Carrying eggs or just fat?

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Ok but that is her job. As long as you have provided the correct husbandry and correct lay bin and material then she will take care of the rest.

Oh. Okay!

 

[cammythechameleon4]

-what is her age
Got a letter in the mail from a petshop that sparked this concern because it was a birthday letter, but I wasn't told her age when I purchased her so I had estimated about 6 months 1 month prior to getting the anniversary letter but my estimate could be wildly off

-do you have a laying bin
Yes with play sand and also a pothos with a small amount of organic soil and fertilizer, but mostly wet/washed playsand and packed for her to dig

-has she showed colors that go along with being gravid such as mostly black with bright colors like blue or yellow?
Overall when she isn't being handled or bothered she is light green or normal colors, she has had a little bit of dark patterning but I'm like 90% sure it's because I just removed a large tree from her enclosure to make room for the new lay bin.

However I have caught her climbing around at the bottom of her enclosure, it could be related to trying to lay eggs but I think she believes she can pass through a small gap in a cardboard screen I have placed between 2 cages to block viewing of another chameleon, which I'm planning to correct momentarily because I just caught her doing it/trying to push her way through the mesh to get through the space under the cardboard.

I personally don't think she is ready to lay yet but she may be producing eggs.


-what and how much do you feed her and how often
Crickets or mealworms or super mealworms, wax worms, or hornworms she is still small so I feed her daily when she doesn't have food left in the bowl.

I feed according to the size of the insect and also with crickets take into account that she wont catch all of them/some die I usually put extra in there so sometimes she gets a lot sometimes a little, I dust all of them with calcium daily and multivitamin every other sunday/twice a month.

Whenever I buy new feeders I try to pick up a variety of insects to keep their diet as diverse as possible, but my primary feeders are crickets and mealworms.

She has had 2 super mealworms in her dish for a couple of days and seems to be tapering off her eating.

Couple of questions if she may be preparing to lay is, should she be handled or bothered at all right now, and is it necessary to cover the cage right away or how do you know when the right time to cover their cage is?

How long after covering their cage (if necessary at all) does it usually take for them to start laying?

ok so the first thing is for food i would not feed worms daily. hornworms and wax worms as a treat- no meal worms. super worms occasionally. if she goes in the laying bin and is digging i’d cover her cage. during this time don’t feed her or handle her, give her complete privacy. if you have an automatic mister or whatever let it go off as usual and offer her water. i would watch Neptune The Chameleon laying video and supplement video she has very informative videos and i get so sucked into those videos i’ve watched so many of them. i hope i could be to some help

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

ok so the first thing is for food i would not feed worms daily. hornworms and wax worms as a treat- no meal worms. super worms occasionally. if she goes in the laying bin and is digging i’d cover her cage. during this time don’t feed her or handle her, give her complete privacy. if you have an automatic mister or whatever let it go off as usual and offer her water. i would watch Neptune The Chameleon laying video and supplement video she has very informative videos and i get so sucked into those videos i’ve watched so many of them. i hope i could be to some help

Thank you, I'll taper off on feeds as beman suggested as well, only a few times a week, I'll stick to only crickets then and no mealworms offered at all.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

I feel like something is wrong with her today. Idk if it's the play sand I chose or what but she keeps avoiding the shoe bin the sand is in. Like she keeps doing this rotation in her cage from top to bottom, bottom to top, and so on and so forth. She will walk on the sand briefly then go to a stick that is in the sand and walk back up to the top.

She is also showing colors I've never seen her show before, she is showing light stripes along with dark stripes and her standard green hues with a little blue on her head, it's really beautiful but it's concerning because it is NOT typical for her.

Additionally she has been roaming outside of the shoe bin and her plant pots and has been walking around on the screen at the bottom of her cage and has been wandering into a crevice that is between the shoe bin and the cage itself, so she is wedging herself in there then wedging herself out.

Like she went from being really happy with her enclosure to absolutely hating it and is wandering on the bottom and also walking around on the screen. It seems as though she is experiencing some form of discomfort and I'm not sure where to start.

Do you think it could be the wrong material for her to lay in?

