Ready to breed
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Olimpia
Biologist & Ecologist
How old is she now?
Veiled chameleon females reach sexual maturity at about 6-7 months of age but it's recommended to keep them from breeding until they are at least a year old. This way they are utilizing calcium and nutrients to finish growing themselves before they have to make a clutch of fertile eggs. Also, a larger female will have less risks carrying many eggs than a female that might still be small.
Veiled chameleon females reach sexual maturity at about 6-7 months of age but it's recommended to keep them from breeding until they are at least a year old. This way they are utilizing calcium and nutrients to finish growing themselves before they have to make a clutch of fertile eggs. Also, a larger female will have less risks carrying many eggs than a female that might still be small.
Way too young! She needs to be at least a year old for the reasons Olimpia said.
Olimpia
Biologist & Ecologist
They aren't the same though. The number of females that die from egg-laying complications who have access to adequate laying bins in a private area of the home and have been well taken care of is probably minimal. Where we see issues is from people who didn't know they had females so they didn't have any laying bins, the females didn't get the proper supplements/diet, the owners kept interrupting them, or the female was just generally in poor condition. But if you have half a brain you can easily avoid these issues and have happy, healthy girls, in my opinion, who will lay 99% of the time without help or issues.
Also, infertile eggs are not well calcified (which is why they're yellow) so it takes less from a female to make a batch of infertiles vs. a batch of fertile eggs. This is why you really have to be diligent with calcium (and perhaps extra calcium) when your female has been bred.
Here's a really good blog about what you can do to keep her from potentially laying ANY eggs at all until you want to breed her at a safe age: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
Trust us, breeding her at 5-6 months so she lays fertile eggs is just going to hurt you in the long run. We don't have a secret agenda or anything, we just know from experience that waiting to breed a girl will get you stronger, healthier babies and a better-off mom!
Also, infertile eggs are not well calcified (which is why they're yellow) so it takes less from a female to make a batch of infertiles vs. a batch of fertile eggs. This is why you really have to be diligent with calcium (and perhaps extra calcium) when your female has been bred.
Here's a really good blog about what you can do to keep her from potentially laying ANY eggs at all until you want to breed her at a safe age: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
Trust us, breeding her at 5-6 months so she lays fertile eggs is just going to hurt you in the long run. We don't have a secret agenda or anything, we just know from experience that waiting to breed a girl will get you stronger, healthier babies and a better-off mom!
pssh
Avid Member
Like said above, you should wait until she is older to breed her, and attempt to prevent her from laying eggs through diet and temperature control. She doesn't even have the yellow spots that females get when they reach sexual maturity yet, so she definitely shouldn't be bred (and might not even be able to produce eggs yet.)
