Gravid and still in her tunnel! HELP!

[littleliz]

My gravid cham who has been doing a bit of test digging for a few days actually started digging in ernest yesterday, which was a good thing... but when I got home from work she was still inside the hole! I did not want to disturb her at this point so left her there for an hour or two then cautiously went for a peak at what was happening. The entrance seemed to have fallen in on her and we paniked and dug out the loose stuff at the entrance. We could see the tunnel seemed fine further down so deciced to leave well alone again at this point. Before I went to bed, much to my releif I could see Tillys tail in the tunnel and she appeared to be still digging forwards even though she had backed up in the hole. This morning as yet there is no sign of her!!!!!! Do they often sleep inside the hole? will it be warm enough for her in there? It is not yet time for her lights to come on so should I wait to see if she comes up to bask even if the deed is not completed? At what point should I dig her out? She may be in trouble and I have no way of knowing when I cant see her!!!!!

Tilly has layed eggs twice before without problems.... but I am a bit of a worry wart!

 

[littleliz]

well not a single reply but panic over anyway LOL. Tilly layed and filled the tunnel back up. she up top basking now. No wonder it took her so long! They were right on the very very bottom. The last handfull of earth out of the tub had lots of tiny white eggs in ^__^ Tilly's apetite is back to normal to now ofcause. She looks soo skinny!!!

 

[BocaJan]

How many eggs did Tilly lay?

 

[littleliz]

Too many for my likeing! 73 but she seems fine. I know that laying large clutches like this can shorten her life. I did reduce her food quite a lot but maybe the temps need to come down some as well. This is Tilly's 3 clutch now.

 

[BocaJan]

WOW! I do think you should reduce her food and temps. Mine are kept around 75 and I turn my basking light on until about 12 or 1 to help them digest their morning feed. They are in front of sliding glass doors so they get to "bask" in the sun from the window even though there is no UVB coming through. They enjoy the afternoon sun.

 

[littleliz]

Your basking temps are 75?? That does seem low! And how much food do you let yours have?

 

[Justin Carl]

Their is a difference between the air temperature around you chameleon and the chameleons actual body basking temperature.
I use 40 watt bulbs over all my female chameleons.
The body temperature under the bulb is 80-82 degrees.
So, I'd imagine the air temperature is in the mid 70's or maybe lower.
I don't have a thermometer in any of my cages.
I use a infrared lazer thermometer to gauge temperature in all my cages.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

well not a single reply but panic over anyway LOL.

Sorry.
I was asleep

73 is a lot of eggs for a veiled that you are controlling food and temps with.
I feed my female 5 to 7 crickets (or the equivalent) every other day, sometimes every two days.
The hottest temp in her enclosure hovers at about 82 degrees f.
Her last clutch was 39 (37 were good)

-Brad

 

[beeze]

I do not use a basking light......I use the instructions provided on the Raising Kitty blog for raising a female veiled. I have a double fluorescent hood over the cage with one tube/linear Repti-sun 5.0 and one regular white fluorescent tube light. This maintains the temperature in the low 80's. I feed around 6 to 8 feeders everyother day.

 

[littleliz]

Right OK got you. Well I have not actually lowerd the temperature for her...I just mentioned that I think I need to LOL. The basking temp is about 90. She eats maybe 2 - 5 crickets per day except Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday she either gets a couple of mealies or a locust (if I have them instead of crickets). Friday she gets no food at all.
Calcium Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Nutrobal calium/mutivit every other Sunday. Apart frm, that maybe a couple of waxies no more than once per week.

So the question is.... was I asking for the large clutch of eggs

Almost forgot to mention that I do always offer greens in a tub which she does eat sometimes. Tilly is quite partial to water cress but has tried spring greens, dandelion etc when the fancy takes her! The critters are always gutloaded too ofcause.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I think the availability of food and the amount have a lot to do with clutch size.
A ninety degree basking spot is also an "ideal" situation for creating eggs.
If you are mating the animal you can bring her temps and food up to stimulate receptivity. After copulation you should keep food, calcium and temperature levels higher.
In this example you create a "breeding season"

The technique for keeping females in the Kitty blog essentially creates a situation where there is no "breeding season".
You can keep a female very healthy and happy this way and it is still possible to bring her into breeding if you wish.

It's interesting to me that Agnes is still showing receptive colors (one month now) this is a long time, but as Trace and I discussed last night ... it is possibly due to everything being "slowed down" under these conditions.

-Brad

 

[BocaJan]

My air temp is about 75 and my basking temp is 85-90. Basking in the morning helps them warm/wake up and digest their food.

Brad, one of my females is showing receptive colors and it has been a month also. Could it be she still has sperm in her and is going to be working on another clutch? She doesn't look like she has eggs yet, but I am going to keep a laying container in her habitat just in case.