She's finally digging!

[cambech]

I was beginning to get worried. I knew she was gravid but she had no interest in her laying bin. She dropped 3 eggs on the floor of her cage two days ago, so i gave her until today and i was going to the vet for sure and as if she knew.... she's now digging as we speak. Oh....and it's an infertile clutch. Her first and she's 2 years old. Is that weird?

 

[kinyonga]

Its not weird that her first clutch is being laid at 2 years of age. With female veileds, if you control the diet and the temperature they may never produce a clutch.

Don't let her see you watching her while she is digging. She will likely abandon the hole and if it happens often enough, she could end up eggbound. She should dig the hole to her satisfaction, turn around butt down and lay the eggs (often in the evening), fill the hole in and tamp it down and return to her branches. Even though its an infertile clutch I would recommend digging up the eggs so you can count them.

Good luck!

 

[cambech]

She's filling the hole in

I probably should have specified to begin with but she's a panther chameleon. She spent all night laying apparently. She's filling in the hole as we speak. I have had many vields in the past lay many clutches for me. However, this is my first panther clutch. I just thought it weird that she waited this long to lay her first clutch.

 

[cambech]

13 eggs????

Weird number right....Counting the 3 she dropped on the cage floor the other day i only found a total of 13. so she buried 10 that i dug up. I felt this to be little on the light side so i put the laying bin back in her cage. Maybe i'm not feeding her enough or just the right amount depending on how you look at it I guess.

 

[kinyonga]

How much are you feeding her? What's the basking temperature?

 

[cambech]

How much are you feeding her? What's the basking temperature?

I feed her about 6-8 large crickets every other day. She usually eats 6 or so and then is finished. So she usally goes through about 24 to 30 large crickets per week. I don't starve her that i know of. On a feeding day I allow her to have her fill for about 15 minutes. Then on in between days i usually offer up a couple of superworms or hornworms, but she doesn't always eat them. Her basking temp ranges from 80 to 85. It's a 60 watt house bulb.

 

[kinyonga]

I was just asking so I could see if that amount of eggs sounded reasonable...and I think it does. IMHO that's a good number of eggs for a female to produce and live a long life. (Food and temperature affect the size of the clutch to some extent.)

 

[cambech]

Thanks

I was just asking so I could see if that amount of eggs sounded reasonable...and I think it does. IMHO that's a good number of eggs for a female to produce and live a long life. (Food and temperature affect the size of the clutch to some extent.)

I hope that's the case and she's not holding out on me....kind of worried as that seemed to be far less than what i was expecting. Going to have to keep a close eye on her. Should she actually be egg bound or start to act funny...is there a fix for that? Could the vet help?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

If your really worried you can try and palpate her abdomen to see if she reatained any eggs. But if you dont know what your doing its a crap shoot as to whether you will know what your feeling. If she dropped them yesterday then she should immediately starting today regain her appettite and start basking normally. If she doesnt do those things and is still acting strange then you've prob got a problem. If not I wouldnt worry about it. Jmpo

 

[cambech]

If your really worried you can try and palpate her abdomen to see if she reatained any eggs. But if you dont know what your doing its a crap shoot as to whether you will know what your feeling. If she dropped them yesterday then she should immediately starting today regain her appettite and start basking normally. If she doesnt do those things and is still acting strange then you've prob got a problem. If not I wouldnt worry about it. Jmpo

Well, i think it's all ok then. She has her appetite back, as she just ate 6 crix like they were cake, and has been basking like normal.