Female panther pacing cage floor. Laying time, or vet time?

Slamantia

New Member
I've got a 14 month old female panther chameleon in a medium sized screen-sided reptibreeze cage.

She's been picking up a lot of orange and salmon coloring in the past few weeks, and pacing her cage. Today I've caught her multiple times on the floor of her cage. She hasn't put on any "baby weight" as far as I can tell, but I put a lay-box in just in case. She's never laid an infertile clutch - or any clutch - before, so I'm thinking that's probably what will happen?

I've read online, though, that walking on the bottom of the cage can be a sign of MBD, or other health problems. Anybody have any thoughts? This is my first female chameleon, so I'm relatively new to the egg-laying process. If anyone could shed some light on it, or offer a tentative checklist of signs I should be looking for, that would be great!

She eats 10 crickets a day on average, and her hot spot is between 77-80'F. Ambient room temp is 75'F, and she takes crickets dusted with Supercal calcium daily, supervite multivitamin every 10-12 days, calcium with D3 once a week, and superpig carotenoid supplement two to three times a week. Crickets are gut-loaded every other day.

Second picture is a bit yellow, sorry! She's not as orange/salmon as usual right now, but earlier today she had fairly bold salmon across her sides, and vivid tangerine orange under her chin and around her eyes/arms.

shannon 1.jpg
shannon 2.jpg
 
My bet is that she is with eggs. If she does not start digging, I would start some holes for her. Just make some holes she can finish. If that doesnt work, I fill a garbage can half full of soil/sand mixture and put her in there. This way she cannot get off the soil and it usually works.
 
I'll try that, thanks! I've put up a black sheet around 3 sides of her tank, and tried to fill in around the lay box with foliage so she feels secure. I'll keep a close eye on her for the next week or so. Generally how long until you expect to see digging from when they first start exhibiting this behavior? Is it totally different for each individual?
 
my gals normally pace their cage for days before they lay. on the floor on the walls. it doesn't matter its everywhere. when they stop or slow to eat, then they're close to laying.
hope that helps
 
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