Gravid Panther

PrettyInInk87

PrettyInInk87

New Member
Well I think the time has come where Darla is about to give me her first clutch... I have been monitering her and making sure she does not show any signs of being eggboud. BUT she is confusing me a bit... I notice that her belly is quite chunky but I only see her display gravid colors on occasion. She'll be a really dark almost black color with pink but other times she is completely pink, a solid pink. I have seen her toward the bottom of the cage a few times but she still goes up to bask. Am I just being paraoid? I don't want to have to show her Hugh to see if she rejects him but wouldn't that mean she is either gravid or not gravid and not receptive. :/
 
They dont always show the gravid colors all the time. Mine seem to only flash them when they see other chameleons. Have you tried feeling for eggs? It's pretty obvious feeling when they are about to lay (especially if thy look chunky!) She's probably just checking out her laying options when she goes down. If you get worried, you can always get a large, tall bin and put sand in it with a few branches and possibly a small plant (real or fake.) Sometimes the plant helps them to choose a spot to lay.
 
I have a couple of questions, has she been paired? have you provided a laying bing? and have you monitered her weight? I believe it's normal that gravid females will sometimes be dark and other times pink. The best way to know is by monitering their weight every couple of weeks.
 
pssh said:
They dont always show the gravid colors all the time. Mine seem to only flash them when they see other chameleons. Have you tried feeling for eggs? It's pretty obvious feeling when they are about to lay (especially if thy look chunky!) She's probably just checking out her laying options when she goes down. If you get worried, you can always get a large, tall bin and put sand in it with a few branches and possibly a small plant (real or fake.) Sometimes the plant helps them to choose a spot to lay.
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Ah okay, I was under the impression that they always displayed gravid colors while gravid.

I have not felt for eggs since she HATES my guts but might attempt to do that in a bit.

I have had a laying bin in her enclosure since she was 5 months old and what I have is one of those really big plant pots filled 3/4 of the way with organic soil (i'm scared of sand) and also have some Pothos vines hanging down into it. I also put a medium sized rock in there just in case she felt safer with that, i'm going to remove it though, I don't want her to dig underneath it and have it fall on her while in her tunnel.

I'll take a few shots of her and her laying bin to give you guys a better idea. :)

dinamite said:
I have a couple of questions, has she been paired? have you provided a laying bing? and have you monitered her weight? I believe it's normal that gravid females will sometimes be dark and other times pink. The best way to know is by monitering their weight every couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

No she has not been paired and no I have no monitored her weight... I have a small gram scale but was not able to figure out how to keep my Chams on it. Thank you! :)
 
Here are a few pictures of Darla's laying bin and heself. Don't mind the poor Ficus, long story short... I bought Hugh a much larger Ficus for his cage, took this one out, thought it would like some sun, it didn't, so I put it in Darla's cage, and am now trying to save it, lol!

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She was much lighter before I approached with the camera.
 
I can't answer your question (no experience with females). But she is a beauty and your right she hates your guts LOL The progression of photos just cracked me up.
 
Hate to piggyback but we have almost the same situation and people have offered a weight as an indicator. What type of weight gain are we looking for? Anyone have a ballpark figure?
 
I guess if she's gaining a lot of weight in a short amount of time you can assume she's probably gravid and going to lay soon. How deep is her laying bin? She does look pretty chunky.
 
clarkrw3 said:
I can't answer your question (no experience with females). But she is a beauty and your right she hates your guts LOL The progression of photos just cracked me up.
Click to expand...

Thank you! :D

Thompson said:
I guess if she's gaining a lot of weight in a short amount of time you can assume she's probably gravid and going to lay soon. How deep is her laying bin? She does look pretty chunky.
Click to expand...

Sadly I didn't keep track of her weigh so not sure how much she weighs...

Her laying bin itself is about 14 inches high.
 
I had a laying bin for Delilah just like yours. She would kind of look at it and walk across it, but then she would ignore it. try putting a 5 gallon bucket with washed play sand in it flatten the surface so you can see if she dug at the end of the day, worked like a charm! ;)
 
Are you using 100% soil? iv read people using washed play sand also. Maybe try like a 50/50 soil/play sand. Turtles can be really picky i bet chameleons can too? gl :)
 
Thank you. Yes I am using just organic pottin soil, I am very afraid of using sand since it is so much stickier and heavier... If she were to accidentallky ingest a bit of soil it would pass and sand I just don't think it would. I always remember beach sand, ew. Lol! I might have to mix it up.
 
I remember my little brother licking up beach sand and it Would pass! lol (use washed sand, of coarse)
 
Use a 50/50 mix of sand and org top soil. Make sure your soil is damp but not soggy. They will normally start roaming the cage and start doing strange looking contortions before laying. Like they do when trying to remove an old shed. If you see her doing that its getting real close. Usually they'll lay that day or the next day. When you see her start to show a true interest in the bin. Cover the front of the cage with a sheet or towel and cut a small hole for viewing purposes and then leave her the hell alone until you see her up top basking again. She will have laid and filled in the hole and now its time for a long warm shower and feed her the next morning. Most will lay in the afternoon before lights out.
 
I personally would be more concerned with unsifted soil than sand. JMO though. My male likes to eat sand occasionally (when he can get his hands on it) and he's never had any issues.
 
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