Help please

[Samuel]

Hi i have a 8 month old female yemon and she is heavy with eggs(i can see their shape under her skin) she has been digging since about 9 oclock this morning(uk time) and has just filled in the hole(5pm) but still seems to be carrying the eggs. Sould i have a look in her nest site or wait till she looks empty. this is all new to me so any constructive comments will be much appreiciated.

 

[Miss Lily]

Wait until she's finished and returned to the branches, then you can search the site for eggs. She will need a good long drink and some food. If you think she is still carrying more eggs, then a vets visit may be required if she can't expel them herself. When my female laid, both times she went back down to the nest site the next morning and continued to scratch around in the dirt, although she didn't start digging a hole or lay any more eggs.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Greetings, Samuel. Normally a female's body looks somewhat depleted after laying her eggs. If she still looks very full, then there is reason for concern. Some would say feel her tummy for the eggs, but I have done that sometimes and not been able to feel eggs that are actually there. If she is one of those big female veileds who always look a little "full" in the belly, then perhaps she laid her eggs and is fine. Let us know if you find eggs. And you may have to check the entire bin to find them. They will usually be very near the bottom. If you don't find eggs then the please answer the following questions:

Some questions: was she mated, and if so, how long ago. If she was not mated, do you remember when you first noticed she was "eggy". If you can remember- when did you first notice the egg outlines on her body? I know we don't always write these things down, and it's not alway possible to remember exactly when, but a rough estimate will do. These time periods will give us some idea if she's possibly egg bound, or just still working on her clutch.

Sometimes they do dig for a few days until they get it right. A few things can help her: 1. make certain her soil is nice and moist. If it is too dry she may dig but not lay. It should be moist enough that you can form a good firm, stable, clump of it when squeezing it in your fist. Another method I use is to actually try to dig a tunnel in the soil myself, and make sure I can pass my hand in through it and it not fall down. 2. Showering the female can sometimes help, as the added hydration can ease the laying process and get things moving down there.

Finally, I would really like to see a photo. The photo can show us if there are any signs of stress that you may not notice since you see her all the time. It will also give us an idea of the size of the eggs within her.

 

[kinyonga]

How long has the container been in the cage for her to dig in?

Did she see you watching her while she was digging? (This can cause them to abandon the hole and if they abandon it often enough it can lead to eggbinding. This is different than digging holes for more than a day or digging more than one hole when not being watched though.)

Did she stay for quite a while with her butt down in the hole before filling it in?
If she filled it in without having laid an appropriate number of eggs (or still looks "inflated" then I would be concerned. It can be a sign of eggbinding.

As was already said...you can remove the container and look for the eggs if she is up in her branches. (I usually have two containers so I can just swap one out for the other so it doesn't matter if it takes me a few minutes to look to see if the female laid the eggs.)

BTW...its usually not a good sign if she didn't lay all the eggs at the same time.