My veiled chameleon laid her eggs last night. She looks awful. She is super skinny (she went from 180 grams to 100grams), she is almost black and she looks like she's going to fall off of her branch at any moment. Is this normal? I knew she'd look bad but I wasn't prepared for this. She has had some water and has eaten 3 crickets. She does move around the basking light. She is a few years old and I am assuming her eggs are fertile because she was housed with a male at the vivarium when we got her 4 weeks ago. I keep trying to find info but most of the info is on what to do with the eggs after their laid not what to expect from the mom. I'm freaking out a little so any info would be great.
Done laying eggs
- Thread starter gkirb77
- Start date
camimom
New Member
first----
breathe!
second, how many eggs did she lay?
and third- give her lots of water. and lots of calcium.
shes tired, esp if she laid a large clutch.
if she seems weak, try to find some liquid calcium you can give her for afew days to help build her back up.
and can you post a photo please?
breathe!
second, how many eggs did she lay?
and third- give her lots of water. and lots of calcium.
shes tired, esp if she laid a large clutch.
if she seems weak, try to find some liquid calcium you can give her for afew days to help build her back up.
and can you post a photo please?
I don't know how many eggs yet...I'm waiting for a friend to come over this afternoon and help me dig them out. He knows what he's doing and I do not want to screw it up! Can I get liquid calcium from the pet store or do I go to the vet? The 3 crickets she has eaten were dusted with calcium. I will try to figure out how to post a picture. I haven't been able to breath since I figured out she was going to lay eggs! I think my husband is about ready to ban me from the chameleon's area!!
camimom
New Member
Haha!
you can dig the eggs up yourself.
just be careful.
and itsok if they turn a bit, right now its not crucial they stay in one spot.
you should be able to get liquid calcium at any local pharmacy. cvs, walgreens, whatever you have.
let me know when you know how many she laid.
camimom
New Member
Very welcome!
you can get rid of that red light. its not appropriate.
a regular house bulb can do just fine for basking.
just as an fyi, the light through the door wont give her uvb rays, as uvb rays cant pass through glass or plastic.
camimom
New Member
they are! theres no difference between a store bought basking bulb an house bulb, cept price!
camimom
New Member
correct.
BUt i woudl reduce her basking temp and her food intake.
doing this can reduce her clutch size, and 60 eggs is ALOT.
which explains everything thats going on with her.
did you find liquid calcium?
camimom
New Member
good, ok, and yes to retention.
Olimpia
Biologist & Ecologist
Here's a good blog about keeping female veileds that you may find useful: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
It goes into a lot more detail about how to keep them on a diet and what temperatures will work to help slow down her metabolism and produce fewer or no eggs. But for the next 2-3 days I would feed her well and keep her warm and then reduce everything like the blog suggests. It'll be better for her in the long run!
She may retain sperm and lay again in a couple months, so make sure to keep her laying bin available just in case. But just by keeping her cooler any clutches she does produce from retained sperm should be smaller and easier to handle.
It goes into a lot more detail about how to keep them on a diet and what temperatures will work to help slow down her metabolism and produce fewer or no eggs. But for the next 2-3 days I would feed her well and keep her warm and then reduce everything like the blog suggests. It'll be better for her in the long run!
She may retain sperm and lay again in a couple months, so make sure to keep her laying bin available just in case. But just by keeping her cooler any clutches she does produce from retained sperm should be smaller and easier to handle.
IMHO you should feed her well for a couple of days and then cut the food back a bit....but since she is likely going to have retained some sperm she will likely lay more eggs so I would make sure she gets enough food for that once she starts plumping up again. You don't want her and her babies to suffer from a lack of nutrients.
