Length of time for laying eggs??

[skeart]

We have a 9 mos old chameleon named Nigel, who is apparently Nigelita as SHE is, according to her symptoms and the vet, gravid.
She had not been eating much, and was getting what I thought was bloated from ingesting some of the mulch terrain in her aquarium. She was not lethargic, had good color (has the robins egg spots) and was moving around a lot.
She started digging in her mulch last Friday and we have made a laying bin filled with sand to put in her tank and covered the sides to give her privacy. Only lifting the lid to drop in food and mist the tank and sand. She does go in there regularly and digs, as well as in a few other corners of her tank, but as of today, we still have no eggs. I say no eggs because she still looks so bloated and has what may be some edema, or a full bloated look as well in her neck under her chin.
I have researched several sites to find that she can take up to 2 weeks to lay all of her eggs but that seems to be once she has laid some of them. How long from the time that she starts digging should she lay them? From what I have read, it seems like it should only be hours after she starts digging to when she lays. I would like to ask when should I start to worry, but I already am. There are so many horror stories about them becoming egg bound that I don't want to wait too long to take her.

 

[laurie]

Did you buy her gravid or did you breed her? I assume you bought the that way. What kind of chameleon is she? They have lots of different laying times.

If you fill out this form we can offer better advice. Just copy and paste it. Give as much information as you can.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[kinyonga]

With all the egglaying species of chameleons that I know, they are supposed to lay all the eggs at one time, not a few now and a few later.

The commonly kept species of egglaying chameleons can dig several test holes until they find one they like and then they will often dig that hole for several days until they are happy with it.

They then turn around, butt down and lay the eggs, fill in the hole and tamp it down and return to the branches hungry and thirsty.

If this is not the way things go then there could be some problem.

 

[skeart]

Thank you for taking your time and for the responses the form (I will get that filled out and post!). She is a veiled chameleon and we did not breed her so her eggs are not fertile. This is ours and her first experience with laying eggs. She was "hanging" for lack of a better word, on the side of her laying bin with her butt down in the sand last night. I didn't want to look at her too long as to not disturb the process, but since she still had the bloated look this morning when I misted, I assumed she was still trying to lay them.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled female, 8 - 9 mos old. We purchased her in Oct 2014, she is about 7' tip to tail
Handling - She is very good about us holding her, drinks from our finger and we handle her on a daily basis
Feeding -we give her 6 - 7 crickets daily, dusted with calcium and an occasional meal worm
How are you gut-loading your feeders? we feed them with the flukers orange cubes as well as veggies
Supplements - Flukers Repta Calcium on all crickets at each feeding
Watering - She has a flat bowl of water and have purchased a drip type system (prior to realizing we could have used a plastic cup with a hole) We mist 2 x a day for several minutes coating leaves and the sides of the tank
Do you see your chameleon drinking? Yes, she drinks from the sides and off of our fingers
Fecal Description - Brown with some white, Im not sure what normal is, but it has never been running and stays formed. She has never been tested for a parasite.

History - We purchased her from the pet store

Cage Info:
Cage Type - glass 50 gal aquarium with screen lid
What are the dimensions?
Lighting - We use a red heat lamp just at night, and a white heat basking as well as a UVB bulb during the day
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? 85-90 Lowest overnight temp? 75-80 How do you measure these temps? We have a temp sticker on the outside of the tank
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? I am unsure of the humidity level in her tank. How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No she currently has plastic but looking for better upright living quarters and will obtain a live tree with vines for climbing
Placement - Where is your cage located? On a dresser next to a window as to give her natural light and is not in a high traffic area. At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 6 ft
Location - Where are you geographically located? Virginia

 

[skeart]

"Nigelita" finally laid her eggs - from the time she started digging until she finally laid them was roughly from the 9th or 10th of April until the 23rd of April, so about 13 or 14 days. We made some changes to her egg laying bin. We started off with a 10 x 10" black plastic planter. I found a critter tote on clearance at Petsmart which was roughly 14 x 12" filled the bottom with sand and the top with potting soil mixed with sand. Also dug a starter hole for her which she actually used. She had 32 eggs in her clutch.
She seems to be eating fine, it has been a week since she had them. She is eating well, but doesn't have a very blah faded color. I believe that she still may be lacking calcium even though we have been dusting her crickets and giving her a drop or 2 of liquid calcium. I am also going to get her a new UVB bulb as I read in the care guide that even though the light still works, it loses its umph after about 6 mos. Ugh, this kid of mine, worries me more than the ones I have with 2 legs!!

 

[kinyonga]

Glad she laid the eggs! Hope she laid all of them!

Did she fill the hole in and then tamp it down and return to the branches hungry and thirsty? Good number of eggs...not too many.

I never use orange cubes but feed my crickets, roaches, superworms, etc with a wide assortment of greens such as dandelions, collards, endive, kale, escarole, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red peppers, sweet potato, squash, zucchini, etc.

Its not recommended to use lights as a heat source at nights. Unless your temperatures go very low at night its not necessary to heat the cage at all.

Basking temperature for female veiled should be in the low 80'sF and you can use a regular incandescent household bulb to provide the appropriate temperature. This will aid in digestion and also nutrient absorption.

Dusting the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings will help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos. found in most feeder insects.

We also recommend dusting twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues. D3 produced from the exposure to the UVB light you provide for the chameleon will not build up as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it at will.

We also dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources won't build up in the system like prEformed sources will so this leaves it up to you to decide if/when your chameleon needs prEformed vitamin A.

Why do you feel your chameleon lacks calcium?

 

[skeart]

I was thinking due to her blah color and the fact that she had laid eggs (she had 32 in her clutch), perhaps made her a bit weak and would also need the extra calcium. After laying, she did cover her eggs really well and even dug from the other side of the bin to cover them. She climbed onto a limb and seemed back to her skinny self. She seems to be eating fine, but I feel like she has gotten "puffy" again, almost looks like fluid puffiness. In trying to research on the site about edema, I am finding that she is maybe getting too much calcium? We normally put our crickets into a baggy of calcium, shake them around and then give them to her. With the egg laying, we have also been giving her liquid calcium which I feel may not have been necessary. So I am now concerned that I have been overdosing her on calcium. She is also stretching her head up when she eats if that makes sense.

 

[ChameleonSeeker]

Mine was goin to the bottom for about a week now so put her in a layin bin n now she just keeps paising up n down avin a lil scratch n goin back to her bushes I put in layin bin for 3 days now I even dug 3 starter holes to encourage her but just doing the same pacing n scratching n Everytime turn lights off she just goes to the bushes to bed yet clearly has a clutch of eggs that need to come outa her hoping same case as yours n she just taking her time n not eggbound bless her...