Suggestions/advice- Gravid Veiled

[jdog1027]

I posted some pics of a weird looking female Veiled awhile back, several people commented on how 'round' she was and it was suggested by a few that she may be gravid. She had never been bred and she was only about 7 months old at the time I first posted. When I originally posted, she had been fat for at least 4-5 weeks. This has persisted up until this point (9 weeks) and it is obvious now that she is absolutley STUFFED with infertile eggs. A couple of questions: 1) Could a Veiled carry eggs 9WEEKS and survive?
2) Is Oxytocin a safe and/or reliable method of dealing with this? I've hatched 100s of these and I've never had anything like this on this level ever happen. She is more or less my 6 year old sons pet, and if she doesn't make it,... Well let's just say his first Jackson is still in the freezer because he refuses to let go! Any advice or suggestions welcome- Because I'm running out of room in my freezer!
These pics are crappy, but you can see she is uncomfortably gravid. Also, she has been set up in a laying bin for over a week now and she simply ignores the fact she has a foot of moist sand 8 inches below her. She just became this 'obvious' within the last 9-10 days, but shows no typical signs of pacing the bottom of the cage, scratching at the floor- Nothing. Can she be saved???

 

[jannb]

I would recommend a vet visit right away. Do you have a chameleon vet?

 

[jdog1027]

I would recommend a vet visit right away. Do you have a chameleon vet?

The only one I've found qualified is in Birmingham- Dr. Atlas. I've spoke to him on the phone and he seemed very knowlegable. In your honest opinion do you think there is a chance of survival at all? This situation kinda became dire in just a matter of days.

 

[jannb]

I've never seen anything quite like those pictures. If she were mine I'd have a vet X-ray her right away and see what's up.

There's always hope but I wouldn't wait any longer.

 

[Miss Lily]

I have seen pics of 'extremely gravid' females before, but none have looked quite like yours! Poor girl, I would take Jann's advice and get her to the vets as soon as you can. Wether she is gravid or has something else going on, she will most likely be very uncomfortable.

 

[kinyonga]

Generally oxytocin only works around the time that they should lay the eggs....so if you pass those few days it won't work...and if the eggs have grown too big to lay it can be dangerous anyhow.

Normally they lay the eggs after 4 or 5 weeks. If this is the first clutch its hard to say how long she's been producing the eggs, but I would say, just from experience its likely that she is eggbound. A vet should be able to tell how big the eggs are from an xray and he should also be able to spay her. If she is still acting in a healthy fashion, she should be able to be saved if you act quickly.

I always keep a container of playsand in any sexually mature egglaying female's cage so they have somewhere to dig to show you that they need to lay eggs. The container only needs to be 12" x 12" x 8" wide.

 

[jdog1027]

This female is on the small side and to my absolute relief, she dropped 28 eggs tonight. I wouldn't think you could fit this many eggs inside of her- they are like the size of jelly beans. It's been some years since I last hatched eggs and I just don't remember them being this large. I breifly palped her and it doesn't feel like any where retained. I'm so relieved. Miss Lily, Kinyonga, Jannb- Thanks for answering my questions. I wish they had a forum like this 12-13 years ago. This place rocks!

 

[Ace]

thats great news!!

i would still take it to the vet for any remaining eggs and or to spay her

 

[kinyonga]

I'm so glad to here that she dropped them! I wasn't sure that she could/would.
You said she dropped the eggs...so she didn't dig a hole and bury them??

 

[jdog1027]

I'm so glad to here that she dropped them! I wasn't sure that she could/would.
You said she dropped the eggs...so she didn't dig a hole and bury them??

She dug a VERY shallow pit, and was sitting on top of it as opposed to being down a tunnel as usual, then she covered 'em up. Thanks again, and yes Ace, I'm going to get her fixed if it's possible. She is way small. Not a good breeder.

 

[laurie]

Glad that she laid for you, that can sure be stressful for us waiting on them to lay can't it?