Young female possibly producing eggs…help

summerseeking

Avid Member
I’m home alone and awake, so naturally my wheels are spinning 😅. I’ve had my girl Rou for less than a month. She was 5 months when I got her. When I picked her up the breeder disclosed there is a chance she may have been mated with. He puts her in an enclosure with a male panther, similar age, when he cleans her enclosure. I was told she is usually in with him for an hour at a time. I’m worried. Even if he didn’t latch on to her, I’m worried being with him has likely triggered egg production. He said her colors “went receptive”.

She was my first Cham, and tho I did SO much research in preparation I was not prepared for this scenario when I picked her up. I wasn’t sure how to react or what to think. Now that I’ve had a chance to do research and stew I’m worried and could use some advice.

Since she is less than a year old my instinct is to feed her 6-10 medium feeders a day. I’m worried if she is growing eggs this amount of feeding will be harmful for her. I’m also worried if I feed her like an adult female, 3-4 feeders 3 times a week, that won’t be enough protein to support her growth. All of her feeders are gut loaded with squash, collards, carrots, and a few other things. They are also dust 6 days a week calcium, one day d3/multivitamin alternating weeks.

I can’t tell if she is gravid. She is definitely bigger than when I got her but she still growing so she should be. Any advice on how to best help her? Also, she has a 6” deep lay bin in her enclosure all the time. Her enclosure is also bioactive with 6” deep substrate. There is also a chance she isn’t gravid which would be the best case scenario.
 
I’m home alone and awake, so naturally my wheels are spinning 😅. I’ve had my girl Rou for less than a month. She was 5 months when I got her. When I picked her up the breeder disclosed there is a chance she may have been mated with. He puts her in an enclosure with a male panther, similar age, when he cleans her enclosure. I was told she is usually in with him for an hour at a time. I’m worried. Even if he didn’t latch on to her, I’m worried being with him has likely triggered egg production. He said her colors “went receptive”.

She was my first Cham, and tho I did SO much research in preparation I was not prepared for this scenario when I picked her up. I wasn’t sure how to react or what to think. Now that I’ve had a chance to do research and stew I’m worried and could use some advice.

Since she is less than a year old my instinct is to feed her 6-10 medium feeders a day. I’m worried if she is growing eggs this amount of feeding will be harmful for her. I’m also worried if I feed her like an adult female, 3-4 feeders 3 times a week, that won’t be enough protein to support her growth. All of her feeders are gut loaded with squash, collards, carrots, and a few other things. They are also dust 6 days a week calcium, one day d3/multivitamin alternating weeks.

I can’t tell if she is gravid. She is definitely bigger than when I got her but she still growing so she should be. Any advice on how to best help her? Also, she has a 6” deep lay bin in her enclosure all the time. Her enclosure is also bioactive with 6” deep substrate. There is also a chance she isn’t gravid which would be the best case scenario.
This is the dilemma (at least for me) with young females…feed them enough for healthy growth or to decrease egg production. At almost 6 months old, she should be old enough that you can start cutting down on how much you are feeding her. 6-10 feeders daily is a lot. I’m honestly not sure how different lady panthers are from veileds, but I would think she’s old enough that you could/should reduce her feedings to maybe 3-5 feeders daily. Hopefully some others who are experienced with female panthers will weigh in.
 
This may help. This is what my best friend does with all her females combined with temps no hotter then 78. With this they either do not lay at all or produce one small clutch a year.

As she matures you will have to start cutting back her food. By about 6 months she should be getting about 5-8 small feeders each day. At about 7 months you want to slowly reduce by cutting down feeder amounts so that she is on a feeding schedule of 3 days a week with 3 feeders. You want them to be on this schedule by the time they are 9-10 months old.
 
Please post some recent photos of her.
If she's mated then it's going make a difference in who you feed her.
5527BD43-CDDF-4B40-AB99-DBCB87ADA994.jpeg


This is the most recent pic I have of her. It’s from a week ago. I can take more tomorrow. She is sleeping/on her way to sleep.
 
I would ask them how does he know for sure that she's mated with said male. Also, you will want to confirm her hatch date so you can accurately know her age, and ask the person you got her from if he knows how old the male panther she was housed with, during those occasions, is. It is possible she could start producing clutches as early as 4 months old if she's in the presence of an male panther chameleon who's 8+ months old (when males usually sexually mature). I would ask if he saw them breed with his own eyes.

Females will start to explore the lower levels of her cage when she's about ready to lay her eggs. And, when she is full of eggs, you will notice how large her stomach looks, usually. Your girl doesn't look like she's pregnant and she also looks a bit older than 5 months to me but I'm not sure. I use to weigh my female once every couple of weeks to monitor her growth and weight and when she got pregnant she gained an exceptional amount of weight, I think like 40-50 grams if I remember correctly. I recommend you invest in a scale so you can, too.
 
I would ask them how does he know for sure that she's mated with said male. Also, you will want to confirm her hatch date so you can accurately know her age, and ask the person you got her from if he knows how old the male panther she was housed with, during those occasions, is. It is possible she could start producing clutches as early as 4 months old if she's in the presence of an male panther chameleon who's 8+ months old (when males usually sexually mature). I would ask if he saw them breed with his own eyes.

Females will start to explore the lower levels of her cage when she's about ready to lay her eggs. And, when she is full of eggs, you will notice how large her stomach looks, usually. Your girl doesn't look like she's pregnant and she also looks a bit older than 5 months to me but I'm not sure. I use to weigh my female once every couple of weeks to monitor her growth and weight and when she got pregnant she gained an exceptional amount of weight, I think like 40-50 grams if I remember correctly. I recommend you invest in a scale so you can, too.

He said he hatch date is 1/8/21. He didn’t know for sure, just that it was a possibility. He didn’t see them latched. The boy was only 5 months according to the breeder, but he described him as “acting like a horny boy”…which keeps bouncing in my head.

I’m worried she may produce eggs just from being in with him, mated or not.
 
Also, could you fill out the how to ask for help form so we can look at how you're taking care of her? you'll want to make sure your husbandry is correct so that you don't run into any nightmare health problems like an egg bound female.
 
Also, could you fill out the how to ask for help form so we can look at how you're taking care of her? you'll want to make sure your husbandry is correct so that you don't run into any nightmare health problems like an egg bound female.
I’ve done it before and got an all clear. Should I do it again?
 
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