Is my female veiled ready to lay eggs? No symptoms but very fat

[Djborx]

Greetings everybody!
So I'm a newbie here. I got a female veiled 3 weeks ago. Everything is going fine and I think she has settled in quite alright.
In these three weeks she has grown a lot and she is getting really fat it seems. I'm well documented on the egg laying business and I have it all ready for her whenever she is ready. I'm slightly nervous because all the egg-binding drama I've been reading lately.
I have attached a couple of pics so you can see how fat she is getting. When I got her, I was under the impression that she was 5 months and therefore too young to lay eggs, but I think she might be ready. I put my hand next to her in the second pic so you can see how big she is in comparison.
Do you think she is old enough to lay eggs already?
Besides the chubbiness she is not showing any symptoms at all. She is not digging on the ground, she is eating extremely well (6 to 8 crickets a day dusted with the required vitamins/calcium and some fruit/vegetables) and her colour is the usual green.
Can anyone give me some advise please? Is she really older than 5 months? Am I jumping into conclusions too quickly and she is just fat? Or maybe she is not even that fat? I don't want to put her in the container with sand yet as it might be stressful and confusing for her if she is not ready...
Thank you so much, any advice is welcome!

 

[Lpsouth1978]

It looks to me like she is indeed producing eggs. Chameleons can produce eggs as early as 4 months, though it is rare in captivity and certainly not recommended. That being said, she looks like she is plenty large enough to safely produce eggs.

My recommendation is to put a lay bin in her cage and leave it there indefinitely. By doing this she always has a place to lay that is much less stressful than removing her to a separate lay bin. If putting a lay bin in her cage is not an option, you will need to watch for signs that she is ready to lay. These will include a lack of interest in eating, wandering the cage, restlessness, hanging out at the bottom of the enclosure, and scratching at the bottom of the cage. If you see any of these symptoms, get her to her lay bin and leave her alone for as long as you can, all day if possible. If she sees you she will not lay, if she is interrupted, she will stop laying and can become egg bound.

If she is not showing any signs, just sit back and keep watching. She looks like it won't be long before she s ready to lay, like maybe a couple days to another week.

Good Luck!

 

[Djborx]

Thanks so much for the reply! Poor thing, already with eggs at such a young age. I hope it's not too dramatic. Maybe she has been overfed at the pet store and this is why she is ready?
Unfortunately there isn't much space in her cage for the bin, so I'll definitely look for the signs. Great tips! Once she is in the lay bin, should I provide some kind of basking light at all? Or since she will be digging it's not required?

 

[Lpsouth1978]

As long as the room is at a decent ambient temp she will be fine without a heat light. Remove her from the bin before the end of the day, if she has not laid, and offer food and mist her as well as giving her a little time to bask if wanted. If she is in the process of laying, leave her in the bin, even overnight is fine and she will finish in the morning.

 

[Djborx]

Still no eggs but there seems to be yolk like stuff in her poop

This might be a silly question but can the eggs come out as liquid? She is acting completely normal, very active, eating well and all, but no sign of wanting to lay eggs, and she is clearly ready.
The poop however seems very yolky. Can the eggs break inside and come out as liquid? She even looks slightly smaller.
If you see the attached photo however, that little bump looks like an egg?
I don't know what to make of it..

 

[kinyonga]

I had a chameleon once that laid "half" a normal clutch and "half" yolks (we called it yolkeria). Never heard of another case of it ever.

 

[Djborx]

Never heard of that either... It's so strange.
I just hope she is fine. I've been reading so much scary stuff about the eggs...
She hasn't pooped in the last 2 days, so I can't really tell what the latest is.
Does anyone know if they are meant to poop every day? She used to do it every day at the same time and in the same spot. Now she skips days.