I’m not sure if my female veiled chameleon is pregnant...

[chikitalachameleon]

Hello! This is my first time owning a chameleon and I’ve done my fair amount of research however I still am inexperienced as to dealing with these sensitive creatures. She is about 7 months now. I feed her everyday about 8-10 crickets and every other day I dust them with calcium without d3. In her cage I have two golden pathos plants, and the rest of her plants are fake. I mist her cage about 3 to 4x a a day to ensure that her humidity stays around 60% and no less then 50%. Her cage is 16x16x30 and her bulb is a 100 watt solar brite lamp giving her UVA, UVB, and her heat. For about a week now she’s been displaying very dark colors around her basking area. She’s also been looking more colorful then usual, and I’ve never seen her have speckles of blue and lines of yellow before, so this is why I think she’s becoming gravid. This could also explain why she’s been very restless, moving up and down her cage. I’ve seen pictures of pregnant chameleons and they literally look like a bag of jelly beans but she doesn’t look like that just yet. From what I’ve noticed, whenever she’s in her cage she gets very dark like In the first picture, but whenever I take her out she lightens up as posted in the other pictures. Also she’s been very willing to leave her cage, and goes to explore more then usual. I put a laying bin with repti-soil to make sure she has that available but she hasn’t investigated it much at all. I’m just concerned about her, and I don’t want her to become egg bound. All I know is her behavior this last week has been odd. Any thoughts?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Give me a few minutes and I’ll give you feedback.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

She is beautiful, but there are some things you can improve in her care. I will let @MissSkittles give the feedback on that, as I am sure she is working on it. I will say however that your girl looks quite plump and most likely has eggs.

 

[MissSkittles]

