female not eating after laying eggs

[whitespyder]

my veiled female just laid a clutch of infertile eggs friday night and since then has only volunteered to eat one cricket a day but now shes not even interested in them. she doesnt look too terribly starving but she is noticeably thin in her casque and tail so im a bit worried. is it normal for a female to refuse food for a bit after she lays? if so, how long does it usually take for them to get rested and back to normal? shes still drinking fine..

 

[Santi4407]

My girl layed 42 eggs and it took close or over a week for her to eat at all and even longer to show full interest in eating. She went on a hunger strike almost a month before she layed so it was more of a complicated situation since she got very weak and lost a lot of calcium. I am no expert and my experience has only been with my curent Cham but she did need some time to get interested in eating. Though I have read other threads where people say their girls have gone back to eating immediately. In my case what i believe to have helped her the most after laying even when she wasnt eating properly was lots of water and UVB. Hope this helps a little before someone with more experience can weigh in.

 

[kinyonga]

Its normal for the chameleon to be hungry and thirsty after laying the eggs. They should be back to normal in a couple of days. Females that don't eat often have issues and may have trouble with future clutches if the problems weren't corrected.

Its hard to know if the female laid all the eggs or not without an x-ray.

whitespyder...is she sitting low in the cage? Lethargic? Eyes closed?

 

[VeiledOwner87]

is she drinking? i would put electrolytes and liquid calcium in her water. or if you can, get reptaide or repta-aid(fluker's) both do the same, but fluker's doesn't take care of parasites, which is not the case here.
[edit] i just read that she is drinking fine. that's good

 

[jannb]

She should be eating right after laying. I would recommend a vet visit.

 

[whitespyder]

thanks guys for the advice. i might have to find some liquid calcium since she isnt getting much without eating. i felt her belly and it felt like one egg was still inside if it wasnt any other organ or food in her belly. if it is will she expel it or will it get re-absorbed into her body? or will it rot inside her and cause problems? ahh i thought my worrying was over from this egg-laying chapter!

 

[VeiledOwner87]

you need to get her to a vet asap to get an xray and if needed an oxytocin treatment. you need to do this in the laying stages, if left to become egg bound, she will need a spay surgery to get it out

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Are you only offering her crix? Maybe try some silks or preferably some hornworms. Full of water and calcium. They will help her put the weight back on she has lost and rehydrate her at the same time. Plus the green color might be what she needs to get her excited about prey again.
As for the egg. Ive got my doubts she retained one egg and you were able to actually feel it. Its not easy to feel multiple eggs so I have my doubts you could feel one egg. Not saying she shouldnt have a vet visit. But I'd try multiple new feeders to see if i could get her eatting first.

 

[whitespyder]

i have only been offering crickets since their movement really grabs her attention. ive been meaning to get silkies for a month but the site i get them from has been out of larges for a while and they keep dying on me when i buy mediums. i managed to get her to eat two crix today by putting them in her mouth as she gaped at me. other than that she has shown interest in eating but quickly loses her interest and walks away from the feeder cup.

i think i might schedule an appt. to get xrays just to keep my mind at ease. not sure how long it will take an egg to spoil inside her and how much damage it will cause, but i think for now i have to focus on getting her to eat so she will be strong enough to take the next step. i really cant afford a spay surgery so hopefully worst case scenario she needs the oxytocin shot at most.

kinyonga, sorry i never responded. shes basking, has her eyes open and alert, and still hisses at me when she sees my hand in her cage. and she still has a strong grip too. i havent seen her at all wandering the cage either. (then again im at work most of the day) if it wasnt for the thinness in her tail and casque she would appear to be in her normal good condition

 

[jannb]

I'm glad that you are taking her to the vets. Camille is always starving after laying eggs.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Im glad your taking her in. But I'd def try some new feeders. She may not be wanting to take down crix. You should have at least 3 diff types of feeders on hand to keep her from burning out on the same prey item day after day. I'd be willing to bet if you caught her some grasshoppers or anything green she'd eat.

 

[whitespyder]

i have superworms but the main reason im giving her the crix is because the calcium sticks better to them than the worms. maybe ill see if she will eat some collards for me for some variety. im going to schedule an appt for next week for xrays. do you think that might be too late to wait? im waiting for a response from my vet to see what he recommends

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Just get her eattin first. Then worry about dusting. Go catch her some grasshopers or katydids this weekend. You can always dust those if you decide you want to. Supers arent a very good option for her at this point. You want to get her rehabbed from laying and they arent the best nutritionally.
I'd put her in the shower before taking her in too the vets office. Let her soak in the shower for a good 30 minutes then try feeding her some alternate feeders as stated above. You should get her eatting unless something else is going on.

 

[kinyonga]

Its all well and good to get her eating, but if there are retained eggs its not going to be a solution...but it might buy you some time.

If she does have retained eggs and there is no physical reason for them not to be laid, then waiting will have put her past the time that oxytocin would work.

 

[whitespyder]

well its been a while since i posted and i was having doubts that she wasnt going to get better, but shes still alive and back to her normal self. she ended up not needing x rays. the vet felt the small lump in her belly and he thought it was too little to be a fully formed egg that would cause problems (it was pea-sized) and that it could be a hard urate or stool since she hadn't pooped since she laid. she made one giant poop a week ago or so and i havent seen any since but shes drinking and eating like a champ once again! i cut back on her eating even more so she doesnt end up growing another clutch. her bad eye has been making her be off target when she eats but she doesnt shoot her tongue out anymore so its not preventing her from eating. i think shes doing this because she only eats close up and its harder for her to get the right location of the food with one working eye when its so close to her face.

 

[jastate09]

What's wrong with her eye?

 

[whitespyder]

im not entirely sure but it she started closing it after a shed last spring and i assumed it was a piece of skin stuck inside her turret. it must have scratched her cornea because she cant see very well out of it and you can notice a cloudy film over half her pupil. i think she can still see but it must be very blurry since she doesnt respond to food when she looks with it. i flush her eye out and give her eye drops my vet gave me every now and then but her vision is still impaired.