Veiled chameleon laid 12 eggs only

[Amal]

Hello,
I am new to chemeleons .. I have had my veiled female chameleon for about 3 months now and she is in great health.. I noticed signs that she needs to lay eggs so I researched it and put her in the sandbox and she started digging right away.. I put her in a room where she can't be disturbed.. I checked on her in the next morning she was closing the tunnel perfectly and then a hour later I checked again and she was trying to come up again... I took the sand and checked it and there were 12 nice white eggs at the very bottom of the sand..i looked for more but there weren't any..so my questions are:
1) Could there be more eggs that she did not lay?
2) Is 12 a normal number or is it too little?
3) should I provide her with the sand again just to make sure?
4) why did she fix the sand so nicely and straight if she was not done?

I am so worried and need to know as soon as possible.

Thanks for your help.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. I believe a female veiled would have more than 12 eggs. I would put the laying bin back in ASAP. How is she acting? At the first sign of illness I would take her to a vet that knows chameleons.

 

[Amal]

Thank you .. I learnt a lot from this forum

I put back the sand box in the cage, but she did not come down at all... She is staying at the top of the cage and is drinking water more than usual ( which is expected).. Her color also is more beautiful after laying the eggs and is showing nice patterns of yellow and green shades.

I thought about taking her to the vet just to make sure she has no more eggs, but I found out there are no vets that know about Chameleons here in the city where I live (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia)

I will leave the sand in there and keep observing.

 

[camimom]

if you still want to seea vet,

try one with bird experience.

but honestly, any vet who can take and read an x ray can help you.

thats all the vet will do.

take an xray of the belly area, and see if there are any lumps in her.

 

[Olimpia]

Have you tried palpating her at all? Try to feel her lower abdomen gently with a thumb and a finger and see if you can feel any small, round shapes. If she does have a few eggs left you should be able to feel them easily.

But from everything that you are describing it sounds as if she is done. Does she look thin? It's possible that if you are keeping her feeding restricted that she wouldn't lay as many eggs. I know panthers tend to lay fewer eggs than veiled chameleons generally but with diet restrictions mine has laid clutches of 23, 12, and 9 respectively.

 

[Amal]

Thanks a lot Camimom, if I notice any signs that she is sick, I will take her.

Olimpia, thanks for the advice. We just tried palpating her as you described and we cannot feel any eggs.. She does not look VERY thin to me but She's never been thinner since we got her..
She started climbing around the cage again but not staying on the floor or on the sand.. But she is still spending most of her time under the lamp on the top branch.. I really hope that she is done and that she's Ok!