i need advice on my female veiled chameleon ASAP!

[Aust313]

My Female Veiled Chameleon has been show signs the she wants to lay eggs but im not quite sure on what to to. People say try sand(which i will get tomarrow) but for now i have her in a five gallon aquarium with some sifted peat moss hopefully to simulate finer materials such as sand. i moistened it slightly (im not quite sure how much to put in) i put a large piece of cork bark in on its side to simulate a cave, a vine of leaves , and a heat lamp. However she dosent seem to take interest in it. i need advice ASAP! please tell me if you think that there is anything wrong with this set up!

 

[fluxlizard]

I use dirt from my backyard for my chameleons- have done for years and they love it. If you do not have pesticides or fertilizer, it is an option for you. It may be very cold for it tonight though- depending on where you live. You will need to let it warm to room temperature and if you live in the desert or someplace you may need to dampen it. Here in the east it is nearly always perfect dampness for chameleons to tunnel and lay in.

Otherwise, if this is the first night your chameleon is acting like she wants to lay, she will probably be OK until tomorrow when you get set up for her. They can delay egg laying somewhat, but not forever...

 

[carol5208]

I gave you a great blog to read on your other post about egg laying from one of our members with experience.

 

[Aust313]

Thanks

carol5208-i know i posted this one first and ive been reading it but it still dosent say (or that i read) if i should have things to help he burrow. i.e the cork bark set to look like a cave. but ill get sand tomarrow if she dosent lay tonight and see what happend
and thanks ill try dirt of now and see if shes interested or not

 

[fluxlizard]

you can start a little tunnel about 4" deep or so- sometimes they respond to that. They often do like to tunnel in under something- a flat piece of corkbark, a flat stone, even a potted plant as a roof. Many respond well to a thin layer of leaves over part of the soil- gives them some cover when tunneling.

I've used dirt for many years - chameleons love it. Smells right, tunnels right. It needs to be able to hold a tunnel when you tunnel with your hand or it isn't right.

Good luck.

 

[carol5208]

Well, I am sorry I know nothing about egg laying and cannot personally help you, but I know there is some good info on there if you read it to the end. Maybe just not the answers to the questions you have. Good luck with everything and let us know how it goes.

 

[Aust313]

ok well

so i put her back in her own cage (not to stress her out) she started digging around everywhere but only stayed in one place of alittle while. behe was starting to dig alot there but then i came back about an hour later and she was up in her tree and it looked like the hole didn't go so well. but i wasnt reall expecting much in 2inchs of dirt. i've talked to a place call Scales N' Tails and they said that egg bound is more of a disease than anything. and unless she was born with it, would not get it and would end up laying the eggs on her own time. they suggested i mixed the eco dirt with sand in a moist dish(ive already heard that) but i baught wrong sand from Petco and it dosent hold water... i mixed the two together alot and then put it in a ceramic dish in her cage to see what would happen and so dar shes not that interested. anyother tips?

 

[kinyonga]

I would put an opaque container at least 12" deep by 12" by 8" of moistened washed playsand in the cage for it to dig in. Moving it back and forth will only cause is stress. Once she starts digging in the container, you can move her to the aquarium and leave her there. It should have a light over it to keep the temperature in the right range. Do not let her see you watching her or she will abandon the hole. If she abandons the hole often enough it can lead to eggbinding. She may dig several test holes but should pick one in the end and dig it until she is happy with it. She will turn around butt down (usually in the evening) and lay the eggs, bury them and tamp the soil down and return to the branches, hungry and thirsty.

You said..."i've talked to a place call Scales N' Tails and they said that egg bound is more of a disease than anything"...most often eggbinding occurs from failure to provide the female with a place to dig to lay the eggs...or improper husbandry that leaves her nutrient deficient or in a few cases reproductive deformities/issues (fused eggs, eggs that are deformed, reproductive system deformities, etc.) that make it impossible for her to lay the eggs. The female is not born with it.

 

[fluxlizard]

try my advice with your mix in a bucket- at least a gallon tub but a 5 gallon bucket 2/3 full better. I don't think much of the advice you got from scales and tails. A little dirt in a dish isn't the best situation (it's pretty close to the worst) and egg binding isn't what I'd call a disease so much as a symptom of husbandry problems most of the time.

