vbriggs06
New Member
Chameleon Info:
* Your Chameleon - Female, Veiled Chameleon, roughly 2 1/2 years old, owned for about 2 years...
* Handling - Not often, maybe twice a week - but she's very comfortable when handled (doesn't get stressed out easily)
* Feeding - Gut Loaded, Dusted Crickets every other day and the occasional butter or wax worm...Although, with her being gravid and all, she does not have any interest in eating at all and I am having a hard time getting her to...
* Supplements - (see above) ...Using ReptiCal and Total Bites...
* Watering - Has a drip system in terrarium, and also receives water through an syringe/eye dropper (occasionally, if I suspect she hasn't been drinking... like now...)
* Fecal Description - Normally, it's good and healthy looking, and regular, nothing to worry about here... now (because she's gravid) it's much less/smaller than usual, but still pretty regular...
* History - She's laid two previous clutches of eggs since I got her and the last one, I counted 62 eggs!! But she had absolutely no problem laying them until now... We've been to see the Vet Several times over the past three weeks, trying different remedies, etc (will expand on this later...)
Cage Info:
* Cage Type - Screen Terrarium, Approximately 2 feet X 2 feet X 4.5 feet
* Lighting - Mega Ray, 100W (UVA, UVB, Heat... all-in-one sorta thing) Her light is on a timer and comes on at 10:00 AM and goes off and 10:00 PM (been this way for as long as Ive had her)
* Temperature - The temperature is pretty steady between 79F and 82F (no lower, no higher)...using a digital ExoTerra thermometer...
* Humidity - Usually at around 60% + ...using a digital ExoTerra Hygrometer...
* Plants - No Live plants in her terrarium, but she does have a Hibiscus that I keep in the backyard (in the summer) and the house (in the winter) that she enjoys supervised climbing on... other than that, just fake terrarium plants, vines, logs, leafs, etc...
* Placement - The cage is in my bedroom (fairly low-traffic), not near a window or any vents or drafts... it sits on a platform with wheels (locked so it doesn't move) that lifts it about 2-3 inches off the ground... not close to the ceiling...
* Location - Ontario, Canada (GTA Area)
Current Problem - I originally took her to the vet about three weeks ago. At the time, she had been carrying what felt like a small amount of eggs for about a week and a half to two weeks. I took her in because I noticed that she was gaining a lot of weight (which I assumed was because she was gravid... I was right...) but also because she started doing this funny thing with her mouth and head - she would put her head back as far as possible, gape her mouth wide open and flail her head around. I thought she might have a respiratory infection or something so I booked an appointment...So, the vet examined her and said that she was actually carrying quite a lot of eggs and she was probably doing the funny head thing because the eggs were positioned awkwardly making it hard for her to breathe, but otherwise was not too much of an issue and I should just massage her belly occasionally to try and help her reposition the eggs.
Then, I noticed a couple of days later when offering her a worm by hand (which she has not problems with), that she came right up to in instead of using her tongue. I told the Vet and she requested that we bring her back in. She said that likely because she hasn't been eating very much because she is gravid she might be a bit deficient in calcium, so she gave her an injection of calcium with saline and gave me a bottle of liquid calcium to giver orally twice, daily. This seemed to help her tongue, though she still has no interest in eating.
Next came the concern that she was not taking water (on her own or from me...) so back to the vet we went and they put a small tube in her mouth and administered water with electrolytes. This helped with dehydration.
So now the major concern is that with all these smaller problems fixed, she is still not laying her eggs and it has now been about 4 and half weeks to 5 weeks. She does dig but I have not found any eggs in her dirt. So, the vet suggested water baths (soak her in warm water to release tension in her muscles and massage her belly to encourage her to push... like a water birth!). I have been doing this now for about a week (oh! also with two more home injections of calcium because the vet thought this would help her muscles to push and cope with the exertion...) but, still no luck!! The vet has been very good about calling for updates and after speaking to them today, they want to see her again because nothing seems to be working.
So! I was wondering if maybe anyone else has had this happen and what you did to help her... I am so worried sick about her and would be devastated if anything bad happened to her... Any advice at all is much appreciated!! Thank you!
