veiled not laying eggs :( help needed

[jojothefirst]

Hi,
I have a female veiled that was mated 30 days ago and looks like she is ready to lay her eggs.
She is about 8-9 months old and is very big (can see shape of the eggs by her back legs.)
She seems really restless and wants to come out of her viv onto my hand all the time which she normally only does when she wants food. So I have offered her food but she doesn’t want them!
I have a large plastic container (about 9inchs deep) in her viv ready for her to use and my wife said she was digging in it earlier today but has since stopped.

I’m just wondering if everything seems normal at the moment, I have read stories of them becoming egg-bound which is the last thing I want for her as she’s so friendly.

Would it be normal to start digging then stop?

I have read that they do stop eating before they lay so not to worried about that.

please help!!

 

[Julirs]

She may dig several test holes over several days until she is satisfied and lays. I would make sure she cannot see you or she may abandon the holes. I cover all sides of the cages with towels when my females are ready to lay.

 

[Miss Lily]

Lily didn't eat for about a week before she laid. She also kept on digging around for a few days before settling on one place and digging for England! When Lily was at the point that you could see and feel the eggs she was about a week away from laying.

 

[jojothefirst]

She may dig several test holes over several days until she is satisfied and lays. I would make sure she cannot see you or she may abandon the holes. I cover all sides of the cages with towels when my females are ready to lay.

Thanks for replying.
Do you think she might abandon the holes when she notices me even though shes super friendly and seems to like coming out?

Also what is the minuimum depth the container should for her to be able to lay her eggs?

 

[kinyonga]

Yes..she is still likely to abandon the hole when she sees you even though she's friendly.

The minimum container depth for digging in would be about 8 to10"....and the container should be opaque.

 

[Miss Lily]

Yes, you need to make sure she can't see you looking! Lily was as friendly as your girl, but I didn't take any chances and always covered the front of the cage while she was digging and laying. In fact she sounds just like Lily - wanting to come out rather than eat!

 

[jojothefirst]

just an up date, shes been digging for the last 3 days in the same spot without laying....!
Should I start to worry yet or does this still seem normal.
shes still very active and doesnt seem stressed just restless.

 

[jojothefirst]

please help

 

[beeze]

I don't think this is normal. My girl dug her hole and laid her eggs within 24 hours. I would call the vet.

 

[FL Chams]

Make sure the substrate is moist enough. You don't want it soaking wet, but wet enough that it doesn't collapse on her when she tunnels. A lot of times they won't want to lay if the substrate is too dry. Also what substrate are you using?

 

[jojothefirst]

Make sure the substrate is moist enough. You don't want it soaking wet, but wet enough that it doesn't collapse on her when she tunnels. A lot of times they won't want to lay if the substrate is too dry. Also what substrate are you using?

Partly the moss like bedding stuff reptile shops recommend (forget the name) and partly play sand.
It hasnt caved in on her at all, shes managed to dig right underneath to the poind that you cant se her in there!!!
I think someone said there cham took a week after digging to lay, should I wait that long or not chance it?

 

[gad58y]

Partly the moss like bedding stuff reptile shops recommend (forget the name) and partly play sand.
It hasnt caved in on her at all, shes managed to dig right underneath to the poind that you cant se her in there!!!
I think someone said there cham took a week after digging to lay, should I wait that long or not chance it?

i use a mix of playsand/eco-earth and find that,as long as its damp enough its fine for them to dig a tunnel without colapsing

graeme

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Make sure the substrate is moist enough. You don't want it soaking wet, but wet enough that it doesn't collapse on her when she tunnels. A lot of times they won't want to lay if the substrate is too dry. Also what substrate are you using?

This has happened to us with 2 different females. In each case, once I moistened the soil more the female dug and laid her eggs. The soil was initially moist, just not moist enough, and both girls dug for days before laying in the moister soil.

 

[jojothefirst]

i use a mix of playsand/eco-earth and find that,as long as its damp enough its fine for them to dig a tunnel without colapsing

graeme

Think that might be the stuff I got and it def damp enough to dig right under.

