?'s on female and eggs

[chamel1]

Hi I need some advise. We just bought a female from our breeder and she said that the female maybe prego well it has been about a month and the female stopped eating so i called the breeder and she said that is a sign he is going to lay her eggs so asap i put her in the laying bin and she has now been in there for amost a week. She has dug two holes but nothing she mostly just hangs out on the branch i put in there for her. I am just wondering how do i know for sure she is pregnant? I have read that you can feel there belly but i am scared to touch her belly because i dont know what i am feeling for and i dont want to hurt eggs if they are there do to my inexperience. She has been a pink or purple color lately and i didnt know if that is a sign of something. I know that pink can mean they are ready to breed... I did read it can take a while for them to lay eggs but i am scared she will become egg bound and die so i am looking for something to help me figure this all out. Any advise would be great and i will continue searching my self. Thanks in advance.

Also one other ? if she does lay eggs i dont know what to put in the incubator. I have read vermiculite but i can not find it and when i called home depot they said that they no longer sell it because it has espestice and that just does not sound very good to be laying eggs in... I did read about peralite (i think that is what it is called) but i went to buy some and it was like white crystal things and i was not sure it that was the right stuff. So also any advise on what to buy or where to buy it. Thanks

 

[kinyonga]

Did she see you watching her when she was digging the holes?
Can you post a photo please?
Was/is there anywhere to dig in the cage?

 

[Lancecham]

You can tell if she is gravid by gently feeling for the eggs. You are feeling for something like a string of pearls on a necklace. The eggs are pretty distinct compared to the chams body organs.
What info do you have on the female? How old? etc. Why did the breeder think she may be gravid?
Pictures of her would help.
I just picked up some vermiculite at Lowes.

 

[chamel1]

I saw her dig the first one but i dont think she saw me her head was in the hole. The second time i did not see her do it but i knew she did it because she did not fill it in. It was in the same location as the first one. She is in her laying bin so she has plenty of room to lay and i have been monitoring the soil to make sure it is wet enough for her to dig and it not collapse.

The female is i believe about two years she has breed before. The breeder said she was gravid because she had recently put her in with another male. She told us to watch her to see if she would lay any eggs in about a month about that time was when i noticed her not eating so i called the breeder and she said that was a sign she was going to lay eggs so she has been in her laying bin ever since.

These are the only pics i can get to work right now.

 

[chamel1]

does anyone else have any opinions or advise. People on this forum will respond a ton when some one talks about their eggs hatching but are to busy to offer advise....

 

[kinyonga]

Does she ever change her background colors to dark?
She looks chubby enough to be carrying eggs. If she was digging holes but isn't now, that bothers me...makes me wonder if she is becoming eggbound. How many days is it since she dug the last hole?

 

[chamel1]

Yeah she does get a dark pruple color. I would say the last time she dug a hole was around last friday or saturday. Why wont she lay the eggs am i doing something wrong?

 

[Dean Pulcini]

You should be able to see the eggs through the skin they look like little lumps. Do you have a male? She might not be laying because she cant if that's the case she must go to a vet to induce egg deposition by administering drugs or by surgery.

 

[chamel1]

I dont see eggs through her skin.. Yes i do have a male...

 

[kinyonga]

I don't know why she hasn't laid the eggs...need more information before I could even hazard a guess...but generally if they dig and then stop and don't go back to digging in a day or two, they are heading towards eggbinding and need to see a vet.

 

[chamel1]

why would she start to dig and then stop? Is it because i am doing something wrong or because she just cant lay the eggs?

 

[kinyonga]

Eggbinding can occur for a number of reasons...improper husbandry (lacking the nutrients needed to produce and lay the eggs), lack of a suitable place for the female to lay the eggs, being watched so that she repeatedly abandons the hole feeling its an unsafe place to lay the eggs, physical problems (fused/deformed eggs, eggs that are too big to lay, reproductive system issues, etc.).

The thing is that if she is not going to dig and not going to lay the eggs you don't have much time to take her to the vet to have the problem solved before she crashes and dies.

 

[tkilgour]

so much information can make your paranoid I am sure. Id say if she was digging holes and stopped and has not gone back you may have an egg binding problem. When they begin to dig it is important for them to have total privacy. If they feel unsafe they can suddenly stop and then you have problems. A vet can administer drugs to help.

 

[tkilgour]

I know you hate the idea of taking a chameleon or pocket pet to the Vet. As we all know Vet. clinics are out totally for money and really could care less of our animals, it is just the check at the end they care of. However, find a trust worthy vet, stick w/ them and build a trusting relationship and hopefully, they will not try to rob your wallet. You never know you may even make a new friend who's occupation happens to be a Vet. for small animals, and he will begin lowering costs. Thats how it worked for me. Good luck!

 

[chamel1]

Well i have been watching her very closely to see how her health is and she has started eating and drinking normally so last of this moring i put her back in her normal cage because she has not dug anymore holes and she looks and acts normal so i am starting to think she was not even pregnant. I will watch her and if in the next few months everything is good i will breed her with our new male Firewalker Jr. i know he can make some great looking babies.