Claudia Is Full of Eggs

[carbyville]

Claudia spent most of her time in the bin today trying to climb out without success. I took her out a little earlier when I noticed that when I kept checking the camera. Now she's back in her cage, walking around (haven't noticed her at the bottom of the cage scratching at all either -- she mainly stays up top).

 

[jannb]

You said..."Do I just leave her in there and leave her to it or should I take her out of there at some point and put her back into her cage? I feel so bad leaving her in there, but I'm not really sure what else to do"....what I have always done is to put an opaque container of washed playsand at least 12" deep by 12" by 8" in the cage. This gives the chameleon a place to dig to show you when she needs to lay eggs. She could lay them in this container or she could be moved to the large bin. Once she is in the large bin I don't put her back in the cage until she's done laying as a rule.

Here's how the laying should go...the female may start to dig several holes in one or more days but should finally settle on one and dig it until she is happy with it. She should then turn around and lay the eggs. Usually this happens in the evening. Do not let her see you watching her while she is digging. It can make her abandon the hole and if it happens often enough it can lead to eggbinding and death.

Once she is done laying the eggs she will fill in the hole and tamp it down and return to the branches hungry and thirsty. It may happen in a short time or it might take all night.

You asked...."Is it possible she's not ready to lay the eggs yet?"...yes.
I can't see the xrays clearly. If the eggs are oval then it shouldn't be long before she lays the eggs.

Hope all goes well!

Lynda (kinyonga) is a very wise and experienced keeper with more than 25 years of experience. I have learned so much from her. Moving Claudia around so much is probably not a good thing. I don't use cages so that's why I have had to put my girls in a big trash can bin. Since she is caged a laying bin in the enclosure is a really good idea. I would also be careful not to overfeed. I feed my adults three times a week and only two or three feeders, depending on the size, to my girls. It will make it harder for her to lay it's she's too fat.

 

[carbyville]

Alright, thanks to the advice here I changed things up a bit. I went out and hunted down a bin that was the perfect size for both Claudia's cage and a laying bin. Put some dirt in there, a few sticks so she can climb in and out, and moved the camera to the top of her cage. It's now covered with some towels and I'll look in on her through the camera only. She's in her cage now until these eggs are out.

 

[kinyonga]

Soil might work but I use a washed playsand produced by Kings....moistened just enough to hold a tunnel.

Thanks for the compliments Jann.

 

[carbyville]

I have the soil mixed with play sand, but I didn't want to go with straight play sand again since the last time I did that all she did was eat it all day long. She doesn't seem to be as interested in eating the soil/sand mixture, thankfully.

 

[carbyville]

I tried to enhance the xray a little so it could be a little easier to see, and I uploaded it full size as well. I'm not sure. Sometimes when I look at it, the eggs still look round. Other times, they look oval. What does everyone think? They said she would not stay still for anything when they were doing the xray, so that's the best they were able to do. It confirmed eggs, which is what I needed to know, but now I'm trying to decide if they're eggs that are ready, or eggs that need a little more time.

http://s10.postimg.org/dcgc4qg7t/IMG_1487.jpg

 

[kinyonga]

They look oval to me.

 

[carbyville]

Okay, so the next question is, when do I make another vet appointment if she hasn't laid the eggs? The xray was taken on Thursday.

 

[carbyville]

Sorry if I'm being really annoying with this. It's my anxiety disorders talking, which oddly enough was a reason I got Claudia in the first place. To help with the anxiety/panic disorders lol. Irony.

Anyway, I'm thinking about going and getting more play sand to mix with the potting soil tomorrow. The soil feel very cold to the touch. I wouldn't want to dig in there either.

 

[kinyonga]

Don't know when she should see the vet again. If she starts going down hill get her there right away. It's a catch 22 situation....disturbing her to take her to the vet can be bad but so can leaving her too long without going. Wish I had a definite answer for you.

 

[carbyville]

Thank you. I really appreciate all of your help. I changed out her medium again. Went with straight, washed and sifted play sand. I started a tunnel for her and placed her in it but she crawled right back out. I've now got towels covering her cage and the camera on and I'm leaving her alone from this point forward to see what happens =\

 

[carbyville]

I was in contact with the vet. She said it could take some time before she's ready and to keep doing what I'm doing. She also gave me a prescription for some extra calcium since her eating is hit or miss. Yesterday she weighed in at 98g, a drop from the 101g she was, so I'm not sure what's going on.

 

[carbyville]

Still waiting. Still watching. Nothing happening. But she's doing wonderfully otherwise. Drinking, eating (just a couple dubias every other day is what I've decided to do), and taking her liquid calcium like a champ. My patience is really being tested here. I used to think I had the patience of a saint, but I'm not so sure anymore haha.

 

[carbyville]

I have a funny story to share in this ongoing egg-watch saga. Earlier today I was out running some errands and my phone dinged to let me know that the camera set on Claudia's cage had picked up activity in the laying box. Excitedly, I opened up the camera app and checked in only to see a huge pile of poop in the middle of the lay box. So what the camera had actually detected wasn't Claudia in the box but rather the poop falling into it

 

[jannb]

That's funny!

How long has Claudia had those eggs now?

 

[carbyville]

It's been about 3.5 weeks since her vet appointment and the xray to confirm the eggs. She's up to 114g, so I think it might be soon.

 

[carbyville]

This is her just a few minutes ago. I had her out to weigh her and give her some free time (she's down to 112g now), but here's another reason that I think it might be egg time soon. She's been showing, what looks to me like, gravid colors on and off the last few days. It's not constant, sometimes I see her hanging out on a branch just her normal green color, but other times she's got this crazy coloring going on, which looks a lot like what I've seen other gravid veilds look like.

She's still hanging out on this little tree, and the colors have calmed down some but those robins egg blue spots are still pretty vibrant.

 

[carbyville]

I do believe it's just about egg time. She has been increasingly restless the last couple of days and incredibly, incredibly restless today, climbing all over the screen of the cage, even the top portion, moving around a lot, and checking out the laying bin.

She is still eating, though. Four Dubias today, all eaten quickly and with great fervor. Do all lady chams go off of food before laying eggs?

 

[jannb]

I do believe it's just about egg time. She has been increasingly restless the last couple of days and incredibly, incredibly restless today, climbing all over the screen of the cage, even the top portion, moving around a lot, and checking out the laying bin.

She is still eating, though. Four Dubias today, all eaten quickly and with great fervor. Do all lady chams go off of food before laying eggs?

Most of my girls would eat right up to laying however I didn't feed very often or very much. I only feed my adults 3 times a week and my females never got but two or three feeders at the time depending on the size. A couple would slack off and when one had fertile eggs she stopped eating a day or two before laying.

 

[carbyville]

I have a solid update for everyone. Just got home from the vet and, while she does still have eggs, she is in wonderful health and the eggs have lessened considerably. The vet thinks she's either secretly laying or reabsorbing (which I hear is rare for Veileds) because comparing her old x-ray to the new one we got today, there's hardly any eggs left in there. She's on liquid calcium, and we have a follow up appointment after the holidays for another x-ray.