We mist her 2-3 times a day and possibly looking into getting a dripper. She will have somewhere to dig and lay eggs tonight if she needs to. What is a average to begin laying eggs as we dont want her to egg bound?

 

[Luna2009]

Just a quick question when we put the sand in her enclosure, do you have to keep it damp or ???

 

[Miss Lily]

Yes, the sand will dry out due to the heat from the lighting. You will need to mist it every day or every couple of days just to keep the top from drying out too much. If she hasn't used it within a couple of weeks, I would tip it out, re-moisten the sand and put it back in. That's what I used to do for Lily's.

 

[Luna2009]

would you soak the sand first then just keep it damp?

 

[Miss Lily]

You don't need to soak it. I just put some on a potting tray and mixed water in gradually until it was moist enough - think building sandcastles. Then I packed it down fairly hard into the laying tub. I use to make a hole with my finger to see if it held it's shape. You can test that it's damp enough by squeezing a handful and if it holds it's shape then it is damp enough, if it crumbles then you need to add more water.

 

[Luna2009]

Ok yes I know what you mean and how wet should be now. The just keep it damp. I will put pic up later of her so you have a looked we was told she 6 months but we think she is more like 4 months. Only had her 3 weeks and We are unsure of when she can start laying eggs?

 

[Miss Lily]

I guess they could start cycling infertiles at 4 months and older. Amy is almost 4 months now but she's still very small. Pics would be good to see. Lily didn't lay her first clutch of infertiles until she was 14 months old. Have you checked out the Raising Kitty blog? Kinyonga has been able to prevent female veileds from laying any eggs at all by restricting diet and keeping the temps slightly lower. You can read about it here: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/ There's loads of useful info on this blog which was written by Brad Ramsey and Kinyonga (who are both forum members).

 

[Luna2009]

Oh thanks I will have a look at that later today. Hopefully will be ok! Thanks for your help

 

[Luna2009]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Exo Terrariums - 45 x 45 x 60 cm 18" x 18" x 24" (WxDxH) at the moment
Lighting - Heat lamp 100 watt bulb on a thermostat - soon to be a dimming thermostat and UVB unsure of watt
Temperature - Basking ranges from 85-92 day, overnight unsure as heat hamp left on thermostat.Thermometre inside enclosure
Humidity - kept in between 50-60 - misting 3 times a day
Plants - Only fake one at the moment
Placement - quiet corner in a bedroom, roughly around 4 ft off floor on top of chestre draws
Location - Birmingham - UK

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Yemen Cham , Think she is 4 months old and had her 3 weeks
Handling - Everyday she like to come out for 5 mins or so
Feeding - She is on locusts 10/12 a day. 2-3 meal worms a day and veg is in enclosure. and they are gut loads (fed on veg when egt them and feed when food is gone and they also have bran)
Supplements - Nutrobal High Protein Powder - on worms and is ut on locusts she does eat some b4 they get it off themselves
Watering - Misting 3 times a day have seen her lick the glass
Fecal Description - sometimes the poo is round pellets quite large in size brown. and sometimes has yellow on top
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Picture of Luna with her belly? egg bound or??

The enclosure does look bare but this was before she went in and has got loads of new things in now so I assure isn't like it now lol.

Her enclosure is going to be changed shortly - as we think is the wrong one!

any advice??

 

[Luna2009]

Also how deep does the digging bin need to be???

 

[kinyonga]

It should be at least big that when empty she can easily fit into it with a couple of inches to spare on all sides including above and below her. It should also be opaque.