First time prego cham

[MrsMarquez]

I have two veiled chameleons. A female and a male. I got the female last year at the Sacramento reptile show from amazing blue reptiles. She is almost a year old and has never laid a clutch of eggs before and my male just pregnated her a week ago. I have a tub full of sand in her cage for when she is ready to lay Which should be in about another week or so. I was wondering if there is anything else I need to do to get her ready? How much should I be feeding her now? And when she does lay her eggs how should I care for them? I do not have an incubator so that is out of the question.

 

[Thompson]

Ok first off, how deep is the laying bin? Should be 12" deep and 12" wide. I only feed my pregnant female 4x a week with only about 3-5 feeders. I also keep her at 80 degrees. This is so she doesn't lay a very large clutch. When you see that she starts digging in her laying bin give her complete privacy. If she sees you watching her she may abandon the hole and become eggbound. Once she's done laying you want to make sure to give her a lot of water. She will be exhuasted from laying. She may not eat the first day after laying but should come around the next day and begin to eat. I would offer her silkies or hornworms along with maybe super worms to fatten her up and hydrate her quicker. I would also heavily dust with calcium on her feeders for about the first three days after she lays, she will need the extra calcium.

I'm attaching a blog made by Jann that has great information about everything you need to know about your female laying to incubating the eggs. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

 

[MrsMarquez]

Her sand box is deep enough and she will have plenty of privacy. That's about how much I feed her. Thanks for the link

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."when she does lay her eggs how should I care for them? I do not have an incubator so that is out of the question"...may I ask why an incubator is out of the question? Where do you live?

This is how it should go....
The female may dig more than one hole to start with but she should select one and dig it until she's happy with it. When she has it the way she wants it she will turn around butt down and lay the eggs...usually in the evening, fill in the hole, tamp it down and return to the branches. She should be hungry and thirsty and tired. Feed her well for a couple of days and then cut her diet down if you don't want her to produce a large clutch.

Once she has returned to the branches after laying the eggs, you can dig them up and incubate them.

To incubate the eggs I use shoebox sized tupperware like containers. I punch two very very tiny holes in the lid. I fill the container about half full of slightly moist vermiculite. To test the vermiculite for moisture, take a fist full of it....if you can only squeeze a drop or two of water out of it its right. I use the coarse vermiculite because it stays more evenly moist. I make dents in the vermiculite in rows about 1" apart in all directions and place an egg in each. (When digging the eggs up try not to turn them as you dig and as you move them).

Place the container(s) in a place where the temperature will be about 74 -76F all the time. Moisture will form on the underside of the lid and on the inside walls of each container.