Female Chameleon not going eating or going #2

[kinyonga]

Its time to worry if she is lethargic, sits low in the cage, shuts her eyes during the day, etc. But the problem is that if she has eggs to lay and reaches this point its usually too late to save her by spaying her.

If she's not eating, you can't expect her to be pooping....so I suppose you really need to know why she's not eating.

 

[sandrachameleon]

other than reduced appetite, is she behaving normally? Does she roam the cage more than usual? Does she still drink well?

I wonder if there is another forum member in your area. It might be helpful to have a person with experience, and whom you trust, pop by and look in person. An inperson opinion is often more valuable than what we can do remotely.

 

[EKEKO]

She behaves normally...roams...basks and drinks tons of water...today she pooped and it was very watery maybe because of the amount of water she is drinking. But she is not lethargic, has a very strong grip and her eyes and casque look healthy. I just don't want it to get to the point where I am rushing to the vet to save her life...and I might have to visit a well known vivarium a few hours away so they can better assess her situation seeing that the vet seemed to be inexperienced in female chameleons.

 

[ZEUUS]

How long should it take generally for a female to go through the egg laying phase? My cham is showing most symptoms from aabove for about three weeks now and I've provided and laying been and have increased spraying and reduced temp. She is still eating about a cricket a day though. Haven't seen poop in a while. Just wondering when she is "supposed" to be done and have laid her eggs. Thanks!

 

[sdheli420]

fom those pics she looks like shes got eggs and will be ready to lay them any minute, sometimes i have to be consistant and put my females in thier laying bin a few separate times to get them digging (some days they just arent ready) here are my vids on egg laying set up.. hope it helps..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxFYmAkg8vg

when she starts dooing this, DO NOT INTERRUPT HER she will abandon the digging.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX76fMcv5ak

good luck!!

 

[EKEKO]

She is starting to look really unhealthy, decided to eat a couple mealworms today...nothing else. Eyes are starting to sink in....I hate to feel this powerless any ideas on what to do?

 

[kinyonga]

Are you not taking her to the vet's right away then??

 

[EKEKO]

Are you not taking her to the vet's right away then??

As I said before, i did take her to the vet but they just want to do an xray to see if maybe she has eggs...seemed like the vet was very inexperienced.

 

[mychamtini112012]

You need to take her to the vet. Seems like she is eggbound. If you bring her to the vet, they'll do an x-ray just to make sure she has eggs and then give the shot like mentioned before to help induce the egg laying. If you wait to long you might be to late to save her.

 

[kinyonga]

You said that she is starting to look really unheathly and that her eyes are starting to sink in. If you don't get her help right away you are almost certainly going to lose her.

 

[EKEKO]

You need to take her to the vet. Seems like she is eggbound. If you bring her to the vet, they'll do an x-ray just to make sure she has eggs and then give the shot like mentioned before to help induce the egg laying. If you wait to long you might be to late to save her.

Well my biggest problem is that I have already spent money in getting her fecal exams, gavage, 2 vet visits for a "potential" impaction when it was a misdiagnosis and I am broke unfortunately, so I am trying to pull her through with little means. an xray is 250 USD, plus a revisit fee and solving the problem...meaning Oxytocin or c-section.

I wish I had enough money to have this solved.

 

[kinyonga]

If she is eggbound there is nothing you can do....and if nothing is done she will die unfortunately. If there is something else going on with the signs she is now showing she needs to see a vet because you can't treat it if you don't know what's wrong. Perhaps if you talk to the vet a payment plan can be arranged? Or perhaps you can get it touch with a reptile rescue place quickly and they will look after her??

 

[EKEKO]

Well I decided to rough it out for a few more days and ordered some silkies to boost her metabolism, She is back to fecal matters...no great quantities...ate a few silkies and mealworms, not enticed by crickets but her energy is back up. Seems to want to drink up a storm every chance she gets, which almost immediately brings her eyes back to normal.

Could it be because she is still making eggs? How long does it usually take for her to produce eggs til dropping them?

She hasn't dug once, roams endlessly in her cage and seems to keep a close watch on the laying bin but nothing. Today I have decided to change the laying substrate to play sand which seems to be a popular choice and give it another round....Any insight will be appreciated as always.

 

[JackP308]

If you really think she's looking to lay, I just stick her in a trash can in her cage filled half way or 3/4 with whatever your using as substrate .

I keep one in at all times now a 2ft office trash can filled will moist coco. I get more nervous to see them pace rather then not eat or not deficating when I know they're gravid.

 

[EKEKO]

So this will be a very odd update...she is back to eating and defecating. Still no tactile or visual signs of eggs in her, hasn't been trying to dig. She has been pacing quite a bit and still drinking quite a bit of water. What's going on? Still confused, was she just impacted? but didn't show much fecal matter. or is she still gravid and just still producing eggs?