Gravid? chameleon

Worried

New Member
Indigo is a 10 month old female veiled chameleon. She's been moving slowly for the past day and earlier when I got back from work she was at the bottom of her viv. I picked her up and she seemed to be struggling to hold her weight on her front legs. I've never had any issues with eating, drinking or pooing and I've had a tub of damp sand in the viv for the past week since i noticed egg shaped lumps but despite being put in it shes shown no interest. Im getting worried now as she's showing no interest in water or crickets and as it's the weekend the reptile vet will not be around until monday.
 
The photo isn't very good. The sand is at least 10 inches deep. She's just sitting on top of it.
 

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Well she does look gravid,
She may not like the sand,

try removing it and putting in damp organic top soil.
 
Her eyes are sunken in a bit make sure she has access to water dehydration could be you issue
 
I only have pygmys at the moment I most them 2 times a day when I had vields I always had a dropper going and I would most as much as possible
 
I switched over to topsoil. She laid one egg in the sand. It looked healthy judging by the pictures i've found but she's not moving at all now. I left some foliage that I misted next to her. The sunken eyes have only been in the past hour or so tho.
 
If I were you I would go out and get some reptiboost give her some then use the same syringe and fill her with a shot of water. I don't know if this is going to be too stressful for a gravid female or not I always reptiboost immediately when I acquire a new animal
 
First off..
SHe shouldn't be living with anything.

THese are solitary creatures,

I know you say they are fine.. but something is keeping her from laying her eggs... and most likely its her sister.

It can take them 3+ days to lay, so don't worry too much yet.

SHe needs to be misted 4-5 times a day.

If you aren't home enough for that, set up a dripper, and look into buying an auto mister.

99 bucks gets you the basic package for Mistking.


Do you have a good herp vet?
 
She's laid a few more. She still looks really poorly though. As she's laying do I still need to be so worried? How long would she usually take to lay them all? And what about aftercare for her?
 
Stop watching her.

She will stop laying if you keep bugging her. Trust me..

As I stated before it can take 3+ days for her to lay,

But if she is already laying eggs now, she may be done by late tonight.

Though don't be concerned if she sleeps in her hole.

Once she is done laying, she will cover her hole up and go bask.

For after care-

Good food, lots of water, and good supplementation.

And my lots of water I mean LOTS of water.
 
Reptile vets are few and far between in England unfortunately. It's almost 10pm here at the mo so going to buy anything has to wait until tomorrow. As far as I know we only have 1 reptile vet in the area and she only visits 2 days a week.
 
If someone disagrees please chime in

I disagree... I would just leave her alone right now. Give her space and let her do her thing. Great hydration soon after she has finished and lots of gutloaded feeders will help. As for having two females together while one is looking to lay her eggs, I would think this would just add to the stress of the ordeal. I wouldn't have them together normally unless the enclosure was very large, and even then there is no guarantee of success. One animal would probably always feel threatened by the other. JMO ;)
 
Just an update on Indigo. She laid 36 eggs altogether. She drank loads of water with liquid calcium in it earlier but then refused it for the rest of the day. She's gone to a pale green colour so more like her usual self. My concern now is that she's struggling to hold her own weight up. She was laying eggs all night though so maybe she's just completely knackered as I doubt she slept. Sleeping now so hopefully she'll be a bit better in the morning.
 
I'm seriously worried about your chameleon from the picturesque posted of her. She shouldn't be so weak either. Has she been getting calcium? How long was the egglaying bin in her cage?

Can you please answer the questions in he how to ask for help thread at the top of the health forum.
 
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