Dark black in colour and digging yemen

[wilmachameleon]

Hi i have a 10 week old female chameleon, had her for 2 and 1/2 weeks. she seemed to be settling in fine was coming to the door of tank to take grub worms off me. but the last two days she is hiding all the time she has turned a dark brown/black colour and keeps going to the bottom of tank and digging up all the soil.
Im really worried, would really appreciate any advice

Thanks

 

[okiroo]

Mabey she needs to lay eggs? or it may be to hot.

 

[wilmachameleon]

Hey thanks for your reply, the temp has been the same for the whole time ive had it. Can it lay egg this young?
Thanks

 

[sdheli420]

Hi i have a 10 week old female chameleon, had her for 2 and 1/2 weeks. she seemed to be settling in fine was coming to the door of tank to take grub worms off me. but the last two days she is hiding all the time she has turned a dark brown/black colour and keeps going to the bottom of tank and digging up all the soil.
Im really worried, would really appreciate any advice

Thanks

she needs to lay eggs..lever her be..untill shes done

 

[sdheli420]

she needs to lay eggs..lever her be..untill shes done

sounds like its older than 10 weeks..can you post some pics..

 

[wilmachameleon]

there you go :-D

 

[sdheli420]

View attachment 38593

there you go :-D

ok the age is correct..it may be that the chameleon is being kept in glass..they will see their reflection and freak out..sounds like a stressed out cham trying to hide from the attacker (the reflection)..

 

[ChameleonsInMyHouse]

this was Kiwi's egg laying colors at her first clutch. this pattern stayed on her for about 2-4 days post-laying.

it is normal for them to turn dark and vibrant during gestation and egg laying at times. but as others said. leave her be. she needs privacy to lay

 

[imcurt]

Sounds like she needs to deposite eggs.If she is only 10 weeks it could be a tempature thing? is she holding her mouth open? The other thing that comes to mind is glass confusion.. I had a young veiled male that clawed at the glass,turned dark from stress, and and did the digging thing as well .he stoped when i put him in a screen enclosure. hope this helps. curt

 

[pantherlover]

Sounds like its too hot...

 

[okiroo]

My clair used to do the same.(days ago) your cham looks to young to lay eggs but you never know. you need a bin anyways if its a female. ventalation may be a problem. i saw you said the temp is the same but it may be that its to humid or not humid enough. also if she sees her reflection it could upset her. id take the soil out also. she can eat it and get sick. get some plants to put in there and put river rocks(big ones she cant even attempt to eat) and put them in their. that all is easy and would help alot. nothing at all on the bottem would be best so its easyier to clean and doesnt breed bacteria as bad. goodluck!

 

[chameleoman]

get rid of the green light and get a screen cage without dirt/substrate

 

[kinyonga]

She doesn't have the mustardy splotches a sexually mature female should have and if she's only 10 weeks old she wouldn't likely be producing eggs anyhow.

When she becomes sexually mature I would recommend that you have an appropriate container in her cage so she can dig to lay eggs if/when she needs to.

Also...when/if she finally does start digging to lay eggs, make sure that you don't let her see you watching her when she's digging.

Where do you live? If you live in a cool climate or have air conditioning in your house, there is no reason to get rid of the glass cage although I agree with getting rid of the substrate...and the green light.

IMHO its seldom that the chameleon seeing its reflection freaks it out.