* Your Chameleon - Female, Veiled Chameleon, roughly 2 1/2 years old, owned for about 2 years...
* Handling - Not often, maybe twice a week - but she's very comfortable when handled (doesn't get stressed out easily)
* Feeding - Gut Loaded, Dusted Crickets every other day and the occasional butter or wax worm...Although, with her being gravid and all, she does not have any interest in eating at all and I am having a hard time getting her to...
* Supplements - (see above) ...Using ReptiCal and Total Bites...
* Watering - Has a drip system in terrarium, and also receives water through an syringe/eye dropper (occasionally, if I suspect she hasn't been drinking... like now...)
* Fecal Description - Normally, it's good and healthy looking, and regular, nothing to worry about here... now (because she's gravid) it's much less/smaller than usual, but still pretty regular...
* History - She's laid two previous clutches of eggs since I got her and the last one, I counted 62 eggs!! But she had absolutely no problem laying them until now... We've been to see the Vet Several times over the past three weeks, trying different remedies, etc (will expand on this later...)
Cage Info:
* Cage Type - Screen Terrarium, Approximately 2 feet X 2 feet X 4.5 feet
* Lighting - Mega Ray, 100W (UVA, UVB, Heat... all-in-one sorta thing) Her light is on a timer and comes on at 10:00 AM and goes off and 10:00 PM (been this way for as long as Ive had her)
* Temperature - The temperature is pretty steady between 79F and 82F (no lower, no higher)...using a digital ExoTerra thermometer...
* Humidity - Usually at around 60% + ...using a digital ExoTerra Hygrometer...
* Plants - No Live plants in her terrarium, but she does have a Hibiscus that I keep in the backyard (in the summer) and the house (in the winter) that she enjoys supervised climbing on... other than that, just fake terrarium plants, vines, logs, leafs, etc...
* Placement - The cage is in my bedroom (fairly low-traffic), not near a window or any vents or drafts... it sits on a platform with wheels (locked so it doesn't move) that lifts it about 2-3 inches off the ground... not close to the ceiling...
* Location - Ontario, Canada (GTA Area)
Current Problem - I originally took her to the vet about three weeks ago. At the time, she had been carrying what felt like a small amount of eggs for about a week and a half to two weeks. I took her in because I noticed that she was gaining a lot of weight (which I assumed was because she was gravid... I was right...) but also because she started doing this funny thing with her mouth and head - she would put her head back as far as possible, gape her mouth wide open and flail her head around. I thought she might have a respiratory infection or something so I booked an appointment...So, the vet examined her and said that she was actually carrying quite a lot of eggs and she was probably doing the funny head thing because the eggs were positioned awkwardly making it hard for her to breathe, but otherwise was not too much of an issue and I should just massage her belly occasionally to try and help her reposition the eggs.
Then, I noticed a couple of days later when offering her a worm by hand (which she has not problems with), that she came right up to in instead of using her tongue. I told the Vet and she requested that we bring her back in. She said that likely because she hasn't been eating very much because she is gravid she might be a bit deficient in calcium, so she gave her an injection of calcium with saline and gave me a bottle of liquid calcium to giver orally twice, daily. This seemed to help her tongue, though she still has no interest in eating.
Next came the concern that she was not taking water (on her own or from me...) so back to the vet we went and they put a small tube in her mouth and administered water with electrolytes. This helped with dehydration.
So now the major concern is that with all these smaller problems fixed, she is still not laying her eggs and it has now been about 4 and half weeks to 5 weeks. She does dig but I have not found any eggs in her dirt. So, the vet suggested water baths (soak her in warm water to release tension in her muscles and massage her belly to encourage her to push... like a water birth!). I have been doing this now for about a week (oh! also with two more home injections of calcium because the vet thought this would help her muscles to push and cope with the exertion...) but, still no luck!! The vet has been very good about calling for updates and after speaking to them today, they want to see her again because nothing seems to be working.
So! I was wondering if maybe anyone else has had this happen and what you did to help her... I am so worried sick about her and would be devastated if anything bad happened to her... Any advice at all is much appreciated!! Thank you!