Possible Gravid W/C Female

[Scott85]

On Friday I recieved a female Nosy Faly Panther chameleon. She was wild caught and imported near the end of December. When I picked her up I noticed she had some swelling on her front toes. We went straight to the vet from the airport to check on the toes and get a preliminary physical exam. Some old shed was taken from the toes and sent to be cultured incase of infection down the line. I washed and swabed daily them with silvadene Friday when I got home.

Down to the bussiness... When I first saw her she was very dark, almost black. First I attributed it to the trip in the cold, but combined with her size I'm thinking she is gravid. The vet agreed, however neither of us could feel any eggs. Her abdomen is very plump and at times what looks like eggs can be seen on her sides.

I was hoping to get some advice from people who have dealt with newly imported females. Is there anything I should do extra to get her comfortable to lay? And if she does lay any suggestions at what temp to incubate them at?

I would post pics, but as she's only been in her enclosure for 3 days now. And given the circumstances, I have been leaving her alone.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

She may be making eggs at the moment. If in fact she is gravid and the eggs are fertile, because she is wild caught and may have been mate din the wild, you will have some very nice babies. Female chameleons are known for making eggs by themself but they wont be fertile

 

[james L]

Alot of very gentle care is needed. Is she eating? Acting normal? Crawling around the bottom of the cage? If you think shes gravid make sure to have something for her to lay in the second shes ready. A 5gal bucket will not due for a wc, get something large like a garbage can.

 

[Scott85]

Crickets dont last more than 2 seconds in her cage. I've never seen a cham eat like this. Ive been trying not to overfeed her tho. 2-3 large food items daily. Nothing on the line of nesting activiy yet. She spends alot of her time close to the water and her basking light. I do have a garbage can in the other room. I have a smaller bin of sand in her cage for her now.

 

[Julirs]

Crickets dont last more than 2 seconds in her cage. I've never seen a cham eat like this. Ive been trying not to overfeed her tho. 2-3 large food items daily. Nothing on the line of nesting activiy yet. She spends alot of her time close to the water and her basking light. I do have a garbage can in the other room. I have a smaller bin of sand in her cage for her now.

What does close to the water mean?

 

[Scott85]

The drip bottle that is probably no more than 5-6 inches from the middles of the dome light.

 

[Rocky]

We had a few gravid females imported to us and they require a lot of care. What does she look like? She should be starting to show eggs (would look like a bag of marbles). You can also get a vet to xray to make sure.

I would put a laying bin in there for her that you can hide with plenty of foliage and then wrap the sides so she cant see out. Then just try to peak in every now and then and see what she is doing. You should be able to search laying bins here to find what would work best for you. I would put a branch or vine down in it so she can climb in and out of it freely.

Can you post any pics of her?

 

[Vegas Chad]

Lots of water and lots of food are the first order of business with any WC panther. Silk/Horn worms are #1 food in this case and I always have a large order waiting before I get any new WC. Females often come in gravid because they are housed in large cages before shipment and depending on when you got her, she may have been after. A trip to the vet was spot on too, if no eggs are to be felt (which if your vet checked and I would hope he knows what to feel for) then leave her in her cage and continue to acclimate her, however leave a laying bucket in the cage just in case. If she hangs around the bottom of the cage, stops eating and gets the full o jelly bean look then put her into the cage/trash can where she will have no other place to go than a few sticks or dig her tunnel.

WC’s coming in looking very dark/ugly is normal... A few people have threads on here documenting the transformation of a fresh WC to a nice healthy pet. Rocky got a decent looking Ambanja from me last year (I think?), he took GREAT care of it and today it is an awesome looking chameleon. One that I wish I would have kept for sure! =)

Point being... Be patient with her; give her lots of TLC and space.

 

[kinyonga]

I would have thought that if she was imported near the end of December she would have laid eggs by now if she was gravid when she came in since its about 6 weeks?

 

[Scott85]

This is what I have her in for now and a few pics of her.
The one of her in the dead tree is the one I had recieved from the importer, about a week ago. Thanks for all the advise, Ill be ordering up some hornworms for her tonight. And she has a garbage can set and waiting in the other room.