Only laid 20 eggs...

Freedom1

Member
I have an almost 3 year old female veiled chameleon. I noticed about a month ago that she was starting to develop eggs again, so I put in a laying bin. It was about 75% playsand and 25% organic soil just moist enough to hold a tunnel. She has laid eggs 3-4 times before. Each time I have been trying to lower her clutch sizes and make them less frequent by lowering basking spot and feeding less. She used to lay up to 40-60 eggs, but in her last clutch (last October) she only laid 31 eggs. Today she started to dig and then about 3-4 hours later was on her perch again with the hole filled. Except this time she only laid 20 eggs. Should I be concerned that she might still have some left? Do some females lay clutch sizes this small? She definitely looks skinner and she's been acting pretty normal. I sprayed her right after with warm water to rinse off the sand, and I let her drink for awhile. I then fed her heavily dusted cockroaches with calcium (without D3). I am just concerned with the fact that her clutch size is so small this time...
 
I’d keep a close eye on her and at the first sign of a problem take her to the vet and make sure they X-ray or do an ultrasound.
Is there anything that I should be looking out for in particular? Do you think it's possible that she just happened to lay a clutch this small?
 
You asked..."Do some females lay clutch sizes this small?"...some of them can be stopped completely. It's all a matter of temperature and the "diet". Keep the basking temperature at 80F and feed only 4 or 5 crickets 2 to 3 times a week. Make sure the rest of the husbandry is right. When they produce no eggs they can live 7 years easily.
 
It's absolutely possible to have a clutch that small, and as mentioned it's due to diet and temperatures. I have a 3 1/2 year old female veiled (from JannB, so great bloodlines), and she's been in my care about 2 1/2 years. In her entire life she's laid 1 clutch of infertile eggs, and there were 21. Truly, it's a goal to have them produce as few or no eggs as possible to prolong their life and keep them healthier.
 
Just out of curiosity, when they skip laying eggs, do they still show all their signs? Like their receptive colors and restlessness.
 
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