 

[Beman]

I feel like something is wrong with her today. Idk if it's the play sand I chose or what but she keeps avoiding the shoe bin the sand is in. Like she keeps doing this rotation in her cage from top to bottom, bottom to top, and so on and so forth. She will walk on the sand briefly then go to a stick that is in the sand and walk back up to the top.

She is also showing colors I've never seen her show before, she is showing light stripes along with dark stripes and her standard green hues with a little blue on her head, it's really beautiful but it's concerning because it is NOT typical for her.

Additionally she has been roaming outside of the shoe bin and her plant pots and has been walking around on the screen at the bottom of her cage and has been wandering into a crevice that is between the shoe bin and the cage itself, so she is wedging herself in there then wedging herself out.

Like she went from being really happy with her enclosure to absolutely hating it and is wandering on the bottom and also walking around on the screen. It seems as though she is experiencing some form of discomfort and I'm not sure where to start.

Do you think it could be the wrong material for her to lay in?

post pics of the entire enclosure so we can see exactly how everything is positioned. And without removing her from the cage take pics of her coloration.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

post pics of the entire enclosure so we can see exactly how everything is positioned. And without removing her from the cage take pics of her coloration.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Currently making her rounds from the top back to the bottom it seems

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

 

[aleagueofherown]

She definitely needs more privacy for that lay bin.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Now looking to the bottom of her cage like she wants to go down there, she walked from that side screen across the bin.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Moved everything around for more privacy

 

[aleagueofherown]

Do you have a way to create more privacy for her (ie covering a portion of her cage with a sheet, or something else that won't inhibit the ventilation too much? If she is ready to lay, but doesn't feel comfortable enough to lay the full clutch (or any of the clutch), you'll be in for an issue.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Placed a black fitted sheet over that opened up area on the left side so she feels safe

 

[MissSkittles]

If she’s very restless, she’s probably receptive. That usually predates laying by at least a few weeks. My ladies always look a bit chunky in the belly even though they aren’t near laying and aren’t overweight.
As has been said, as long as your husbandry is correct, nature will happen all on it’s own and your lady shouldn’t have any issues laying. I absolutely understand the anxiety of having lady chams though. Your lay bin looks fine btw. They do like to lay their clutch against plant roots or the side of the bin.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

If she’s very restless, she’s probably receptive. That usually predates laying by at least a few weeks. My ladies always look a bit chunky in the belly even though they aren’t near laying and aren’t overweight.
As has been said, as long as your husbandry is correct, nature will happen all on it’s own and your lady shouldn’t have any issues laying. I absolutely understand the anxiety of having lady chams though. Your lay bin looks fine btw. They do like to lay their clutch against plant roots or the side of the bin.

I think aleagueofherown brings up a fantastic point, that lay bin is wayyy too open up front, I immediately knew what to fix and where to place everything in her enclosure, as you can see that sheet should cover up any exposed areas so she feels safe but I'll keep monitoring her. Thank you.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

If needed I plan on covering the whole thing again. I uncovered it again today for a few hours to monitor her behavior because I noticed she hasn't been laying, and the few times I peered past the blankets I could just tell something was off. So I pulled them off this morning again to monitor and that's why I came here for help after noticing these things. Ive replaced the colored and patterned blankets I was using with that black fitted sheet so hopefully if she was stressed from the blanket colors/patterns that should help too. Thanks again for the help and advice.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

She seems to be exploring the bin at least, we'll see.

 

[aleagueofherown]

@MissSkittles for sure knows - that's who I went to about Ivy (who I suspect is in the beginning stages of receptive). I wouldn't leave the sheet up all the time, as you want to make sure there's circulation so you avoid respiratory issues. But looks much better already having moved the lay bin to the rear!

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

@MissSkittles for sure knows - that's who I went to about Ivy (who I suspect is in the beginning stages of receptive). I wouldn't leave the sheet up all the time, as you want to make sure there's circulation so you avoid respiratory issues. But looks much better already having moved the lay bin to the rear!

It's a super thin sheet, I took a picture of her basking through it. She seems alright now, still a little dark but calmer. Probably stressed because I just rotated her whole setup around, but seems okay, I'll post here if anything more concerning presents itself, and will remove the sheet periodically to keep airflow good in spite of the sheet being thin.