Putting my feedback in red.
Hello! This is my first time owning a chameleon and I’ve done my fair amount of research however I still am inexperienced as to dealing with these sensitive creatures. She is about 7 months now. She is old enough to be gravid. I feed her everyday about 8-10 crickets Too much. She should be getting about 3 feeders every other day. Gradually start reducing to this amount.and every other day I dust them with calcium without d3 All feedings except one per week should be dusted with calcium without D3. Once weekly use a calcium with D3, alternating with a multivitamin. In her cage I have two golden pathos plants, and the rest of her plants are fake. Work on getting rid of the fake. I mist her cage about 3 to 4x a a day to ensure that her humidity stays around 60% and no less then 50%. Humidity is too high. It should be between 30-50% during the day. Her cage is 16x16x30 She’ll be needing an upgrade to a 2x2x4’, which is the minimum for an adult.and her bulb is a 100 watt solar brite lamp giving her UVA, UVB, and her heat. You need to get a T5 ho fixture with a 5.0 uvb bulb...the long kind. The coil bulbs can’t give adequate uvb levels and the type you have sounds like a mercury vapor bulb, which you need a solar meter to monitor uvb levels. A plain incandescent light bulb is the easiest for basking. For about a week now she’s been displaying very dark colors around her basking area. She’s also been looking more colorful then usual, and I’ve never seen her have speckles of blue and lines of yellow before, so this is why I think she’s becoming gravid. This could also explain why she’s been very restless, moving up and down her cage. She is gorgeous! She’s not gravid yet, but she’s getting there. Right now she’s receptive, meaning she’s ready for mating. A few weeks to a month or so after her restlessness ends, she‘ll be looking to lay her eggs. I’ve seen pictures of pregnant chameleons and they literally look like a bag of jelly beans but she doesn’t look like that just yet. She may not look that lumpy, but you’ll most likely see some little lumps. From what I’ve noticed, whenever she’s in her cage she gets very dark like In the first picture, but whenever I take her out she lightens up as posted in the other pictures. Also she’s been very willing to leave her cage, and goes to explore more then usual. I put a laying bin with repti-soil to make sure she has that available but she hasn’t investigated it much at all. The Repti soil isn’t great for a lay bin. The best thing to use is play sand. You’ll need to rinse it and keep it moist enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing. When she needs it, she’ll find it. Once she starts digging, discretely cover the visible sides with a light sheet and give her privacy. If she sees you watching, she may stop and become eggbound. I poke holes in my sheet so I can monitor. I’m just concerned about her, and I don’t want her to become egg bound. All I know is her behavior this last week has been odd. Any thoughts?
I just gave you a lot of thoughts. Lol. You’ll need to put a rush on making the upgrades ASAP as without correct lighting and supplements and being a bit over fed, she is currently at risk for laying problems.
Laying takes a great deal out of our sweet ladies and shortens their lives, so we want to try and reduce both the frequency that they lay and the number of eggs. I feed my ladies 3 feeders 3 days a week and keep their basking temps no higher than 80. This may help explain it a bit. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
You also could use some more branches and/or vines...more little roads for her to travel. Definitely more live plants. Attaching a pic of one of my ladies enclosures to give you an idea. (It’s bioactive which is why there is soil)
You could also add more variety of feeders. Attaching feeder and gutload sheets for you too.
Feel free to ask as many questions as you need.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Putting my feedback in red.
Hello! This is my first time owning a chameleon and I’ve done my fair amount of research however I still am inexperienced as to dealing with these sensitive creatures. She is about 7 months now. She is old enough to be gravid. I feed her everyday about 8-10 crickets Too much. She should be getting about 3 feeders every other day. Gradually start reducing to this amount.and every other day I dust them with calcium without d3 All feedings except one per week should be dusted with calcium without D3. Once weekly use a calcium with D3, alternating with a multivitamin. In her cage I have two golden pathos plants, and the rest of her plants are fake. Work on getting rid of the fake. I mist her cage about 3 to 4x a a day to ensure that her humidity stays around 60% and no less then 50%. Humidity is too high. It should be between 30-50% during the day. Her cage is 16x16x30 She’ll be needing an upgrade to a 2x2x4’, which is the minimum for an adult.and her bulb is a 100 watt solar brite lamp giving her UVA, UVB, and her heat. You need to get a T5 ho fixture with a 5.0 uvb bulb...the long kind. The coil bulbs can’t give adequate uvb levels and the type you have sounds like a mercury vapor bulb, which you need a solar meter to monitor uvb levels. A plain incandescent light bulb is the easiest for basking. For about a week now she’s been displaying very dark colors around her basking area. She’s also been looking more colorful then usual, and I’ve never seen her have speckles of blue and lines of yellow before, so this is why I think she’s becoming gravid. This could also explain why she’s been very restless, moving up and down her cage. She is gorgeous! She’s not gravid yet, but she’s getting there. Right now she’s receptive, meaning she’s ready for mating. A few weeks to a month or so after her restlessness ends, she‘ll be looking to lay her eggs. I’ve seen pictures of pregnant chameleons and they literally look like a bag of jelly beans but she doesn’t look like that just yet. She may not look that lumpy, but you’ll most likely see some little lumps. From what I’ve noticed, whenever she’s in her cage she gets very dark like In the first picture, but whenever I take her out she lightens up as posted in the other pictures. Also she’s been very willing to leave her cage, and goes to explore more then usual. I put a laying bin with repti-soil to make sure she has that available but she hasn’t investigated it much at all. The Repti soil isn’t great for a lay bin. The best thing to use is play sand. You’ll need to rinse it and keep it moist enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing. When she needs it, she’ll find it. Once she starts digging, discretely cover the visible sides with a light sheet and give her privacy. If she sees you watching, she may stop and become eggbound. I poke holes in my sheet so I can monitor. I’m just concerned about her, and I don’t want her to become egg bound. All I know is her behavior this last week has been odd. Any thoughts?
I just gave you a lot of thoughts. Lol. You’ll need to put a rush on making the upgrades ASAP as without correct lighting and supplements and being a bit over fed, she is currently at risk for laying problems.
Laying takes a great deal out of our sweet ladies and shortens their lives, so we want to try and reduce both the frequency that they lay and the number of eggs. I feed my ladies 3 feeders 3 days a week and keep their basking temps no higher than 80. This may help explain it a bit. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
You also could use some more branches and/or vines...more little roads for her to travel. Definitely more live plants. Attaching a pic of one of my ladies enclosures to give you an idea. (It’s bioactive which is why there is soil)
You could also add more variety of feeders. Attaching feeder and gutload sheets for you too.
Feel free to ask as many questions as you need.
View attachment 278420View attachment 278421View attachment 278422

