Laying bin and watering

[cheorchie]

Hi all,

i have been lurking on these forums for a while and finally decided to participate ...

wrt housing, one question that i have been asking myself is:
with all the watering and misting going on, how do you prevent the soil in laying bins to become too wet ?

kind regards
george

 

[cheorchie]

the caresheets on this forum addvocate heavy misting - and even recommend automated misting systems. to deal with the high water throughput many keepers create drainage systems: https://www.chameleonforums.com/drainage-systems-cages-get-creative-102038/

but the caresheets (i.e. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/) also state that "A female over 6 months of age should always have a laying bin available".

seeing that the moisture content of the soil in a laying bin has to be within certain parameters, as is described for example here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/ -

how do you prevent the soil in the laying bin from becomming to wet ?

any answers would be appreciated

 

[sharp229]

Welcome to the forums! Sorry you didn't get a reply before, it probably just got missed.

As for the question, you could probably orient the laying bin so that it gets little or no water from the mister. The mister does not have to cover the whole cage.

I use a very large pot with an umbrella tree in it that is very well drained and I don't think gets too wet. I know there are also people who use the laying bin as an indicator of when she needs to lay eggs, and then move her to a larger bin outside when she starts digging.

 

[DeremensisBlue]

Laying Box

You have recognized the main problem with a laying bin constantly in with a chameleon. If you water enough to hydrate a chameleon you could very well end up soaking your laying bin!
I have my female cages directly on a laying box full time. This gives them full access to laying sites. This is useful especially with chameleons like quadricornis who may hide that they have eggs to lay.

The benefits of a constantly available laying box are substantial, but those benefits come with some extra responsibilities.
1) Monitor water saturation. I change out my soil/sand mixture when necessary - even with my set-up that has external drainage.
2) Spot clean. In between soil change-outs make sure the poop gets picked up. Unless you are doing a bio-active substrate, you really don't want that much body waste decomposing in the soil the female will be digging in. I admit I don't have any proof how much would or would not cause a problem, but I have yet to decide it is worth seeing how much poop a bin of dirt can handle. (I think we can agree that this one can stand on assumption).
3) Careful with feeders. Certain feeders will burrow and make their homes in the soil. Superworms are first on the list. I have not experienced them eating eggs, but I am not thrilled that critters like that could be around the eggs and get any bright ideas. Once again, I have no proof. I am just OCD when it comes to chameleon eggs.

Bill Strand