What to do after eggs are laid?

[katlovesaandw]

Ok, Karma spent last Wed/Thurs climbing and pacing all over her cage.
I checked and chances are it meant she was looking to lay eggs.
She isnt bred and age is unknown though we were told about 18 months when we got her 6 months ago but she seems younger than that. If real, she would be about 2 yrs old now.
She hasnt laid eggs for the previous owner and this is our first time dealing with it.
Friday, she totally ignored the lovely laying bucket we have in there... instead chose the big potted plant.
Dug Friday, came up for air at the end of the day. Ate a mealworm for me.
Saturday, dug all day and ended up sleeping right next to pot. Didnt eat.
Sunday morning back at it, was in pot still at Noon when hubby and kids got back from Grandmas.
Came up for air about 4pm on Sunday. I checked pot and hole was filled in.
She ate a couple of mealworms and had some water.
What do I do now?
Anything special I do for her? Let her rest? She looks awful, very tired looking.
Kinda like after a Mom gives birth, ya know.
And, do we dig in the plant and see if she did lay eggs? Remove them? I know they are not fertile and will not hatch so didnt know if we should leave them or what?
This is our first time dealing with this, so I want to make sure she is ok!!
Thanks!!!!

Katrina

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I would dig up the eggs just to be positive that she laid and to have an idea how many she laid. If she laid a large clutch it will give you a good indication that you need to cut back on her amt of feeders and go to an every other day feeding schedule. You can also try raising her basking light a cpl of inches and see how that afffects her clutch size next time. You dont want her laying huge clutches. Try to keep it around 20 or fewer in my opinion to help prolong her life.

Just make sure she gets access to loads of water for the first few days post oviposition. Thats paramount to her recovery, even more so than amount shes eatting. Dont gourge her evn though she'll be starving. Just give her, her normal amount of feeders and let her drink as much as possible. She's dehydrated after all that digging.

 

[katlovesaandw]

Thank you!!!!

This is more stressful than waiting for my own kids to be born!LOL

I was a mess all weekend, despite that she was doing everything text book.

When hubby got home, he kept asking me if it was normal and I said yes. Then stop worrying...... he would say.

I will post what I find.

 

[kinyonga]

I feed mine well for a couple of days after they lay the eggs and then I start to cut them back so they won't produce a large clutch (or will not even produce a clutch). If you wait too long to cut them back it will be too late. Once you know they are producing the eggs you can increase the food a little bit. I keep the females in the low 80's to slow their metabolism a bit so that they won't be so hungry too.

 

[katlovesaandw]

Ummmm, should I be freaking out?

I just dug up the eggs with the help of my boys and we have 60 eggs
They look fine and she seems tired but ok.
How do we get this to slow down and be less in numbers when she does lay because I am pretty sure that 60 eggs at a time will definitely shorten her life.

HELP!

 

[kinyonga]

I explained a bit of it...but this might help...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[katlovesaandw]

Thanks!
We live in Portland where it is cooler, our house is rarely above 74 and in winter never above 70.
Her cage(24 x 24 x 48) is about 80 in the middle, 82-85 on her basking branch and of course cooler at the bottom. It is open mesh. Her lights are off completely at night.
She does eat daily, 1-2 superworms are preferred... though crickets are acceptable on occassion. We dust everything as well as feeding it a diet rich in calcium and vitamins.
She gets an occassional kale or mustard green leaf.
She loves her plants and will munch them as well.
She has a dripper and I mist her several times a day, more if the temps are warm in the house.
So, since her temps seem to be ok... do I cut back on food to every other day then?
Like I said, she is approx. 2 yrs old but age is tech. unknown as we are taking word of person we bought her from. We have had her since early March, had to invest in the proper setup for her as she was in the wrong cage, no calcium in diet, no variation, etc. etc.
The previous owner said no egg laying and she has shown no signs for us until the last few days.

And is 60 eggs a CRAZY number? Should I be worried about her health?

 

[ruru]

my veiled laid around 40- 50 eggs i cant remember the exact number.. just make sure she gets plenty of food w/calcium and water for the next couple days to help her recover, maybe mist a little extra with warm water. i know with my veiled her eyes were really swollen and irritated, so the misting helped, but keep an eye on her for the next week or two just to be on the safe side... here is a link of the whole process of my girl when she laid eggs.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-lovely-little-mess-maker-47821/

 

[katlovesaandw]

Thank you!!!
I will put some extra greens in her cage as well, plus make sure the feeders have lots of fresh food daily to gutload them before they get eaten.
I dust them as well.
I have misted her several times today with warm water. Didnt want to give her system a chill/shock with the cool or lukewarm water.
She is still darker than normal for her, sleeping/resting a lot today and moving a lot slower.
But then again.... if I laid 60 eggs.... I would probably look worse!LOL
She did eat some and is alert and looking around. Was napping or early to bed when hubby got home at 6:30 tonight but she opened her eyes and looked at him when he came to check on her and talk to her.
I just turned off her light and she is moving off to a sleeping branch.
I will be glad when she gets back to her normal Karma self..... this is stressing me out!LOL