Or try kinyonga's advice- just saw that post- good stuff. Don't try to re-invent the wheel.

 

[Aust313]

well one more thing i dont know if this completely contricts what ive said but, im not trying to get babies out of this, but everyone keeps saying they WILL lay eggs even if no male is present. and this is why im getting stressed. but for now she got skinny it looks like but i cant find any in her cage. and now im completely confused. she is still if-ish on wanting to dig i cant tell but when shes in the braches i thought she was done so i poke my head in and she flaired up (as always) and tried to compress herself and she did look skinnier. any idea on how big the eggs are(i know about the size of a dime but i was wondering if they varied) and how many to expect?

 

[pssh]

it depends. My female panther just had an extremely small clutch of 8 which I have never heard of before.

Just leave your girl alone! If she is still digging she still needs to lay. if you keep bugging her she will become eggbound. Yes, they do indeed lay eggs without being mated or even having males around. However, it is somewhat preventable in veileds. By carefully controlling her husbandry and food intake you can lessen the amount and frequency of eggs, and in some cases prevent egg laying all together. This helps the female to live a longer healthier life.

 

[Aust313]

alright i will but i guess she just did start digging again so i guess see didnt lay them. but she was still pretty skinny

 

[pssh]

It doesn't matter. They can flatten themselves to pancake size if they want to. She would only not be able to flatten herself completely if she were carrying a huge clutch.

You dont want fattening foods by the way. It will make her lay more eggs more frequently.

 

[warpdrive]

it depends. My female panther just had an extremely small clutch of 8 which I have never heard of before.

Just leave your girl alone! If she is still digging she still needs to lay. if you keep bugging her she will become eggbound. Yes, they do indeed lay eggs without being mated or even having males around. However, it is somewhat preventable in veileds. By carefully controlling her husbandry and food intake you can lessen the amount and frequency of eggs, and in some cases prevent egg laying all together. This helps the female to live a longer healthier life.

Personally, since your girl was free ranging, I would not be surprised if you find more eggs in time.

Also, if you reread my original reply to you in this thread, you will see that my ambilobie did in fact "see" me at least once a day, if not 3 or 4 times in a day, while she was digging her "deception" holes.

I'm not saying that egg bound can't happen due to too much attention, but it seems that simple viewing of them is still normally safe if kept to a minimum.

Harry

 

[kinyonga]

I'd be inclined to say that you were lucky that she didn't become eggbound warpdrive.

 

[pssh]

Personally, since your girl was free ranging, I would not be surprised if you find more eggs in time.

Also, if you reread my original reply to you in this thread, you will see that my ambilobie did in fact "see" me at least once a day, if not 3 or 4 times in a day, while she was digging her "deception" holes.

I'm not saying that egg bound can't happen due to too much attention, but it seems that simple viewing of them is still normally safe if kept to a minimum.

Harry

I dug through every plant that she had. The root balls were too compact to get further than 1/2" down into the pots. I also completely emptied her laying bin to be sure that she didn't lay half in and half out. I've checked multiple times as well with the thought that maybe I had missed them the last time. I even re-potted two plants to check! Perhaps it also has to do with the fact that she was still less than 60 grams when gravid, the stress from moving around from home to home, she had mouth rot just before/just as she began to develop the eggs, and the possible lack of nutrients?

Again, I think it's just circumstantial.

 

[kinyonga]

Infertile eggs are about the size of one of those gourmet jelly beans usually.

 

[Aust313]

ok

ok well heres an update. i bought some sand from petco and it turns out it dosent hold water, so i mixed eco dirt with it and dumped it in a corner and made a 4" wide tunnel all the way down but she look at it and didnt do anything. so i burried the hole i made and put a piece of cork park leaning over it and since 10min after i did that 8 hours ago shes been digging. is that normal?

 

[pssh]

yes, yes it is. You want her to be digging.

 

[Aust313]

ok well i think now she fell asleep in her hole so whell see what happens