Female digging up my plants

[GreenFlinger]

I have my adult chameleons in large screen enclosures with all kinds of live plants, in large containers. I have a 5 gal bucket with playsand in my female's enclosure as well. There are bamboo poles so she can get in and out of it, but today it looked as if she was digging in one of the potted plants. Im pretty sure she is carrying a ghost clutch of eggs, and she is probably laying them in the potted plant. Anyone ever keep their females enclosed in the laying bin to ensure she lays in it? When and if I start doing actual breeding I suspect the current enclosure will pose a problem. anyone else have there females picking the soil of plants over the sand laying bin?

 

[djfishygillz]

I have my adult chameleons in large screen enclosures with all kinds of live plants, in large containers. I have a 5 gal bucket with playsand in my female's enclosure as well. There are bamboo poles so she can get in and out of it, but today it looked as if she was digging in one of the potted plants. Im pretty sure she is carrying a ghost clutch of eggs, and she is probably laying them in the potted plant. Anyone ever keep their females enclosed in the laying bin to ensure she lays in it? When and if I start doing actual breeding I suspect the current enclosure will pose a problem. anyone else have there females picking the soil of plants over the sand laying bin?

The sand may be the wrong consistency/moisture.

Are you housing the pair together? If so they need their own cages, no matter how big, or else the male will always want to mate.

Also all chameleons are different, some just may feel safer laying in the plant than in the sand. The plant may be more cover so she feels safer. There is nothing wrong with her laying in the plant.

If you are worried about not knowing if she laid, just record her weight. When she loses 20 grams or so (if you are breeding panthers) you will know she laid and it is time to hunt for eggs in the cage.

If she wants to lay in the plant, let her, don't stress her out by trying to make her lay where she doesn't want to. Labor is already hard enough

 

[GreenFlinger]

no they are definitly seperated. i have not even breed them yet. my worry is that the potted plant is so big and probably root bound that retreiving eggs could be impossible. im not even sure if she can get a deep enough hole to lay because of how big the root system may be. i took the 5 gal bucket of sand out the other day and sifted through it for eggs (found none) & cleaned it up a little. its not TOO wet yet not to dry either, and putting multiple buckets of sand into the enclosure with different consistencies of sand mixes may prove to be to tediuous. any other ideas? they are panthers btw. the before and after weight idea is actually prety good idea and i may do that when i start breeding. im kind of concerned with her getting egg bound and not laying anywhere.