Accidentally gave my girl a too-small laying container :(

[Laisper]

My veiled girl apparently is gravid despite the fact I haven't noticed any drastic change in color. She has recently been very restless, no appetite, and trying to dig in the bottom of her cage. So tonight I went out to the garage to get a 12in by 8in Tupperware container and it cracked when I accidentally dropped it . The next best thing I had is a ceramic 10 inch by 6inch bowl which I filled with soft moist peat and stuck in her cage. She seems to love it because she started digging withing two minutes of looking at it. Only problem is she keeps pushing the dirt out, she is a small girl, her body is only about 5 inches, and this is her first time laying. Will she be okay laying in this bowl?

 

[sharp229]

It is probably too small. You can fill a garbage can with 12 inches of sand/soil and put her in that for a while. But it is important you give her complete privacy.

It is possible she may lay in the smaller container but she may not and she has to be able to lay soon to avoid egg-binding.

 

[Laisper]

It is probably too small. You can fill a garbage can with 12 inches of sand/soil and put her in that for a while. But it is important you give her complete privacy.

It is possible she may lay in the smaller container but she may not and she has to be able to lay soon to avoid egg-binding.

If she ends up not laying in this bowl, she would just stop digging, correct? Then I could swap it out with a much larger bowl that I just found lying around and she would continue digging?

 

[Laisper]

I removed her from the bowl and stuck her in a 5 gallon bucket outside of her cage as it was far too big for her cage. Will she be okay like this? She seems pretty mad lol.

 

[sharp229]

As long as there is no lid and she has enough light and the temperature is reasonable (at least in the 70's) she should be OK but she would need complete privacy.

 

[Laisper]

As long as there is no lid and she has enough light and the temperature is reasonable (at least in the 70's) she should be OK but she would need complete privacy.

She seemed very stressed being out of her cage so I dashed to the store and bough a 2 gallon bucket and stuck it in her cage with her. She no longer seems interested in digging, will she pick back up later?

 

[jannb]

It's possible that since she was interrupted that she might become egg bound. After reaching the age of 4 1/2 to 5 months a female should be provided with a laying bin in her enclosure at all times. Once they start to dig they need complete privacy. If they see you looking at them they can abandon their hole
and become egg bound. Maybe you will be lucky and she will start digging once again. Below is some information about egg laying and the laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/
General care for a female veiled: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[Laisper]

It's possible that since she was interrupted that she might become egg bound. After reaching the age of 4 1/2 to 5 months a female should be provided with a laying bin in her enclosure at all times. Once they start to dig they need complete privacy. If they see you looking at them they can abandon their hole
and become egg bound. Maybe you will be lucky and she will start digging once again. Below is some information about egg laying and the laying bin.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/
General care for a female veiled: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

Thank you for the links. I recently rescued her and the previous owner did not ever have a laying bin in her enclosure. I adopted her two months ago when she was about 8 months old or so and she hadn't displayed any signs until yesterday.