How does a chameleon dig?

[Mr Wilson]

Hi everyone!

Sean and I put a tupperware bin at the bottom with substrate in it for Rosie for when she is ready to lay eggs. Today I saw her to down to it for the first time and I noticed she was using her nose/snout to push around the substrate. I thought maybe her worm fell out of it's feeding cup and she was going to get it so I wanted to check to see if the worm fell and it was still in the cup.

What do chams do when they start to dig? Do they use their nose to push substrate around or do they just use their legs??

 

[jojackson]

Never had a female Cham, nor witnessed digging, However most lizards will use the snout aswell, particularly when burying eggs, tamping down the soil.
I imagine they use those funny feet just the same as any lizard. They do dig test holes and explore for good spots days ahead of laying, so your lizard may be close.
It's fascinating, but I hear cham females dig deep holes and it requires lots of energy, so try not to disturb it during the process if at all possible.
Occasionally if disturbed, the lizard may abandon the nest and retain her eggs, becoming eggbound, a potentially fatal condition.
Cheers

 

[Mr Wilson]

Yeah unfortunately I made the mistake of walking up to her because I thought she was going for the worm that may have fallen out so I wanted to check if she ate. I guess maybe she was getting ready to dig.

Anyone else ever witness their female veiled digging?

 

[Lizardlover]

Female veilds need a laying container of atleast 7 inches in height. Chameleons use their legs to dig.

 

[Miss Lily]

I saw my first cham, Lily, digging for both her clutches. After the second clutch she couldn't seem to get out of 'dig' mode. Her legs kept moving rather like when you lift a dog out of water and their feet keep moving! I asked on here and was told by Summoner12 (I think) that their digging instinct takes over whilst laying and as was the case with Lily, she found it rather difficult to get her legs moving again in the normal way, bless her!

If you see her digging around in her bin, then it's best to leave her to get on with it as jojackson said. A lot of people cover the cham's cage whilst she's digging and laying so that people cannot see in and thus disturb her, and so that she has no distractions outside of the cage.