help please.

[artemis2000]

Hi guys
cleo just layed another batch of eggs, yesterday she was fine and today when i came home she looks very dehydrated and there is a slime like substance on her plants and branches. i got her to have a drink but she still dosn't look right.
here are some pics.
any advise would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
glen



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[kinyonga]

How old is she? How many eggs did she lay?
She still looks quite plump....could she be retaining eggs?
Did you give her any liquid calcium after she laid the eggs?

 

[artemis2000]

cleo

she is now about 1 1/2 years old . this is her 4th set of eggs , and she gets her calcium and vitamins on her regular basis i was giving every other day but she was retaining too much calcium (coming out her nostrils) so now she has been getting it every 3rd day. she layed 5 eggs yesterday and was active and fine at her bedtime last night but today well you saw.
thanks .
im at a loss.

 

[kinyonga]

5 eggs doesn't seem like enough. I would get her to the vets ASAP...something may be wrong...egg stuck, or fused or something....or she may just need a shot of oxytocin to get things moving again.

The white around their noses is not said to be calcium but other salts that they are expelling. She needs calcium to shell the eggs, keep her own bones strong and even to help with the contractions needed to lay the eggs.

 

[artemis2000]

thanks

the 5 eggs is her average clutch the last 2 were 4 in each. we were told to cut back on the calcium that is why i cut down a bit. she may still look fat because i think she may be a bit overweight as she eats like a pig. on an average 10-15 large crickets every day. among her greens . as i said she was fine last night but i have never seen this slime before.
thanks
glen

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

You're feeding her too much. Obesity is a problem in them just like mammals, and an overfed female is going to be stimulated to produce many more eggs more often than normal. Overfeeding is going to predispose her to a lot of egg laying problems and if nothing else going to shorten her lifespan because the physical demand of always making eggs is significant. Heavy breeding females don't live as long for this reason (and the eggs don't have to be fertile for the effect). She should get 5-7 crickets every other day.

 

[carol5208]

just a bit of advice for the future. At her age you should be feeding every other day. Excessive feeding is said to produce egg laying. 10-15 crickets is what you should be feeding a young chameleon everyday. When you get her back on track, start cutting her food back to every other day about 6 feeders or so. Edit: Ferrit beat me to it!!!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Stole your thunder Carol! Great minds think alike

 

[kinyonga]

I still think that she needs to see a vet ASAP....with her eyes sunken in like that I think she still needs a vet's help.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Wow I didn't even see the eye picture until you mentioned it. She is REALLY dehydrated!!! I too would recommend a vet visit to do a radiograph to check for retained eggs, subq fluids and probably a calcium injection. This should be sooner than later if you want her to have a chance - egg binding problems are serious and can go downhill very quickly.

 

[artemis2000]

cleo

thanks for all your advise
we went to the vet today and after all was said and done ,he said she was a little over weight but according to him she was about 5-6 years old not 1 1/2 years, she had passed all the eggs so this was not a problem , he said she seemed to be healthy but she was dehydrated and he figured she was old and just giving up.
so much for getting a chameleon sight unseen. she was our first and i had no idea of how to tell her age.
needless to say all the moving around did her in , she passed on a couple of hours ago.
once again thanks for all the help.
glen

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry to hear that you lost her.

How did the vet determine that she had laid all the eggs?

 

[artemis2000]

cleo

he took an xray and it showed that there was nothing there.

 

[Elizadolots]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Don't feel bad about not recognizing the age...my family bought a dog that was advertised as being 2. 9 years later, when I had her at the vet's for an eye injury the vet informed me that the dog was at least 14, more likely 16 or even older. (yes, she'd seen vets in the 9 years, no one mentioned it!) So, we were 3 to 5 years off on a DOG.