 

[ruru]

well it sounds like she is doing great so far! ruru rested for a couple days after without moving much at all. she im sure she will be her happy lighter colors by the end of the week
trust me i know all about the stressing part lol she was my first female, now im crowded with baby boys much less stressfull that way lol

 

[katlovesaandw]

She is our first cham after 15 yrs of wanting one!
She is basically a rescue because we went to check her out(ad on craigslist) and once we saw she was in a plastic cage, solid walls and no venilation, 1 plant, had never been fed calcium, only ate crickets, etc. we knew she was coming home with us.... no way could we leave her in those conditions.
She had to live in that cage for 1 week while her new cage was ordered and shipped.
We want another, probably an amlilobe(sp?) this time but we want a male as hubby wants something with lots of color.

Once Karma went to her sleeping branch last night and was asleep, her colors got nice and calm. No dark, with exception of around her eyes... reminds me of bruises but was still lighter. I am letting her sleep this morning, until she wants to wake up....then I will turn on her lights.

 

[ruru]

that sounds kind of how like ruru was housed .... except she was in a 10 gal no screen lid, no uvb, substrate in the cage etc i got her knowing nothing about chams so i immediately got on this forum and she has been happy ever since when i first got her she was very mean...you would look at her and she would lunge at you, now she is as sweet as can be she will come out of her cage ( i always leave the door open) and make her way over to me at the computer and will sit on my chest for hours lol she is always brighter when i take her out she loves attention unlike most chams.
and if you guys want another i know lancecham has babies for sale on here (classifieds) they are at a great price too they are pure bred but they will be amazingly gorgeous when they get older they are ambilobe ambanja crosses but the are mostly ambilobe they are the cutest little things i got a baby from him a couple weeks ago and he is amazing i love the little guy ....and he is in great health! they will definately have a lot of color when they mature
and im glad to hear your girly is doing good so congrats on your first clutch of eggs

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Your gonna want to reduce the amount of eggs she's producing. 60 is a pretty large number. Im assuming she's a veiled. Your going to want to cut her back to an every other day feeding schedule and monitor her intake of feeders. She can have as much greens as she wants but I'd cut her back to 8-10 crix every other day. (or the equivolent in dubias or silks, etc..) You could also try raising her basking bulb a cpl of inches and see if that reduces her basking temps by a degree or two. All these things combined should help cut the number of eggs shes now producing.

 

[katlovesaandw]

Yes, she is a veiled.
We will raise the light a bit then or lower her branch...whichever is easiest.
She prefers her superworms but will eat crickets on occasion.
Thank you!

And Ruru, we are waiting until tax return time to get our next one. Patiently waiting...... we want to be able to get the setup done correctly, etc. and that is an investment. We do not skimp when it comes to our reptiles or any of our pets, for that matter!LOL
We just got a bearded dragon for my son, so have that expense of setup.
Now that it is Xmas and other son birthday..... we are on hold from acquiring any new reptiles until probably Feb.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Sounds good if you could cut that number in half to say 30 next time around. I think thats a reasonable goal. Then see if you could get her in the twenties eventually. It will def make life so much easier on her. Im trying to cut my female nosy falys' clutches now myself and she laid 34 last time. I want her to be down to around 20-25 max next time around.

 

[katlovesaandw]

I had no clue they laid that many at a time!
I stare at the container with all the eggs in it and then at Karma and wonder HOW all those came out of her and how we didnt see her bulging and bumpy. I checked her last week and didnt see or feel anything crazy.

Any idea on how soon again she will want or need to lay eggs? No male around and not planning on breeding her but I know that once she has started it can and likely will happen again. Just want to get an idea as to how soon.....


I feel crummy tossing those eggs out though.... such a waste. Have to take some pics today before they get tossed.

 

[kinyonga]

It should be about 120 to 135 days until she needs to lay another clutch...but with chameleons nothing is written in stone.

 

[katlovesaandw]

Cool, thanks!
And I know the nothing is written in stone with them!LOL

Just interesting that for her age, she hasnt laid eggs before and now she did it and went CRAZY!LOL

Another crazy question.... will she shed soon, since a lot of times stress will make them shed. And I would say popping out 60 eggs was stressful!

 

[kinyonga]

Controlling the diet and the temperature for veiled females seems to control their reproduction to some extent....so that may be why she didn't lay eggs before. If you are doing things differently, then it would explain why she's producing them now.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

She could feasibly lay another clutch in as short as 6-7 weeks. She prob wont as she hasnt been bred. But I just wanted you to know this so you could keep a laying bin in with her.