Urgent questions!!

[Abrahamdelacy]

Hello! I have a female veiled chameleon who is about 2 and a half to 3 years old. She seems to lay eggs more than normal. She lays them about every three months. She has had trouble with every clutch she has laid. I've had to take her out, give her a warm bath, rehydrate her, and rub her tummy to try to get them to move down and out almost every time. Her laying bin is a foot deep. Right now she is in a smaller cage than she should be until I can build a custom cage for her. She is eating normally and I dust with calcium almost every feeding, Calcium plus D3 once every two weeks, and Multivitamins every two weeks. Since she seems to be getting egg bound to at least some degree every time she lays and she lays so often I was wondering if spaying her would be the best option to keep her healthy. I would prefer a natural solution and I heard that mineral oil could help her to lay the eggs, but I haven't really found any info. to support this claim online. Your help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[camimom]

How much do you feed and what are your basking temps?

By reducing food, and reducing temps, you can limit her egg production.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

I feed 8 to 10 crickets every other day, and her basking temp is around 85. She doesn't have a light, but she is right next to a window and my room is actually a back porch with a portable AC unit. It never drops below 80 during the day in my room as I live in FL where it is a bazillion degrees constantly.

 

[camimom]

She has no lights on her?

How do you provide UVB?

try reducing food to 3-6 bugs every other day to every two days, then reduce her temps to around 84, no higher.

im betting being by a window the temps are higher.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

Oh! No she has a UVB light on her. It's one of those long ones not the coil bulbs. As the coil bulbs irritated her eyes. The temps probably are higher. Do you think moving her inside would be better for her? The temps would be easier to control. I plan on building her a cage that is 2 ft by 2ft by 4ft tall. What wattage bulb would be appropriate to use for that sized enclosure to keep the temp at 84?

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

Sorry, I meant no heat light.

 

[camimom]

in regards to the wattage, youll have to just play with a few different ones to see what gets the temps you want.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

Alrighty. Thanks so much for your help! Do you know anything about the mineral oil being used to help with egg laying? Could I try giving her a few drops of that when she is about to lay to help her or would it do more harm than good?

 

[camimom]

ive never heard of it being used for egg laying.

ive heard of it being used for constipation and impaction though.

i would make sure she gets plenty of water and calcium during egg time though.

if it becomes serious with her egg laying, you could always have her spayed.

 

[kinyonga]

It's normal for an unmated veiled female to lay eggs every 120 to 130 days.
I've been able to slow and even stop the egg production by controlling the food and the temperatures..but you have to start right after she lays eggs and not everyone seems to be able to do it.

In the meantime you need to get her through another egglaying....or spay her.

IMHO mineral oil would not help to move the eggs down the reproductive system. I'm not a vet so I can't be 100% sure...but it doesn't make sense to me.

How many eggs has she laid each time?
Did she bury all of them each time? Explain how you thought she was close to eggbinding each time please.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

Okay. Good to know. Thanks again! I am going to purchase a drip system ASAP so she will always have water available and won't have to wait to be misted (She haaaattteeessss being misted lol)

 

[camimom]

Okay. Good to know. Thanks again! I am going to purchase a drip system ASAP so she will always have water available and won't have to wait to be misted (She haaaattteeessss being misted lol)

Honestly, if you go to work during normal business hours, like 8 am to 6 pm, id suggest an auto mist system.

mist king or aqua zamp are the best ones.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

I'm not sure about the amount as I haven't counted them every time. Her first clutch was a good size, though probably a good 10 eggs maybe even up to 15. She digs a hole all the way down to the bottom of her laying bin and usually keeps digging there for a while even if she has reached the bottom. She tends to gravitate towards the corners of the box. And yes she has always buried them completely. Usually she her eyes get sunken in, she turns a dark color, sits in the box (but doesn't dig or digs a small hole and backs up into it and just lays there for days like that), sometimes she gets a little pale (though still dark) and lethargic at times as well. She doesn't get lethargic every time, but her activity does usually slow considerably. She eats normally throughout this time, though. She becomes more active and goes directly for the crickets when I put them in. There's only been once where she hasn't, but by the morning they were gone so she ate them just not right away.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

I have thought about an auto mist system, but I am hesitant to use one because she hates being misted soooo much. Misting seems to stress her out a lot. She puffs up and hisses usually. I don't want to stress her out by getting her all wet like that so I figured a drip system would be a good compromise. If you think an auto misting system would be better for her and outweigh the bad of her getting stressed then I will definitely get one. How much do they usually go for?

 

[kinyonga]

The main thing about all of what you said that bothers me is the sunken eyes. The lethargy isn't good either depending on when she's doing it and how much.

 

[camimom]

I have thought about an auto mist system, but I am hesitant to use one because she hates being misted soooo much. Misting seems to stress her out a lot. She puffs up and hisses usually. I don't want to stress her out by getting her all wet like that so I figured a drip system would be a good compromise. If you think an auto misting system would be better for her and outweigh the bad of her getting stressed then I will definitely get one. How much do they usually go for?

if shes only laying 10-20 eggs, you got it good.

I kept my female on the diet I said, and she laid 38 her first, and 37 her second.

you can set the misters so they only spray a certain area of the cage, shell learn where to go for water.

they all hate misting at first. lol.

the basic mist king runs 90 or 99 bucks. basically 100. lol.
I paid more for mine, but I got the one that runs more, the ultimate set up, cuz I run a lot of cages.

its totally the best money you can spend on your cham.

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

That's what bothers me so much too. Every time I see her eyes are sunken in I take her out and rehydrate her. She will drink right from my hand. Her eyes are usually fine during the day and seem to get more sunken in at night. I check her like a million times a day to make sure her eyes aren't sunken in and I mist her at least 2 times a day, but most of the time 3 to 4 times a day. These problems only seem to occur when she gets ready to lay eggs. That is why I was wondering if spaying her would be the best option to keep her happy and healthy and under the least amount of stress possible.

 

[camimom]

That's what bothers me so much too. Every time I see her eyes are sunken in I take her out and rehydrate her. She will drink right from my hand. Her eyes are usually fine during the day and seem to get more sunken in at night. I check her like a million times a day to make sure her eyes aren't sunken in and I mist her at least 2 times a day, but most of the time 3 to 4 times a day. These problems only seem to occur when she gets ready to lay eggs. That is why I was wondering if spaying her would be the best option to keep her happy and healthy and under the least amount of stress possible.

what color are the urates?

 

[Abrahamdelacy]

Wow! That is a lot of eggs!!! I had no idea they usually lay that many. Do you think there is a possibility that she isn't getting all of the eggs out and that is why she seems to be laying them constantly? And okay I will definitely look into getting one of those. I think it would work better with the bigger cage than the small one she is in now because she can avoid getting wet if she chooses.

 

[camimom]

Wow! That is a lot of eggs!!! I had no idea they usually lay that many. Do you think there is a possibility that she isn't getting all of the eggs out and that is why she seems to be laying them constantly? And okay I will definitely look into getting one of those. I think it would work better with the bigger cage than the small one she is in now because she can avoid getting wet if she chooses.

if she didn't lay all her eggs each time, shed have been dead of egg binding by now.

veileds lay large clutches. some can lay over 50 eggs, even a 100 if the are allowed to eat how they want.