pregnant female?? !!!!!!!!help!!!!!!!!

[bradders]

hi, i belive my veiled cham is female because she has no spurs on her back feet, recently she has bin getting fatter and now she has 2 lumps forming by her tail, shes pregnant isn't she ? if so could someone send me sum good info on what to do, i have a good idea of what to do from a care sheet but this is the first female that i have had, so all info is welcome
cheers bradders

 

[chameleonneeds]

How old is she?
Pics will help to.

 

[adam1v]

yes, post pics.
If she is a female, then you ought to have a large ice-cream sized tub of sand or peat at the bottom of the cage, pack it quite firmly so it wont collapse on her, but not too hard.

Another good indication is that she'll spend more time on the ground searching for a good place to dig and bury her eggs.

We placed a large tub on the ground for our cham, but she chose to ignore and dig down inside one of the potted plants (actually done alot of digging right to the bottom).

 

[Brad Ramsey]

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[adam1v]

from brad's website:

When the female is getting ready to lay she will often go off food and will become restless, spending more time near the bottom of her enclosure and frequently pacing it's edges. At this point the female should be placed in a laying bin, in a private area with minimal disturbances. A five gallon bucket filled 1/3 of the way with a 50/50 mix of sand and peat moss for gardening works well as a laying site. This mixture should be mixed with water and compacted so that it is moist enough to hold the formation of a tunnel but not wet. When placed in the container a female, that is ready to lay and finds the laying mixture of adequate moisture, should soon start to dig a hole to lay her eggs.

A female can take quite a while to lay her eggs, and will occasionally dig test holes before settling on a hole in which to lay her clutch. Once the female has laid her clutch, she should be removed from the laying container and gently palpated to make sure the entire clutch has been deposited. Extra care should then be taken with the female to ensure she is able to re-hydrate, and that she has access to nutritious food so that she can regain her strength.

I personally disagree with taking them out of their 'home' and placing them inside a bin, as long as you leave her with suffice places to dig and bury her eggs, she will be less stressed in her cage.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

There is definitely more than one school of thought concerning how to provide a gravid female with adequate laying accommodations.
Honestly, I have allowed mine to lay in her enclosure, but I end up removing the plants and putting a huge can of dirt in there ... so I'm not sure this is any less stressful.
In my experience, greater success has been achieved with a round container (like a small trash can) over a square or rectangular shaped one.
In the square container, they seem to have trouble tunneling and end up excavating all the medium from one side to the other. In the can she has no trouble tunneling along the side.

-Brad