Someone said there cham took a week after digging to lay, should I wait that long or not chance that she might get eggbound?

 

[kinyonga]

I just had a veiled female lay eggs and it took her almost a week of digging before she got the hole "right" (in her opinion) to lay them in. Just make sure she doesn't see you watching her when she is digging. If she stops digging, then I would be concerned...or digs the hole, sits in it bum down, fills it in but hasn't laid the eggs....or if she starts to show signs of not being well.

 

[jojothefirst]

I just had a veiled female lay eggs and it took her almost a week of digging before she got the hole "right" (in her opinion) to lay them in. Just make sure she doesn't see you watching her when she is digging. If she stops digging, then I would be concerned...or digs the hole, sits in it bum down, fills it in but hasn't laid the eggs....or if she starts to show signs of not being well.

Awsome, thats reassuring, shes still active and doesnt look stressed so think shes ok atm.
Thanks for your help.

 

[jojackson]

If she stops digging, then I would be concerned

Kinyonga, can she actually 'switch off' and abort the process and retain the eggs?
Is that a mechanism to preserve her eggs? and if she dosent 'feel comfortable'? (thinks theres a predator about) and cant lay elsewhere, she becomes eggbound?

Ive heard it claimed veiled females can, if disturbed while digging the nest, keep digging holes, refusing food and refusing to lay her eggs, and subsequently dies of distocia as a result without surgical intervention. Sensitivity of gravid female veilds was the main reason I chose a male.

Whats the main difficulty people can expect with gravid females in this context? how do you avoid it? I assume being aware and able to ascertain if theres an issue at all without disturbing her. But lots of folk must accidently disturb their female if it starts digging suddnly? Then if there is an issue you have to disturb her to find out anyway? or to deal with it? but how to determin , how much of an issue she makes of the disturbance before you interfer and make it worse?

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."Kinyonga, can she actually 'switch off' and abort the process and retain the eggs?"...they can't "switch off" and abort the process of needing to lay the eggs in my experience once they are digging.

You said..."Is that a mechanism to preserve her eggs? and if she dosent 'feel comfortable'? (thinks theres a predator about) and cant lay elsewhere, she becomes eggbound?"....if you mean abandoning the hole...IMHO they abandon the digging temporarily if they see you watching them while they are digging because they "feel" its an unsafe place to lay them...but when I said I would be concerned if she stops digging, its because that would mean that she is likely getting past the time when she is able to lay the eggs.

You said..."Ive heard it claimed veiled females can, if disturbed while digging the nest, keep digging holes, refusing food and refusing to lay her eggs, and subsequently dies of distocia as a result without surgical intervention"...in my experience what often happens it they are disturbed too often is that they just quit digging and don't lay the eggs and are eggbound. Sometimes a chameleon will dig even when she can't lay the eggs and then fill in the hole as though she had a "phantom" egglaying. She will then proceed to eggbinding. This is part of the reason I always dig up the eggs even when they are infertile...to make sure the female actually laid eggs.

You said..."Whats the main difficulty people can expect with gravid females in this context? how do you avoid it? I assume being aware and able to ascertain if theres an issue at all without disturbing her. But lots of folk must accidently disturb their female if it starts digging suddnly? Then if there is an issue you have to disturb her to find out anyway? or to deal with it? but how to determin , how much of an issue she makes of the disturbance before you interfer and make it worse?"...I hope I can answer this clearly enough. If you happen to disturb the female once and she stops digging then, she will usually dig again later. If you disturb her too often and she has to repeatedly abandon the/a hole, then it can result in dystocia. If you need to do anything in her cage where the female will see me while she is in the egglaying/digging/etc. "mode" I only do those things when the female is not digging and back up in the branches.

 

[CMantis]

It has been several years since I have bred Veileds. However I used to use a vermiculite/sand mixture and a 5 gallon bucket. It may be that the container isn't deep enough for her.

 

[jojothefirst]

just been out and got another block of eco earth and a bigger glass tank so hopefully that will be deep enough for her.