When do you think my chameleon is gonna start laying eggs?

[dreamforthedead]

My 5month old yemen has started to get orange/yellow smudges and blue spots on here body, they are hard to see at the mo, only able to see them up close. I'm just wondering is that a sign she's gonna start getting ready to lay eggs?? She's not going to the bottom of her viv or anything. I already have the clay ready in her viv for when she starts laying.

 

[chameleonneeds]

It means she is recepetive and is ready to mate. But that doesnt mean you should breed her. 5 months old is way to young. Just dont feed her as much now and lower the temps of her enclosure to maybe prevent her from even producing an infertile clutch.
If she still does, you will see signs like she is become much larger and picking up weight, and just before laying she should stop eating.

Keep a laying bin in her enclosure from now on, just to be safe.

 

[VeiledOwner87]

CALCIUM is the key if she is gravid. but again, 5 months is just a little too young to be laying eggs. at least i've never heard of them laying eggs that young. ive got a 6 months old and not a sign of gestation yet. my gf's cham is gravid however, and i'm going to strongly disagree with chameleonneeds. she reduced her diet and that messed the whole cycle up, she wasnt getting the proper nuritment, calcium intake, hydration. she is still very healthy might i add, but has been gravid because of this for 3 months or so. we just took her to the vet, and because of this she was slightly calcium difficient ( we caught beginning signs of MBD) and miraculously she isnt egg bound. so we are just being patient and giving her a perfect (homemade) gut load for the crickets, and supplimenting calcium a little bit more (chamelons use alot of calcium in egg creating) i may state, that if you have the time a drop of liquid calcium in the mouth once a day would be more sufficient, being as powder is a little hard to digest and the liquid goes right through them. powder is not bad at all though, just what i stated. and the D3 is very important. a LIGHT dust every or everyother feeding of calcium D3 would do the trick. NO light fixture is sufficient enough, they need that D3. i hope i could help you out, and dont be afraid to message me with any other questions if you'd like i've got a neat little gut load trick for you *whispers* chameleons need fat-soluable for their diet, not all chameleons are old enough for all the fatty bugs.

have a good one, chiao

 

[pssh]

I would suggest that you do not follow the above posters advice on d3 and only giver her d3 a few times a month. While indeed they do need it, too much is just as bad.

If she is not producing eggs and is just receptive, cutting back food to every other day feedings and lowering the basking temp to 80-83 won't cause any problems with eggs right now because there aren't any. It will however make the clutch smaller or non existent(when/if she starts producing a clutch) which is what you want so it will be less stressful on her body.

 

[ghettomike]

most of the info and forums that i have read are right in line with what pssh said. Too much d3 is not good.

 

[kinyonga]

D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to problems...so its best IMHO to only dust with a powder containing D3 lightly a couple of times a month and leave the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB.

For many years I have fed my female veileds less and kept their temperatures just a degree or so lower than the males'. Its my belief that if you don't feed them as much when they are starting to grow the follicles that less follicles will grow and ovulate so the clutches will be smaller and thus the demands for nutrients (for the eggs )taken from the female's body will be less....but you have to look at the whole picture to do it properly. I have had female veileds live to be 6 and even 7+ years old without ever producing a single egg keeping them the way I do...and they are not thin (nor fat) BTW.

Most of the egglaying/binding problems come from poor husbandry...inappropriate temperatures, lack of a place for the female to dig in the cage, bothering the female when she is digging, improper supplementation, insects used as food that have not been properly fed, imbalance in vitamins and minerals, etc.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

When I kept my veileds in the 90's. Not nearly as much was known about decreasing food intake and temps to controlclutch sizes. I fed my female every other day as normal. She never laid an infertile clutch. After she was 1.5 years i bred her. She produced 2 clutches in my care. Both clutches were right around 30 eggs each. I believe as Kinyongia stated most females have problems due to poor husbandry conditions. And due to the demands of reproduction they have a hard time handling poor care.

 

[chameleonneeds]

When I kept my veileds in the 90's. Not nearly as much was known about decreasing food intake and temps to controlclutch sizes. I fed my female every other day as normal. She never laid an infertile clutch. After she was 1.5 years i bred her. She produced 2 clutches in my care. Both clutches were right around 30 eggs each. I believe as Kinyongia stated most females have problems due to poor husbandry conditions. And due to the demands of reproduction they have a hard time handling poor care.

My female is exactly the same as yours, I bred her twice and she laid twice with eggs in the 30`s and she was over 1.5 years. Shes 3 now.

 

[stormi south]

hey everyone my name is stormi and i have a year old chameleon named marryjane so im kinda new to all the odd behaviors of this animal but thus far she is an amazing animal and i love her to death. i hear that they can be some what agressive and other things along thoes lines and the ppl told me not to hold her alot but i did anyways and she loves the attention and even scratches at the front of her cage to come out for a visit which i find odd. i was just wondering if anyone can tell me or give me some quick tips on what to do for her because she just had a clutch of eggs her first one it was about forty to forty five in all. is there any problems i should be looking for or anything in general i should to to help her gain weight faster because it looks like she lost alot of weight. and also it was ok to take the eggs and throw them away wasnt it? they arnt fertilized and i didnt nwant them to spoil in the cage

thanks for all the help i look at this sight all the time for tips and help so i decided to get it straight from the source to my own question
(stormi south)

 

[Cainschams]

CALCIUM is the key if she is gravid. but again, 5 months is just a little too young to be laying eggs. at least i've never heard of them laying eggs that young. ive got a 6 months old and not a sign of gestation yet. my gf's cham is gravid however, and i'm going to strongly disagree with chameleonneeds. she reduced her diet and that messed the whole cycle up, she wasnt getting the proper nuritment, calcium intake, hydration. she is still very healthy might i add, but has been gravid because of this for 3 months or so. we just took her to the vet, and because of this she was slightly calcium difficient ( we caught beginning signs of MBD) and miraculously she isnt egg bound. so we are just being patient and giving her a perfect (homemade) gut load for the crickets, and supplimenting calcium a little bit more (chamelons use alot of calcium in egg creating) i may state, that if you have the time a drop of liquid calcium in the mouth once a day would be more sufficient, being as powder is a little hard to digest and the liquid goes right through them. powder is not bad at all though, just what i stated. and the D3 is very important. a LIGHT dust every or everyother feeding of calcium D3 would do the trick. NO light fixture is sufficient enough, they need that D3. i hope i could help you out, and dont be afraid to message me with any other questions if you'd like i've got a neat little gut load trick for you *whispers* chameleons need fat-soluable for their diet, not all chameleons are old enough for all the fatty bugs.

have a good one, chiao

Seriously

My advice is be careful of the 6 month "experts" spouting out things like this.

Start a new thread in the general discussion forum so more people look at it and again, be careful who you take advice from

 

[jojackson]

Id maintain a healthy well gutloaded and mixed diet, dusted with calcium as usual, ensure oodles of uvb, (natural is better) and continue to monitor your lizards weight.
Nice and steady to regain her pre gravid weight, but dont feed excessively to 'fatten her up' or you'll just end up with another bigger clutch.
You might give an extra dusting of calcium with D3 here and there to build reserves again but dont over do it, and ensure Uvb so that it can be metabolized.
Tossing the eggs is fine.
I recommend regular weighing to monitor weight of individuals, females especially.
This gives you an idea of your animals metabolism and is the best means to judge
its food intake and adjustment as necessary, anything less is sheer guesswork.
Best Wishes