Female laying eggs

tignish99

New Member
We just adopted our 20 (estimate) month old female veiled a couple of days ago. The adoption happened very quickly due to circumstances. I have to admit, this is my first time dealing with a gravid female cham. I put the proper container and substrate as suggested on this forum. This morning she started digging a big hole and now she is sitting in the hole bum down, head up. My guess she is laying her eggs. I have not been able to find out how long it takes for a female to actually lay her eggs once she starts. What is a normal amount of time? We have been trying to keep away from her and not disturb her. If this goes on until the evening, should I still turn off her lights and Little Dripper? Should I spray down her terrarium or just leave everything the way it is now and let her be? How long after she lays should I feed her? What is the best food? I have access to crickets, hornworms, silkworms, superworms, butterworms, mealworms, wax worms. Roaches are illegal here. She has a Little Dripper.

I feel all nervous and I am worried for her. We have only had her for a couple of days, but she has definitely become part of our family. :)

Thank you
 
The laying can be quick or it can take several hours. Just letter be and she will finish when she finishes. She will fill he hole in when she is done and return to the branches.

Some people leave the lights on and some turn them off. Don't think it matters.

She should,do be hungry and thirsty once she returns to the branches. Feed her whatever insects you want from what you listed...just make sure you dust them with calcium.
 
It can take a long time. I have heard some chams stay in the hole overnight. Leave her alone as much as possible, though I personally would turn off the lights. In nature, the "lights" would go "off" :)

She should be very hungry and thirsty when she comes out. Offer her as many calcium dusted feeders as she will eat, and lots of water. Good luck!

Do you know if the eggs might be fertile?
 
She was the only one, so there will be no fertile eggs. She laid 40 eggs all together.

She did take two medium size hornworms today and a superworm. Is that a good start for food the day after laying? I also put a bunch of dusted crickets and butter worms in her feed container.
 
She was the only one, so there will be no fertile eggs. She laid 40 eggs all together.

She did take two medium size hornworms today and a superworm. Is that a good start for food the day after laying? I also put a bunch of dusted crickets and butter worms in her feed container.

She is back on the right track. Sounds like you are doing a great job for a newbie :) lol jk
 
She is back on the right track. Sounds like you are doing a great job for a newbie :) lol jk

Thank you. We have other reptiles so I know all about lights, feeding, humidity, temps, gutloading, etc. I breed my own silkworm. But just like any new critter, there is a definite learning curve, and this one just happened to be at a much steeper angle. This is our first cham and the adoption happened a lot sooner and faster than expected. We found out that she was gravid the day we adopted her and then she laid her eggs the next day. It has been a bit of a roller coaster.

She seems to be settling in. She is coming to the front of her enclosure to grab tasty hornworms off our hands.

Thank you for the support everyone.
 
food

Silkworms for calcium. butterworms and a couple waxworms for fat. some recently shed superworms (white ones) will make a nice filler.
 
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