Female Veiled Chameleon question...

[sophiechameleon]

I recently bought a female Veiled Chameleon from petco and I am not sure how old she is. When i got her i weighed her and she weighed around 8 grams and ive had her for 2 weeks and now she weights 9.5 grams. The guy petco said she was a month to two months old, my question is how can i be sure how old she is? and when should i start to worry about her being ready to lay eggs? what signs should i look for?

 

[VeiledChams]

The real age or close approximation is very hard to tell as each chameleon grows at a different rate.

As far as the eggs go, they can have infertile clutches as soon as 6 months old. What you want to do is have lower temperatures for her and give her a lower food intake so she does not produce eggs until later on in her life, if at all.
She will display her adult coloration whenever she is ready. blue dots will cover her back, some strong bigger yellow spots will cover her flanks and she will look as beautiful as ever

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your baby girl. I keep veileds and they are an absolute pleasure to care for. You want have to worry about egg laying for awhile. She'll need to do some growing and then get her big girl colors which will be blue spots and mustard/yellow spots. At around 5 months put a laying bin with her and just keep it there just in case. I have a couple of blogs for you below. The first is general care for the new keeper and the second is about egg laying and the laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment824

 

[ataraxia]

read jannb's blogs.

age gives you a general idea but not specific. not everytime but in most cases it is pretty evident when your female is about to lay. just make sure she gets proper nutrition, temps and uvb.

 

[sophiechameleon]

Thank you jannb for the welcoming =) i have been on this sight since i got my baby veiled and it has been an amazing help! The man at petco gave me completely wrong information on owning a chameleon, i was very lucky to have found this site or my poor cham would probably be dead now. He told me absurd things such as feeding her crickets with calcium WITH D3 daily with a multivitamin everyday! And he told me i needed to get her a red light for her when she sleeps and that i need to get her a 100 watt basking bulb for her! but thank you for the general care blog i read it the first day i got her and it has helped greatly and my setup is the way it should be thanks to his forum. and VeiledChams i am disappointed cause i would have loved to know exactly how old she is...and as of right now her daytime temp is around 80 to 86 and basking is arould 86 to 90 degrees. and i have read that i should be feeding her as much as she can eat because she is so young. so if i lower her temps and feeding its possible for her to never lay eggs?? ataraxia when is the earliest that she will lay her infertile eggs?

thank you for the quick replies it is greatly appreciated! =)

 

[kinyonga]

Veiled chameleons can lay eggs without being mated once they are sexually mature. They get orangey/yellowish/mustardy splotches when they are sexually mature as a rule. I've been able to stop them from laying eggs and keep any clutches they do lay small by controlling the diet and lowering the temperature slightly. I think the reason it works is that the number of follicles that ovulate is kept low or stopped completely...and IMHO the time to stop that starts a few days after they lay their eggs. I don't starve them by any means...and I mainly lower the temperature slightly to slow their metabolism so they won't be so hungry. Since my females generally live to be over 6 years old I can only assume that this doesn't cause them any problems and hopefully extends their lives. BTW...I think its my whole way of keeping them (my husbandry) that plays a part in this, not just the feeding.

Here's some information about it...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[sophiechameleon]

Veiled chameleons can lay eggs without being mated once they are sexually mature. They get orangey/yellowish/mustardy splotches when they are sexually mature as a rule. I've been able to stop them from laying eggs and keep any clutches they do lay small by controlling the diet and lowering the temperature slightly. I think the reason it works is that the number of follicles that ovulate is kept low or stopped completely...and IMHO the time to stop that starts a few days after they lay their eggs. I don't starve them by any means...and I mainly lower the temperature slightly to slow their metabolism so they won't be so hungry. Since my females generally live to be over 6 years old I can only assume that this doesn't cause them any problems and hopefully extends their lives. BTW...I think its my whole way of keeping them (my husbandry) that plays a part in this, not just the feeding.

Here's some information about it...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

Wow what an amazing reply! Thank you so much I really appreciate it! I will defiantly look into those websites! Your reply really helped out a lot...

I have a couple of questions still and would appreciate your help,

at what age did you start to cut back on the feeding and lower temps? My female is probably around 1 to 2 months old...

And I have a repti-sun 5.0 uvb but it isnt the tube do you still think that its going to be safe for my cham?

 

[kinyonga]

Some of the compact lights were causing problems but its supposed to have been fixed....so hopefully yours will be fine.

I don't start cutting them back until they are sexually mature. I'm just careful not to overfeed them. I'm not worried if they lay a clutch or two before I get them stopped. I want the chameleon to attain its full growth first when possible and be as healthy as possible.

 

[sophiechameleon]

how would i be able to tell if its bothering her eyes?

shes arould 2 months old so i wont have to worry about cutting her feeding and temps back for a good while?

 

[kinyonga]

If she starts shutting the eyes that's usually the first sign.

One more thing...once your chameleon is sexually mature, I recommend putting an opaque container at least 12" deep x 12" x 8" full of washed play sand in her cage and leaving it there so that she will have a place to dig if she needs to lay eggs. Failure to provide a place can lead to eggbinding and death.

 

[sophiechameleon]

She has her eyes open all day and the light doesnt seem to be bothering her, so i am hoping the repti-sun 5.0 im using is okay for her...it better be it cost me around 25 bucks! haha

so around 5 to 6 months put the container in there just incase shes ready to lay her eggs?

thank you for all of your help!

 

[kinyonga]

You're welcome!

Yup..5 or 6 months should do it.

One more comment...if your husbandry is good and your chameleon healthy, egglaying shouldn't be a big deal. Once in a while there can be a physical reason (deformity in the reproductive tract, etc.) that can still cause it.

 

[sophiechameleon]

Alright good im glad i still have a while before i have to worry about adding the container.

I hope it goes well when the time comes, i feel im doing a good job so far and this forum has helped so much!

Thank you for all of your help!

 

[kinyonga]

No problem! I hope your chameleon will live a happy long life with you!