And that is why I left this to you. haha

 

[chikitalachameleon]

Putting my feedback in red.
Hello! This is my first time owning a chameleon and I’ve done my fair amount of research however I still am inexperienced as to dealing with these sensitive creatures. She is about 7 months now. She is old enough to be gravid. I feed her everyday about 8-10 crickets Too much. She should be getting about 3 feeders every other day. Gradually start reducing to this amount.and every other day I dust them with calcium without d3 All feedings except one per week should be dusted with calcium without D3. Once weekly use a calcium with D3, alternating with a multivitamin. In her cage I have two golden pathos plants, and the rest of her plants are fake. Work on getting rid of the fake. I mist her cage about 3 to 4x a a day to ensure that her humidity stays around 60% and no less then 50%. Humidity is too high. It should be between 30-50% during the day. Her cage is 16x16x30 She’ll be needing an upgrade to a 2x2x4’, which is the minimum for an adult.and her bulb is a 100 watt solar brite lamp giving her UVA, UVB, and her heat. You need to get a T5 ho fixture with a 5.0 uvb bulb...the long kind. The coil bulbs can’t give adequate uvb levels and the type you have sounds like a mercury vapor bulb, which you need a solar meter to monitor uvb levels. A plain incandescent light bulb is the easiest for basking. For about a week now she’s been displaying very dark colors around her basking area. She’s also been looking more colorful then usual, and I’ve never seen her have speckles of blue and lines of yellow before, so this is why I think she’s becoming gravid. This could also explain why she’s been very restless, moving up and down her cage. She is gorgeous! She’s not gravid yet, but she’s getting there. Right now she’s receptive, meaning she’s ready for mating. A few weeks to a month or so after her restlessness ends, she‘ll be looking to lay her eggs. I’ve seen pictures of pregnant chameleons and they literally look like a bag of jelly beans but she doesn’t look like that just yet. She may not look that lumpy, but you’ll most likely see some little lumps. From what I’ve noticed, whenever she’s in her cage she gets very dark like In the first picture, but whenever I take her out she lightens up as posted in the other pictures. Also she’s been very willing to leave her cage, and goes to explore more then usual. I put a laying bin with repti-soil to make sure she has that available but she hasn’t investigated it much at all. The Repti soil isn’t great for a lay bin. The best thing to use is play sand. You’ll need to rinse it and keep it moist enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing. When she needs it, she’ll find it. Once she starts digging, discretely cover the visible sides with a light sheet and give her privacy. If she sees you watching, she may stop and become eggbound. I poke holes in my sheet so I can monitor. I’m just concerned about her, and I don’t want her to become egg bound. All I know is her behavior this last week has been odd. Any thoughts?
I just gave you a lot of thoughts. Lol. You’ll need to put a rush on making the upgrades ASAP as without correct lighting and supplements and being a bit over fed, she is currently at risk for laying problems.
Laying takes a great deal out of our sweet ladies and shortens their lives, so we want to try and reduce both the frequency that they lay and the number of eggs. I feed my ladies 3 feeders 3 days a week and keep their basking temps no higher than 80. This may help explain it a bit. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
You also could use some more branches and/or vines...more little roads for her to travel. Definitely more live plants. Attaching a pic of one of my ladies enclosures to give you an idea. (It’s bioactive which is why there is soil)
You could also add more variety of feeders. Attaching feeder and gutload sheets for you too.
Feel free to ask as many questions as you need.
View attachment 278420View attachment 278421View attachment 278422

Thank you for such a quick response. I really appreciate the information. You were more then helpful. I took note of everything you said to change and I will get that done immediately. Only thing I find confusing just to clarify is that you said to feed her 3 feeders every other day. What do you mean by this? so literally just three crickets every other day? I’m shocked that I’ve been feeding her so much. I hope it’s not to late to reverse the damage. Also I’ll try to widen her diet to other types of critters cause I’ve only been feeding her crickets this whole time. Those sheets you sent are very informative. You also said that when they give birth it’s very hard for them and that they can produce eggs more then once. How do you reduce the amount of times they lay eggs throughout there life? Is this contributed to there diet? Also What is the average lifespan of veiled chameleons? I want to make sure she lives the longest she can.

