How long should I wait to take Egg Bound Chameleon to vet?

Janelavea

New Member
Hello! We are first time chameleon owners and need a LOT of Help - we bought our chameleon, Zoltan, for our sons 12th birthday. We believe she’s a female, and we are nervous she’s become egg bound. I’ve been reading a bunch of the conversations of egg bound chameleons on here, which have been so helpful! Thank you so much for all the information.

But there are a few questions I have that I can’t find the answers for.

About 2.5 weeks, maybe 3 weeks ago, she was climbing all over the walls of her enclosure, and my son said she has been eating less and less. Last week she turned this dark green/brown color and hasn’t changed back. We’ve had a container at the bottom of the cage that’s 12”L x 5”W x 7”D of soil (not washed play sand) and she’s climbed down several times but doesn’t dig in it. She’s still climbing down to eat (she just ate today), and Im guessing (hoping) she’s still drinking, but I’ve noticed she’s becoming more and more lethargic.

I just read about putting a sheet up so I just did that, but I’ve read about leaving her alone or she won’t lay her eggs. My question is, what does “leave her alone” mean? Do we not mist or feed her? Or only go to her cage when we mist and feed? She is honestly in a low traffic area (in my sons room in the basement) where no one goes by her cage. We haven’t been checking her, but she still hasn’t laid her eggs.

Also, how long does this process of her making and laying eggs take normally, and when is it too late? When should I take her to the vet?

I attached a photo to maybe have someone advise or help us figure what we are doing wrong 🤦🏽‍♀️ - please help and advise if you can. We would love the help, bc my fear is that she is dying and that’s the last thing we want.
 

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Welcome to the forum!

Not good that she's becoming lethargic.

I would change the substrate in the bin to washed plays and that is kept just moist enough to hold a tunnel.

You said..."My question is, what does “leave her alone” mean? Do we not mist or feed her? Or only go to her cage when we mist and feed?"...as long as she is up in the branches, you can feed and water her without taking a lot of time to do it. If she's digging, don't let her see you. How many insects do you feed her in a week? What color are her urates? What's the basking temperature? How old is she?

You said..."how long does this process of her making and laying eggs take normally"...they can lay eggs about every 130 days or so.
 
Thanks so much for getting back with me so quick! Here are the answers to some of your questions below:

• How many insects do you feed her in a week? So, I’ve discovered we’ve been doing a lot of things wrong since I found this forum. We have been feeding her about 10-15 mealworms covered in calcium powder every other day (we started this maybe a month ago. Before that we were feeding 12-15 meal worms a day and about 5-6 crickets). So maybe 60 worms a week. The past couple weeks we’ve been feeding her blue bottle flies as well but not very many, she’s probably had about 10 total in the past 2 weeks.

• What color are her urates?
Her heated are yellowish color

• What’s the basking temperature?
Her basking temperature is around 79-80 degrees F.

• How old is she?
I’m not sure of her exact age. The person from Petco said she “was probably about a month… maybe a little older”. We purchased her at the end of March so if that is right then she’s 6 months.

So, I was curious, when should we take her to the vet if she doesn’t lay her eggs? Is there an exact # of days we should wait once she shows these signs of needing to lay them? I heard they start to rot inside them and I’m wondering when that starts?
 
Thanks so much for getting back with me so quick! Here are the answers to some of your questions below:

• How many insects do you feed her in a week? So, I’ve discovered we’ve been doing a lot of things wrong since I found this forum. We have been feeding her about 10-15 mealworms covered in calcium powder every other day (we started this maybe a month ago. Before that we were feeding 12-15 meal worms a day and about 5-6 crickets). So maybe 60 worms a week. The past couple weeks we’ve been feeding her blue bottle flies as well but not very many, she’s probably had about 10 total in the past 2 weeks.

• What color are her urates?
Her heated are yellowish color

• What’s the basking temperature?
Her basking temperature is around 79-80 degrees F.

• How old is she?
I’m not sure of her exact age. The person from Petco said she “was probably about a month… maybe a little older”. We purchased her at the end of March so if that is right then she’s 6 months.

So, I was curious, when should we take her to the vet if she doesn’t lay her eggs? Is there an exact # of days we should wait once she shows these signs of needing to lay them? I heard they start to rot inside them and I’m wondering when that starts?
My autocorrect changed urates to heated for some reason.
 
I would take her now to a good reptile vet that has chameleon knowledge. I’d ask for a check up, fecal for parasites and an X-ray. A good vet can tell you how the eggs are coming along. Do you have a good vet? If you tell me where you live I might be able to recommend a good chameleon vet.
 
I would take her now to a good reptile vet that has chameleon knowledge. I’d ask for a check up, fecal for parasites and an X-ray. A good vet can tell you how the eggs are coming along. Do you have a good vet? If you tell me where you live I might be able to recommend a good chameleon vet.
Thank you so much! We live around Provo, Utah.
 
Maybe one of these will be I’m driving distance.

Dr, Jeff Simmons
Mountain West Veterinary Specialists
908 North Main Street, Layton, Utah 8404124 hours(801) 683-6201
Dr. Laurel Harris
Wasatch Exotic Pet Care
1892 East Fort Union Blvd. Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121-305208:00 to 18:00(801) 943-3367
Dr. Samuel Rivera
Utah Veterinary Hospital
161 East 30 N, American Fork, UT 8400308:00 to 17:30(801) 692-1563
Dr. Karen Peacock
A Caring Vet
360 N State St, Lindon, UT 8404209:00 to 18:00(801) 785-6737
Dr. Scott Echols
Parrish Creek Veterinary Hospital & Diagnostic Center
86 N 70 W St, Centerville, UT 84014-182108:00 to 18:00(801) 298-2014
 
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