Common mistakes made with females

I seem to be getting a lot of the same questions repeated about caring for female panthers. Sounds like there are some common mistakes people make.

Feel free to comment / add anything I missed!

  • over feeding. Just because they may constantly want to eat, doesnt mean they need to eat that much. a fat female will develope more eggs than is good for her and may die young as a result. measure weights. Underfeeding or not providing well rounded nutrition is equally bad - remember that a breeding female has more nutritional demands on her than a non-breeding animal. yolk deposition occurs well before copulation, before she is receptive.
  • too hot. they really dont need to be kept nearly as hot as people seem to think. 80F is PLENTY.
  • inadequate laying bin. The bin should minimally be about a foot across, a foot deep, a foot in height, and the sand in the bin should be at least 10" deep (18" would be even better but deeper than that is unnecessary). And the bin/container itself should be dark in colour, not transparent. Small plant pots are not good enough. The sand should be damp enough you could dig a narrow tunnel with your finger without it collapsing. It should not be wet however.
  • calcium. Really, dont skimp, especially if they are laying eggs. Its far more likely you arent giving enough than you are over-doing plain calcium supplementation for females.
  • space. Seriously, they arent that much smaller than males and they move around just as much if not more than males. Give them a decent size cage, 1-2foot deep, by 2 foot wide and 4 foot high. This allows you to have the laying bin in her normal cage, removing any stress that would be caused by moving her
useful links:
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleo...le-veiled.html
http://www.chromachameleons.com/fema...er-care-sheet/
http://chameleonnews.com/03MarStrand.html
http://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...aying-bin.html
http://chameleonnews.com/03JanKalischNesting.html
http://chameleonnews.com/03JulDonoghue.html

Comments

V
Hi I have a female panther who is a little under 4 months old and around 22 grams. I was just wondering when I should start doing the things you recommend like cutting back on her feeding and lowering the temperature and giving her a laying bin. Thanks
 
sandrachameleon
vydalbabi;bt1330 said:
Hi I have a female panther who is a little under 4 months old and around 22 grams. I was just wondering when I should start doing the things you recommend like cutting back on her feeding and lowering the temperature and giving her a laying bin. Thanks
Click to expand...

She's still got growing to do. Continue to feed her about as much as she can eat within about 5 minutes a couple times a day. Temperature of 80F in basking should be fine.
They dont usually begin producing eggs until after the 6 month of age - and possibly never if you manage her environment carefully. You can keep a laying bin at all times if you cage is big enough, or just put in a small pan of sand for her to scratch in do let you know when she needs a proper bin. In time You get to be familiar with the subtle signs in time and it will be obvious when /if a laying bin is needed. So I leave laying bins in the cages with lids on them (to keep out excess water, poop, bugs) and remove the lids when I know egg time is coming.
 

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