& What live plants do you suggest getting?

 

[chikitalachameleon]

She is beautiful, but there are some things you can improve in her care. I will let @MissSkittles give the feedback on that, as I am sure she is working on it. I will say however that your girl looks quite plump and most likely has eggs.

thank you, I was so surprised with the colors she’s be displaying lately. I didn’t even know she was capable of these beautiful colors.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."You also said that when they give birth it’s very hard for them and that they can produce eggs more then once"...Veiled females can lay eggs about every 4 months energy when not mated and if they are overfed it can be very hard on them because they will likely lay a large clutch, develop MBD, may prolapse and likely become eggbound and can die.

You said..."How do you reduce the amount of times they lay eggs throughout there life? Is this contributed to there diet?"...it seems to be quite connected to diet and also reducing temperature helps. You don't want to starve her but you don't want her to get fat either. It takes a while usually to shut down the egg production but the size of th clutches should decrease with the diet until that happens. The temperature decrease IMHO slows their metabolism so it helps them feel less hungry on the "diet".

You said..."Also What is the average lifespan of veiled chameleons? I want to make sure she lives the longest she can."...my female veileds usually live to be 7 or older.

Hope this helps.

When she is ready to lay, the lay bin substrate needs to be moist enough to hold a tunnel. What is the substrate you are using?

 

[chikitalachameleon]

You said..."You also said that when they give birth it’s very hard for them and that they can produce eggs more then once"...Veiled females can lay eggs about every 4 months energy when not mated and if they are overfed it can be very hard on them because they will likely lay a large clutch, develop MBD, may prolapse and likely become eggbound and can die.

You said..."How do you reduce the amount of times they lay eggs throughout there life? Is this contributed to there diet?"...it seems to be quite connected to diet and also reducing temperature helps. You don't want to starve her but you don't want her to get fat either. It takes a while usually to shut down the egg production but the size of th clutches should decrease with the diet until that happens. The temperature decrease IMHO slows their metabolism so it helps them feel less hungry on the "diet".

You said..."Also What is the average lifespan of veiled chameleons? I want to make sure she lives the longest she can."...my female veileds usually live to be 7 or older.

Hope this helps.

When she is ready to lay, the lay bin substrate needs to be moist enough to hold a tunnel. What is the substrate you are using?

dear god I hope that does not happen, I will be heart broken. I wish I came to this forum earlier because just these few responses have taught me more then what Ive gathered on the internet these last few months.

I will make these changes very soon so that she’ll have smaller clutches like you said.

And I saw a video of a girl that recommended using reptisoil so that’s what I bought, and she said it worked but ms.skittles suggested play sand so I’ll need to swap that out.

 

[kinyonga]

I've used a plays and produced by Kings for years. It comes in a white bag with red, blue, yellow sandbox toys on the front of it.

 

[MissSkittles]

Only thing I find confusing just to clarify is that you said to feed her 3 feeders every other day. What do you mean by this? so literally just three crickets every other day? I’m shocked that I’ve been feeding her so much. I hope it’s not to late to reverse the damage. Also I’ll try to widen her diet to other types of critters cause I’ve only been feeding her crickets this whole time. Those sheets you sent are very informative.

& What live plants do you suggest getting?

Yes, just 3 crickets or other appropriately sized feeders every other day. No worries. I got my lady (1st chameleon ever) just before she reached maturity and until I found the forum, I was feeding her dozens daily. She had been quite underfed and was sickly thin when I got her, so fortunately the couple of weeks of over feeding wasn’t so bad.
I know you probably think roaches are disgusting, but they are a great addition. They are actually less disgusting than crickets...much cleaner. Silkworms are also a great feeder.
For plants that don’t require a special grow light, pothos, philodendron and wandering Jew are great. Here’s the safe plant list. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
While you’re at the website, take a look around. There’s tons of awesome information there, including the podcasts. Also be sure to check out Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube, which is by one of the forum members.