Etosha's receptive state

Sharon12

Established Member
Etosha has been showing receptive colors since sept 23rd so about 3 weeks. Behavior pretty normal but last couple of days not much interested in crickets. Still goes after a silkworm or hornworm. 2 weeks ago I put a laying bin in as a permanent fixture. No interest in it but is exploring cage a bit. I have no idea what i should expect. I was hoping to avoid a clutch but what is standard for her age and hormonal state. Does she have eggs already? She is 7 months. Thank you. Lots of teal blue, orange dots and sometimes black stripes. She was recently to the vet. No sign of MBD and no parasites.
 

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Etosha has been showing receptive colors since sept 23rd so about 3 weeks. Behavior pretty normal but last couple of days not much interested in crickets. Still goes after a silkworm or hornworm. 2 weeks ago I put a laying bin in as a permanent fixture. No interest in it but is exploring cage a bit. I have no idea what i should expect. I was hoping to avoid a clutch but what is standard for her age and hormonal state. Does she have eggs already? She is 7 months. Thank you. Lots of teal blue, orange dots and sometimes black stripes. She was recently to the vet. No sign of MBD and no parasites.
Or am I making a mistake and this is her mature coloration? And not receptive
 
Looks receptive. As Joxie mentioned, her coloration is indicating she is receptive and she is definitely old enough.

No avoiding egg laying with these reptiles unfortunately. You can adjust her feeding schedule to help try and reduce the clutch sizes. At this point just let her do her own thing. When shes gravid, her colors will shift and then you know to keep an eye on her. When you notice her start to get restless or start digging randomly shes close to laying.
 
No avoiding egg laying with these reptiles unfortunately.
Respectfully disagree. Several members here have been able to shut down egg production by food restriction and low temps. I personally haven’t succeeded with this technique yet but I have been able to cut down her output by 50%.
Its a balancing act that you don’t want to jump right into, need to feel it out.

I think @jannb has been successful getting to zero, she may have input...
 
Respectfully disagree. Several members here have been able to shut down egg production by food restriction and low temps. I personally haven’t succeeded with this technique yet but I have been able to cut down her output by 50%.
Its a balancing act that you don’t want to jump right into, need to feel it out.

I think @jannb has been successful getting to zero, she may have input...

Really? Thats interesting. Gonna have to read into this myself.
 
Really? Thats interesting. Gonna have to read into this myself.
Your basically denying her the fuel to run her reproduction engine while giving her enough heat and nutrition to keep her healthy. My female is at 80 basking and fed1-2 large, well dusted, well gutloaded feeders twice a week max. Trending in the right direction but I’m not there yet....
 
@Graves923 I have been able to shut down veiled chameleon females completely so they don't lay eggs. I've been doing this for many many years. The idea is like @Brodybreaux25 said in post #7...I cut back the food enough that they are healthy and not starving but not feeding them enough that they reproduce. It's a definite balancing act. It also involves some timing...when the female lays a clutch of eggs I feed her well for a very few days after to bring her back to normal and then cut back. I think (although I have no scientific proof or studies to prove it) that this keeps the follicles in check so they won't develop follicular stasis.

The only reason I keep the basking temperature a little lower than when they're producing eggs is to slow the metabolism slightly so they won't be so hungry on the "diet".

I also bring both the food and the temperature up again if they do produce eggs when I mate them. I want any eggs produced to be healthy and produce healthy babies.

I can also slow panthers down but not stop them completely. I might be able to stop them but I'm worried about going too far and compromising their health.
 
This is exactly the info I was looking for. I have kept her basking low and have started every other day 5 crickets a silkworm, hornworm now and then. It all makes sense but good to understand it is a balancing act. I know the less egg laying the potentially longer lifespan. Thank you all.
 
This is exactly the info I was looking for. I have kept her basking low and have started every other day 5 crickets a silkworm, hornworm now and then. It all makes sense but good to understand it is a balancing act. I know the less egg laying the potentially longer lifespan. Thank you all.
Now Etosha has little interest in her crickets and is rarely eating them she will take silkworms and hornworms by hand but not her crickets. I am feeding 5-6 crickets every other day gutloaded and dusted in her cup. Should i be concerned or is this normal? She is basking and behaving normally. She has grown from 78g at the vet about a month sgo to 106g. Just never been through this maturing phase with a female veiled
 
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