First time breeder...

rioblu

New Member


Hey, i have 2 veiled chams, male and a female. i have put them together earlier on today and i need to check if what happend is correct.

As the female is very shy, we had to take the male from his viv and place him in hers. she immediately ran to the top corner of her viv because shes a little scared of humans, ( she does this every time we feed her of giver her water). when the male went in the tank, he spotted her and moved towards her while she stayed still. there wasn't much space for her to move because of the corner she ran in to, and we cant move her because she wont let us near her. the male proceeded forward (she never changed colour) so we thought everything was fine. as the male tried to mount her, she slightly gaped her mouth and began to stare and point her face towards the males belly area. the male had a firm grasp of her and they because to roll around grabbing each other. several time she escaped his grasp and he followed, (this happened many times). on the last time he tried she escaped again, only this time she bit his on his belly twice, the male then became slightly aggressive and bit her back. the f email ran away and hid in the corner. we seperated them back in to their own vivs. with in a couple of mins, they were back to their normal selves walking around their vivs. is this normal? and when should we try again? :confused:
 
Both are around the same ages which is around 6-7 months. we were told from our local pet shop owner ( where we got our male from) that they were ready to breed. but maybe shes not ready yet. how can you tell when shes ready? shes got the blue robins egg spots on her body which indicates shes sexually mature... the fact the shes displaying all the colors and receptive, up until the mount of the male. just leaves me confused on what to do next.
 
My Female Veiled has had blue spots since the day we broght our Male home.

You should wait until the Female is at least a year old before you breed, making sure that she is full grown. Some people wait till they are 18 months.
I'm not really sure how old the male should be.

I would keep them separated and out of eye shot of each other for a few more months until she turns one. I know its tempting to breed before she turns one! I've been waiting since November to breed mine and still have to wait several months.

However she is old enough that she may produce eggs on her own that are not fertilized, so its a good idea to set up a laying site for her to lay if she needs to so she doesn't become egg bound.
 
thanks for the advice:) i think we'll follow yours and not the pet shop!
x:D

You may be saying that more then you know!!

People on this site are REALLY helpful. Even if you think a question is stupid, ask it anyway.
 
How old is she?

How old is she? It does sound like an overly stressed situation for her. How long have you had them? It sounds like she needs more time to become comfortable with things in general. There are some very experienced Veiled keepers here that can give their opinions for sure. I have one male and several females. The male was an adult when I got him and he would go for anything that moved. His agressive behavior terrified the adult female when he was introduced to her. She freaked out like your female did. I gave the breeding attempt a rest for several months. He seemed to chill out a bit during this time. The female seemed to get more confident with herself. The next attempt went very well and resulted in eggs. The male was much more gentle with her and she did not freak out. What you described is what happened to me during my first attempt. I would give it a rest for a month or so.
 


your situation sounds like ours. its been around an hour since we tried and our female had gone bight bright green.. a hell of a lot brighter than she was before. the male is more eager to find her now! but they are separated.

also, on a more serious note. our female is really really shy of us and get defensive when we go near her. as soon as she hears the zip go on her viv she runs for life. shes not been under any stress or anything.. when it comes to trying again theres no way i will be able to get her out.. and shows no sign of calming down..
on the other hand our male is lovely. hes always out of the tank sitting on out hands and crawling all over us. hes so so affectionate.
so its a bit of a contrast as you can see x
 
your situation sounds like ours. its been around an hour since we tried and our female had gone bight bright green.. a hell of a lot brighter than she was before. the male is more eager to find her now! but they are separated.

also, on a more serious note. our female is really really shy of us and get defensive when we go near her. as soon as she hears the zip go on her viv she runs for life. shes not been under any stress or anything.. when it comes to trying again theres no way i will be able to get her out.. and shows no sign of calming down..
on the other hand our male is lovely. hes always out of the tank sitting on out hands and crawling all over us. hes so so affectionate.
so its a bit of a contrast as you can see x

Was your female Wild Caught or was she Captive Bred?

If she was W.C it could explain why she does it, for being scared of the new surroundings.

If she was C.B then she might still be adjusting to the move to her new home (Depending on when you got her)
 


we got her from a well known breeder in our area.
and obv our male is coz we got him from the pet shop :) xx
 
Maybe she is just having a hard time adjusting to her new home.

Is there a lot going on in the room that she is kept in?

Can she see the Males cage from where she is?
 
Give them time.....

You were answering my questions while I was still typing them! At their age I would definitely wait. Your male is a wild teenage with raging hormones. Your female needs to mature. Waiting will give your female the physical maturity and the confidence needed to put the male in his place until she is ready. A mature female is capable of fending off a big male with her gaping mouth, rocking body, etc. When a mature female says "No" a mature male will usually back off. Your female is not there yet. That's why it was so terrifying for her. She needs to be mature enough to hold him off until she is in the right receptive state and she needs to be mature enough to hold him off after she is gravid. It should not be a terrifying experience for her. She may have to lay an infertile clutch first before she gains that maturity.
 


we have had her for around 3 weeks. and i know thats short. but when we watch in her tank shes running around everywhere. hanging upside down.. shes completely fearless and she seems to love hunting around for her food. she doesn't stick to once place or anything, shes really active.

just as the zip goes ... thats when she goes ape...

shes really receptive of the male when hes mooching around her tank (walking around the top) she sniffs him and there close bodied when there together. she never changes colour or show any aggression... the male tries to dig in to the viv to get to her.. so it seems there showing the right signals.. butt i guess there not ready:) so we'll wait till shes alot older :) x
 
just as the zip goes ... thats when she goes ape...


Maybe you should invest in getting her a cage with no zipper?
 
PardalisGirl >>

thanks you for your advice. its really helped.
one question i need to ask about the infertile egg laying.
how do i know when shes gonna lay an infertile batch? does she show the same signals as if she was giving birth to real eggs? like bumps around the belly? etc.. ?
 
zoe>> see i was thinking of that.. its one of the flexariums and there really good with chams. becuase its like a mesh front.. when you unzip it the front folds down if you know what i mean? so she could be scared coz she thinks her protective front has gone? like shes not protected by the wall anymore? xx
 
That could be a possiblility yeas. Or maybe the whole idea of a wall falling scares her.

What kind of cage did the breeder keep her in?
 
we have had her for around 3 weeks. and i know thats short. but when we watch in her tank shes running around everywhere. hanging upside down.. shes completely fearless and she seems to love hunting around for her food. she doesn't stick to once place or anything, shes really active.

just as the zip goes ... thats when she goes ape...

shes really receptive of the male when hes mooching around her tank (walking around the top) she sniffs him and there close bodied when there together. she never changes colour or show any aggression... the male tries to dig in to the viv to get to her.. so it seems there showing the right signals.. butt i guess there not ready:) so we'll wait till shes alot older :) x

I would advise you to keep them separated for at least another 6 months.
Don't even let them see each other. Please read the article here on keeping females. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
I think you should try to keep her from producing eggs for at least 6 more months.
Don't over feed her, don't over heat her, and do not let her see your male.

-Brad
 
thanks everyone for the advice i will now leave the female out of the way from the male and will try everything all again in 6 months time. but back to the point of egg laying....like i said i have a female of around 6-7 months and im still unsure about the egg bounding. im going on a shop today for some play sand and a bucket in preperation for the nesting site. im still unsure how all this egg bounding works but everywhere i read they all say i should provide a suitable nesting site at all times as i have seen her wondering the tank nearer the bottom. this just might be me beig paranoid but i just want the best for her. any thoughts

thanks
 
Back
Top Bottom