Gravid Female, When do you bring her to vets?

[chamlover]

My female panther was bred to Firestar on Feb 3. After a couple of matings and a cigarette they both had a smile and seemed happy. However, I am still waiting for her to lay. When do you start getting worried and bring them to the vets. For the last week she has stopped eating crickets, stopped eating silkworms about 3 days ago and has been on the bottoom branches of her cage most of the time. Never got on the bottom or restless in her cage. I've put her in the bucket 2 days ago and all she did was hang out. It is now going on 32 days. What is the longest you wait before bringing them to the vets? After the last female being egg-bound i don't want to go through that again.She probably isn't too keen on the idea either. I will attempt to put her in the bucket again to day and even dig a hole for her. Any other suggestions?

Debby

 

[Julirs]

32 days is not too long a time. My female Veiled layed past day 32 if I remember correctly. Has she ever laid before? Do you have a container in her cage or do you remove her. It seems that some are just picky about what they lay in.

 

[chamlover]

This is her first clutch and yes ever since you suggested it i do have an egg-laying container in each females' cage, but it is a smaller one and more to let me know what they want then to actually lay in it. I have removed her and put her in a bigger bucket, but she just doesn't seem ready. I just wasn't sure how long you wait before it gets toooo late. Another question. I am using the same bucket for differnt females. Is that a no no? Should i sterilize everything in between? I never even thought of that until now and you never hear anyone saying anything about it.
Debby

 

[Julirs]

I really don't know about using the same bucket as each of my females has one large enough to lay in inside their cage. Some females don't respond well to the whole moving them to a different container to lay. Can you put a larger container in her cage? I use wastebaskets for mine. They are 4 gallons.

 

[chamlover]

This morning i put her in the bigger bucket to see if she would lay. If she doesn't do anything by this afternoon, i will shoot to the store and pick up a bigger container to put in her enclosure if you think that will work better. I can see your point, if she stresses out easily, just by moving her into a bucket might be enough for her to stress and not lay. Will do. Thanks!!!
I'll let you know.

Debby

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I really don't know about using the same bucket as each of my females has one large enough to lay in inside their cage. Some females don't respond well to the whole moving them to a different container to lay. Can you put a larger container in her cage? I use wastebaskets for mine. They are 4 gallons.

This is what I ended up doing.
Cleared out the females cage, except for some vines to go down into the bucket.
Put in a big bucket (almost the whole size of the enclosure ... about 8 " from the top), taped brown paper around for privacy and left her alone.

-Brad

 

[joefarah]

It hasn't been too long, Debby. I keep solid records and I could look up for you how long it was from mating to egg laying for each of my clutches, but I wouldn't worry about it...

My philosophy is to just give them everything they need (in your case a suitable egg laying site INSIDE the enclosure) and let them do their thing... If you start getting crazy with the "supposed to's" as far as timing goes you will drive yourself mad. Success with chameleons is about patience, as you know. She'll lay when she is ready. Just give her all she needs and let her do her thing.

Also, too much interaction and intereference can be a very bad thing, especially with gravid females. They should be given all they need, but at the same time there should be an effort on your part to reduce stress as much as possible... and that means not messing with the cage over and over, not sitting there staring at her all day... just basically leaving her alone as much as possible.

I hope you get a whopping fertile clutch and your female bounces right back for another round down the road.

Good luck, Debby!

 

[chamlover]

Thanks guys. It's just after the last time it seems i am driving myself crzy. My hubby tells me the same thing. Leave them alone and they will finish the job. And i know it sounds like i am bothering all the time, but i'm not, i actually have ther cages covered and when i check on them, they don't know it. But i have been moving them from their cage into the breeding bucket.Which has always worked before. I know each one is different. I am leaving for the store now for more buckets and sand and vermiculite and organic soil. Good thing this is an inexpensive hobby huh? lol. I have 4 females now ready to lay. 1 isn't fertile, 1 is on her 2nd clutch, 1 that i mated feb 3, and the other i purchased this weekeend gravid. Fun fun fun and not for the faint of heart. They will all have a bigger ben that is usable in their cage within hours. Off i go. Thanks guys.

Debby

 

[chamlover]

I'm back and i no sooner put the bigger bucket in her cage and within 1/2 hour, maybe sooner, she was in it digging. yeahhhhhhhhh!! I'll let you know how many she has.

Debby

 

[joefarah]

Hey Debby!

Is she still digging? Mine would dig for 5 days sometimes before actually dropping...

Keep us posted.

 

[chamlover]

Nope. She finished sometime late last night. I fell asleep on the couch waiting for her. I woke up at 6 am and peeked in on her and she was sleeping like a little cutie. She has eaten some silkies and had a nice long drink while i dug out the eggs, all 33 of them. I"m so excited!!!! Firestar is such a beauty and he isn't even got his full colors yet. I can't wait to see his babies. Only what a couple of weeks to wait , right? lol..

Thanks everyone. My veiled female with infertile eggs is still giving me a hard time. She had 1 egg and dug like 3 holes then climbed out of the bucket!!!!!First i found her on my curtains , then i found her on my bathroom counter ( i have a fake plant on it ) she was on top, sound asleep. Cute as a buttom, don't know how she got out or up there. She still wants to dig, so i'll put her in again tomorrow.

Debby

 

[chamlover]

Joe,

You said it took yours 5 days. OMG. Did you have a bucket in her cage or did you put her in a bucket? And if youput her in one, did you leave her there for the full 5 days? Also , one of the panthers i just bought, w/c, but has been with the breeder for a couple of months, is also gravid. Do you think it would be better for her to put a bucket in her cage escecially?

Debby

 

[Glittergloomgirl]

Yeah!!!! Debby!!! Little Firestar babies.... what was the mothers family line? He is so pretty, just curious what you chose to bred with him? Id like one of his babies for one of my Token and Mononoke babies...