Female Veiled Discussion

[TyggyToo]

I have ongoing problems with my F veiled, and I'm reading more and more, and still learning things. From another thread I read this, which was news to me and vaguely heartening:

. . .she hasn't got her big girl colours yet nor has she got her more rounded lady cham shape yet either.

This is the first time I've heard anyone mention the rounded shape. I've been fretting because my F is rotund and very small compared to my M. I've said that 'she is all leaf and he is all branch' and worried that she was carrying around a fat layer.

And can we describe the big girl colors? My F has been hanging around at the bottom and been dark. Today she explored outside her cage spontaneously and I took this shot of her:

I thought at first she was cold/sick, but her appetite is good and we're getting production at the other end too with normal feces and white urates. Then I thought that she had spotted the neighboring M.

Soon after that pic was taken, the M moved down toward her, and she gaped and hissed. I removed her back to her own cage.

Are adult F veileds not that lovely green color any more?
I'd really like to know how you know what's going on in her life.

 

[Olimpia]

Her colors actually look gravid to me.
Adult females will be green as a base color, with spots that we call mustard- and robin-egg blue-colored. These signify that she is now old enough to reproduce, and will usually appear at 5-7 months of age.

Typically (although not in the case of my female), gravid females will get black as a base color at periods during the day with the bright colored spots. Mine didn't get this dark, but she did get really round. If you notice that your female's torso looks rotund, then she probably is carrying eggs.

Here are some pics to hopefully help.

First is my female with her big-girl colors. In one she is more fired up than the other.

And here she was gravid. She free ranged and fell asleep on my bed. But you can see how round she is.

 

[TyggyToo]

LOL...that made me feel a bit better. My F's 'portly' is nothing,,,,,NOTHING like that! I'll get a better pic soon.

Can a cham go from juvenile to gravid coloration with no stop for 'adult' coloration? She's also very small...only 50 or so grams.

The laying bin has been altered to give her 100% privacy once she gets there. But I need to block off the way over to the shelves so she has to stay in the cage or go in the bin but not wander around aimlessly looking for trouble.

At this point I'm starting to set aside cash to get her radiographed.