Gravid???

[fabos]

about 2 weeks ago my male panther got out of his cage and took a journey over to my females cage. they never made contact BUt my female no longer shows her light colors anymore. but now she is bright peach and blackish brown.. also as become Very lazy and fat,and seems to be a little weak. im new to panthers so im just looking for some INFO,

 

[ChameleonCrazy]

Re: Gravid

If the chameleons didn't make any contact, it would be pretty difficult for her to be gravid unless she has been in contact with a male in the last few months. I don't know if you already track the weight of your chameleons, but it is always good practice and would be a dead giveaway if a female is gravid. Sometimes up to 2/3 of their weight will be due to carrying eggs. Also, if she were gravid, she might start to take on the "bag of marbles" look with little eggs poking at the sides of her abdomen.

 

[kinyonga]

Well...she definitely won't be producing fertile eggs if there was no contact with a male....however, panthers can produce infertile eggs and by her seeing the male, it might have put her into the "egg producing mode".

I hope you have a place for her to dig in her cage so that when she is ready to lay the eggs you will not miss the signs? I simply put an opaque container that is big enough for the female to fit into with a couple of inches space on all sides of her when empty and fill it about 2/3rds full of washed playsand. When she is digging in this she can be moved to a bigger container that is set up for egglaying...like a (new) trashcan or a 65 liter rubbermaid type container. Some female panthers will even lay the eggs in the small container I described.

 

[fabos]

well if she is holding eggs how long will she hold them b4 laying?

also is this why she is becoming lazy?

 

[fabos]

here is a bad pic of her i took with my cell phone... u cant tell but she is dragging her belly as she slowly walks .. but u can see the coloration that im talkin about.. this was a few days ago... colors are a bit darker now

 

[kinyonga]

I can't see any picture.

 

[fabos]

hmm lemme try something different then

here is a the pic

this is what she looked like b4

 

[fabos]

well hopefully the pics work...

 

[kinyonga]

Regarding when the eggs could be laid...in a situation like this, where she hasn't been mated it could be in the usual amount of time (30 or so days) or it could be longer. Some of them even seem to reabsorb them....so I can't give you a definite answer.

The best thing to do is put a container in her cage (that is big enough for her to fit into with room to spare on all sides when its empty) of washed playsand. This provides her with a place to start digging when/if she is ready to lay eggs. She can be moved to a bigger container to lay the eggs once she shows you she is ready.

As for the weakness...it could be caused by several things....I can't be sure.