C.calyptratus maximum gestation time

[NS exotics]

I am curious to know the maximum time until gravid female lays her eggs? So please post your details here.

I have a female which was bred with a male 45-50 days ago. The copulation lasted 7 minutes and after that they were separated. She is fat but I doubt she is gravid,cose she didn't even dig anywhere. She has box filled with moist playsand and some plants where she could try. She is having some bulges above legs in some positions but she had that when she has some excessive fat which is stored there, so I am not sure she has the eggs. When I try to palpate her belly there it is soft, so I suppose those are fat reserves. What do you guys think? Is there any chance that she won't lay the eggs although she has place where she could?

Thanks in advance!

Hope to hear some advices.

 

[reyesjoshuacruz]

i dont know the maximum but when i was breeding veiled i didnt start introducing a lay site untill they would show signs of restless ness, pacing around the cage, not eating or drinking as much ect.... i dont think she needs a vet yet.

tell us a little more about her care, setups, supps, lighting, feeders, schedule ect...

 

[Lancecham]

30 days to 45 days is common depending on the temperature. At this stage, you should definitely be able to feel the eggs.

 

[NS exotics]

Well, I know that I should fell them, but I am confused about that, cose she is eating and behaving as usual, but she is fat or gravid...anyway her enclosure is 70x70x100cm and has mesh on 2 sides front side glass "doors" and UV tube and spot lamp. There are no problems with her cage or feeding, cose I have 30 more lizards, but I don't have experience with this...

Should I be worried if she isn't digging and looking for lay site till now? I mean could she carry the eggs more then usual even she has everything needed for laying? As far as I know they would always look restlessly for laying site if they are about to lay, right?

 

[NS exotics]

I thought that here I will get some serious explanations and some participation, cose I know that you have some very experienced members, but this is the second or third time I don't get any replies. I am curious is that due to inactive exp.members or something else? If there is similar topic please direct me there,cose I can't find it.

 

[Julirs]

Sometimes post get missed-sorry about that.

Are you sure she is gravid? Sometimes they will have something like a "false pregnancy"-did she show gravid colors? If she is still and has been eating, and maybe you are feeding her more since you thought she could be gravid-she may just be fat. My female did the same thing at her last mating around the 4th of July-no eggs yet!

 

[NS exotics]

Probably it is like you said, I just wanted to check weather it is possible or not and what can be the reason for that? Can they just resorb the eggs before they are tottaly formed and calcified? Or they just don't want to make them now, this time of the year or what? Can you tell me something about that?

So could she make some fertile eggs after some more time from this mating or she should be bred again? I know they can retain sperm, but can they make viable eggs after more then usual 20-40 days?

P.s. I know that some posts are missed, but why always mine Hope to have more people discussing some more serious topics like these, then those like "is my setup ok", "what should I feed my cham", "can I give him this bug" and so on...if you understand me... no intention to blame anyone for those, but those topics are stupid and boring most of the time, all of them are already said and answered before.

 

[mcghee26]

Although I am not the most experienced person on this site I will add my 2 cents from my experience. I just had my female veiled lay eggs a few weeks ago. My first question is are you sure she is gravid? You said they mated for 7 minutes and then were seperated? Did she reject the male after the 7 minutes? My chams mated for probably about 3-4 hours and then my female rejected the male and I knew they were done. Also a couple days later she turned the classic gravid colors. She laid her eggs approx. 40 days after mating. She didn't bury the eggs though but just laid them on top of the soil. She was very fat and you could see the eggs through her skin of her belly. I don't know what your cham looks like to even see if she might be gravid or just fat. I would think by now though she would have laid her eggs. Hopefully this helps you out.

 

[Susan James]

I thought that here I will get some serious explanations and some participation, cose I know that you have some very experienced members, but this is the second or third time I don't get any replies. I am curious is that due to inactive exp.members or something else? If there is similar topic please direct me there,cose I can't find it.

It's not an exact science, and every chameleon is different. I have seen as long as a five month gestation with calyptratus (first time egglayer). And there is always the possibility that your female is not gravid. If you are truly intent on producing calyptratus babies, I would suggest that you attempt to breed her again.

Susan James

 

[NS exotics]

Thanks for your replies. Would she show her gravid colors even without male introduced again? Do you think on those black and yellow colors or? Any pictures of your female while she was gravid would be great.

I thought on mating her again soon. I will send the picture later so you can see how she looks like. There is one mistery for me : if the female is gravid, would the eggs be visible even when she is walking down the branch? I mean when she is "sitting" on a branch with her back part of body leaning down you can see she is fat or gravid, but when she walks she becomes very thin, as usual, and nothing is visible, no eggs, so my question is could those eggs move somehow and not be seen in some positions?

 

[NS exotics]

Ok, here are some poor quality pictures for you to judge is she pregnant or not. I tried to palpate her belly gently and I think I can feel some of the eggs but I am really confused so I am not sure. Those lumps above rear leggs are not firm and hard really, but I don't know if the eggs are already firm and hardened inside them or a bit soft until they harden outside after laying?

 

[Julirs]

My guess would be no-she looks very well fed though-many females have that lump right over their back legs-mine has it all the time, gravid or not. Pretty and healthy girl you have there!

 

[NS exotics]

That's also my thought. Can you explain me how could I be sure that I am feeling the eggs not something else?

So it is possible for her to lay some fertile eggs in future even without another mating? Just curious...so they can retain sperm for more then a month and lay then?

Thanks for you assistance Julirs.

 

[mcghee26]

imho I don't think she looks gravid, I think she is well fed and looks very healthy but from what I have seen she is not big enough to be gravid.

 

[NS exotics]

I did have a visit of a friend today, he is a vet and has some experience with animals and egg palpation and so on...he thinks she has one or a few more eggs with her left...is that possible that she resorbed some of the eggs and some are not yet resorbed or will never be resorbed? I can easily feel one hard "thing" on one side of her belly, which I couldn't feel before as I can remember, so is there any chance that she is carrying only few unresorbed eggs? Could she lay only few that left which are not resorbed yet or something similar?

 

[kinyonga]

From the middle picture, I think she is carrying quite a few eggs. I just hope that she lays them.

 

[Susan James]

From the middle picture, I think she is carrying quite a few eggs. I just hope that she lays them.

Sorry for the delay, we've been up for 48 hours trying to rescue chameleons. From the middle picture, she definitely appears to have eggs and her coloration suggests gravid conditions. I agree with Kinyonga Lynda (a new species of cham haha Lynda). I would not put her through the stress of an additional breeding attempt until you know, maybe it is a good idea to let her be. Sometimes the eggs do not calcify until the very end of gestation, so poking and prodding will not yield results that eggs are present. Sometimes eggs will show up if an xray is taken, almost certain to show with an ultrasound.

Make sure that your lovely female has access to an egglaying area now. If you have already posted about your egglaying site for her I am sorry that I have missed it. And please leave her alone if she does decide to start digging.

Susan James

 

[NS exotics]

She has an egg-laying bin filled with moist sand 20+ cm deep and more wide then that. She can dig inside and can go inside across the branch. I am just worried if she doesn't want to lay for some reason, how could I know that? She will lost appetite and become stunned? She is eating normally but is now on a strict diet anyway. 50+ days passed after mating and she didn't became restless ot something. I did cover 2 sides of her enclosure with something so she is not disturbed, but anyway she is in separate room with rest of the lizards. If I understood correctly they will lay wherever they can if they need to, right? I mean if she has the bin with moist sand she will try to lay there for sure if she is ready and it can take this long?

Thanks for all the input!