problems with first time Ambj mom

[KCcham]

Hello all!

I have a female Ambanja that is about ready to lay. She was with the male back on December 1st. She stopped eating last Thursday, since then she has been wandering about the cage. She usally stays in 3 different spots, one of them being close to the food cup when she hears me open the door ( she is my best eater). She has not been on the floor of the cage yet, but about everywhere else, which is unusual for her. I have tried placing her in the laying bin everyday since friday, and she has no desire to do anything in there! I am using half sand and half top soil moistened just right so she can tunnel but not so much that it is sopping wet. I have tried to start a hole for her, but she couldnt care less. She has had total privacy as well.

I am a bit worried that she has not eaten for some time, and wont lay yet. How long have you seen a female not eat before she lays? She has a ton of foliage in her cage and I have not been able to find a recent urate from her.

Any suggestions? How long do I wait before we have a vet visit?

She is a year old if I didnt mention that before.

I dont have a digital scale, but she is HUGE now!

Thanks in advance for the help.

Jeffrey

 

[Owl]

Give her drinking water enough.

 

[ChameleonsInMyHouse]

Hello all!

I have a female Ambanja that is about ready to lay. She was with the male back on December 1st. She stopped eating last Thursday, since then she has been wandering about the cage. She usally stays in 3 different spots, one of them being close to the food cup when she hears me open the door ( she is my best eater). She has not been on the floor of the cage yet, but about everywhere else, which is unusual for her. I have tried placing her in the laying bin everyday since friday, and she has no desire to do anything in there! I am using half sand and half top soil moistened just right so she can tunnel but not so much that it is sopping wet. I have tried to start a hole for her, but she couldnt care less. She has had total privacy as well.

I am a bit worried that she has not eaten for some time, and wont lay yet. How long have you seen a female not eat before she lays? She has a ton of foliage in her cage and I have not been able to find a recent urate from her.

Any suggestions? How long do I wait before we have a vet visit?

She is a year old if I didnt mention that before.

I dont have a digital scale, but she is HUGE now!

Thanks in advance for the help.

Jeffrey

i had back-up problems with a female before and it is completely frusturating! you are doing what you should be doing. has she shown any major gravid colouration? females can stop eating a week sometimes two or longer before laying the clutch. what are your temperatures at? they will eventually start digging in their laying bin when they're ready to, all they need is PRIVACY!, not sure what your laying bin is, but try a big garbage can (NEW) and fill it a foot.

if no laying persists, or she starts dropping single eggs randomly in the cage, then take her to the vet, and get one shot of liquid calcium gluconate, and one shot of oxytocin. (oxytocin is only a 50/50 chance of sucess, her percent rate is higher if done right away with good calcium levels, and shot may need to be given more the once, usually 1-3 times)

and yes, always have dripping water offered to her

 

[KCcham]

Thanks for the responses!

She has been drinking during this time.

My laying bin is a huge rubbermaid tub with a foot of the sand/soil mixture.

The temp in the cage is around 78 with a basking spot around 82.

She has been eating crix, roaches, and supers. All gutloaded and dusted properly.

Jeffrey

 

[kinyonga]

You said you were placing her in the laying bin every day...why aren't you leaving her there?? All this moving back and forth IMHO is not good...it doesn't give her time to get settled and decide to dig.

IMHO...the idea is to have a container about 12" deep by 12" x 8" filled with washed playsand in her cage from the time she reaches sexual maturity so that she has a place to dig to show you that/when she is ready to lay the eggs. This way you won't miss the sometimes subtle signs that she is ready. (Some females will lay the eggs in that size container.)

Once she starts to dig intently she can be moved to a larger container...and left there. So IMHO the container has to be something that she can't escape from. I use a 65 liter rubbermaid container. I cut a large hole in the lid and screen it over. I fill the container half full of sand and add a branch. I put the chameleon in there ONCE SHE IS DIGGING INTENTLY...and leave her there. I put the lid on and lay a light on the screen part to keep her warm and let her see. be careful that you don't overheat the container by using too big a light.

Once she is digging don't let her see you watching her...or she may abandon the hole. If she abandons dit often enough, she can become eggbound.

You can feed and water her when she is in the large container as long as you don't leave any uneaten insects in there and as long as you don't do it while she is digging.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

If her cage is large enough and you have her bin in her cage. Then you can try covering the front of the cage with a towel or shower curtain. Ive found just by giving them that sense of security they will lay. After having to do that for my falys first clutch she now will just go lay in her bin without me having to cover the cage any longer.

I use old flower pots for my bins. The free kind your plants come in. They are the perfect size for female panthers and they will fit in most screen cages without having to remove most of the cage furniture and disrupt her. Make sure to give her a way in and out of the pot by way of a vine or branch.

The more changes you make to her enviro the more stress she's going to have and the harder it will make the process on her. Thats why i only remove my females and put them in trash cans as a last resort. If they will lay in their cage its always better for them stress wise.

 

[KCcham]

Thanks so much for all the replies! It looks like I was just jumping the gun a bit she laid 23 eggs early this evening

This is my fifth clutch of eggs, and in the past all my females would lay within an hour or so that's why I took her back out after a few hours. Now i know i should of just left her in . I am also learning to have more patience during this journey

Thanks to everyone here for always coming thru and helping me out!

Jeffrey