Need help with Chameleon who is laying...I think

[ISA my Veiled]

Hey guys!, so my 3-4 month old female Veiled Chameleon(leaning more towards 4) all day has kept walking down to the bottom of her enclosure and sitting there wandering around looking for something. I have done my research so instant in my head something clicked...SHES LAYING?!?! i wasn't really expecting this for about another month or so but I was prepared and I made a egg laying bin for her. I took a large Cricket tote about 8 inches tall by like 6 inches wide (the bucket i was planning to use wouldn't fit) filled with damp top soil nice and moist for burrowing. Now that I put it in there she has only gone in it twice and it seems like she almost doesn't want to go in it. I put a towel over the front of her enclosure and put a stick in the laying bin for her to get in and out as she pleases. What else should I do, I'm worried that is laying but I am also not sure. All day she has had a stress pattern of dark green with lighter green bars which she normally every day is a light green and the occasional dark green when basking... Help! lol Thanks

 

[camimom]

if she does have eggs, it can take them days to lay.

it took my female 3 days before she finally laid her eggs.

 

[AngieL]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

Firstly I think you should give jann's blog a read. I really don't think that your girl will lay in a bin like that as its not big and deep enough. If you don't have room you should try Jann's trash can idea.

Are you sure she's gravid? Has she gained weight?

If she's new then she could just be exploring. My girl did 2-3 rounds of the floor when I first got her but that was it.

Hope this helps!
Angie.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

Firstly I think you should give jann's blog a read. I really don't think that your girl will lay in a bin like that as its not big and deep enough. If you don't have room you should try Jann's trash can idea.

Are you sure she's gravid? Has she gained weight?

If she's new then she could just be exploring. My girl did 2-3 rounds of the floor when I first got her but that was it.

Hope this helps!
Angie.

I havent weighed her at all. All the signs point towards she is ready to lay, I have indeed read the blog before. I just couldn't fit a good sized bin in her Enclosure otherwise i would have used my bucket that I had set out for this moment. But I mean she is only 4 months old, she hasn't showed any gravid patterns like a mated female would. And I have had her almost two months now and she has been in her enclosure a month, I don't think she is exploring but that is a good thought. Thank you for the help though

 

[AngieL]

Some females don't show gravid colours. If her temps are high and she's eating a lot then it's possible at that age. What's the temp at the basking site and how much do you feed?

If she is gravid and not happy with the laying conditions then she won't lay and may become egg bound. If you can possibly sort her out with a bigger bin (like jann's trash can idea) I would highly recommend doing so. They can be fussy about where they lay so it's very important to provide.

 

[carol5208]

I don't think she can have eggs at 3 to 4 months. Are you sure her age is right? That is awfully young...

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Some females don't show gravid colours. If her temps are high and she's eating a lot then it's possible at that age. What's the temp at the basking site and how much do you feed?

If she is gravid and not happy with the laying conditions then she won't lay and may become egg bound. If you can possibly sort her out with a bigger bin (like jann's trash can idea) I would highly recommend doing so. They can be fussy about where they lay so it's very important to provide.

Yeah she just had that pattern I had explained in the post earlier. Her temperature at the basking spot is around 78-80 degrees and she has been eating about 6-8 food items the past 3 days. Mainly crickets with a couple of wax worms and a couple pieces of kale. I can try to get her a larger bin but I have a live ficus in my enclosure and it is difficult to fit anything in there. An yeah being egg bound would not make me a happy camper

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I don't think she can have eggs at 3 to 4 months. Are you sure her age is right? That is awfully young...

Yeah I thought so too that is why I wasn't expecting this at all until about August...

 

[blackened]

Would it be possible to move your ficus into a larger pot with good topsoil and let that double as a lay bin? I've read sometimes they like to dig around the roots of a plant.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Would it be possible to move your ficus into a larger pot with good topsoil and let that double as a lay bin? I've read sometimes they like to dig around the roots of a plant.

I was contemplating that earlier but I don't have any pots and i doubt with the size of my tiny door to my enclosure it will fit lol....home architecture... a beauty lol

 

[AngieL]

You can temporarily 'modify' her enclosure or move her to a different one just for laying. I hear a lot of people move their females to an enclosure just for laying and also of people that place the laying bin outside the enclosure with easy access for the female to get to it (if you do it this way you will likely have to leave her alone for privacy).

 

[ISA my Veiled]

You can temporarily 'modify' her enclosure or move her to a different one just for laying. I hear a lot of people move their females to an enclosure just for laying and also of people that place the laying bin outside the enclosure with easy access for the female to get to it (if you do it this way you will likely have to leave her alone for privacy).

The thing about that is I do not want her to escape and go around the basement lol she is in my room and my girlfriend i doubt would want to have that open, Is there anyway i could do it to where she wouldn't be able to escape, I don't want to get into her privacy while laying but I don't want her to get lost. I was also going to ask if I ddid the garbage can idea, Would it be good enough to just set her into it outside of her enclosure? just use a thing of sticks to get her up to her enclosure when she is finished?

 

[carol5208]

There was someone on here who had a 4 month old that laid eggs but I don't that is very common at that age. 3 months, I never heard of.

 

[AngieL]

The thing about that is I do not want her to escape and go around the basement lol she is in my room and my girlfriend i doubt would want to have that open, Is there anyway i could do it to where she wouldn't be able to escape, I don't want to get into her privacy while laying but I don't want her to get lost. I was also going to ask if I ddid the garbage can idea, Would it be good enough to just set her into it outside of her enclosure? just use a thing of sticks to get her up to her enclosure when she is finished?

Lol! They can be wiley

Yes it's ok to just put her in the can. You should go to jann's page and look at her pictures of the trash can bin. You can set lights up above it and place a branch or something in it too.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

these are some current pictures of her at the moment

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Lol! They can be wiley

Yes it's ok to just put her in the can. You should go to jann's page and look at her pictures of the trash can bin. You can set lights up above it and place a branch or something in it too.

I may do that then, just because I have a thing i can set the bucket on next to her enclosure but just fyi idk if female chameleons do this when they are about to lay, but she is normally very sweet and nice, never hisses or tries to nip at me WHATSOEVER but today she is being a nasty be-snotch. Everyday I hand feed her and today she would have none of it lol so idk if that sounds right to you guys

 

[jannb]

From the pictures I'm not sure that she had eggs. She might just be exploring. They can have eggs as early as 4 months if you over feed and keep them too warm. There's an excellent link in my blog on How To Raise a Female Chameleon by Lynda Horgan. I'd highly recommend you read that.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

From the pictures I'm not sure that she had eggs. She might just be exploring. They can have eggs as early as 4 months if you over feed and keep them too warm. There's an excellent link in my blog on How To Raise a Female Chameleon by Lynda Horgan. I'd highly recommend you read that.

Thank you very much for getting back to me, I appreciate it. My thing is though she almost never does that, she'll go around the ficus around bed time and find a place to nestle and sleep but never to this extent, that is why I was thinking that she may be laying.

 

[jannb]

Thank you very much for getting back to me, I appreciate it. My thing is though she almost never does that, she'll go around the ficus around bed time and find a place to nestle and sleep but never to this extent, that is why I was thinking that she may be laying.

The only for sure way to know if she has eggs it to have the vet do and Xray.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

The only for sure way to know if she has eggs it to have the vet do and Xray.

Yeah I suppose, I will see if she does it for the next couple of days then I will put her in a bucket if she keeps on and just let her sit in there and do her thing i suppose.