Female just laid 44 eggs 30 days ago and filled with eggs again... HELP!

[OldSkoolxReasons]

So my female anubis jr. line 1 yr. old panther just laid a giant clutch of 44 eggs about 35 days ago. In the past 10 days or so she has been walking around the bottom of the enclosure and messing with her plants while turning gravid/unreceptive colors. Well I was looking at her last night and all day today and just a few minutes ago and she is loaded with eggs again! She is fatter than before and I counted 19 egg bumps pushing out between/around her ribs on the second half of her body. I was just wondering if it was even possible for her to lay again this soon. I put a laying bin in there yesterday since i suspected it then and she dug one test hole before bed today and then went back up her schefflera and went to sleep. I am concerned because i did not think this was possible and feel horrible for the strain it must be putting on her seeing as she just laid a giant clutch. seeing as I had planned on prolonging the second clutch as long as possible I have kept her somewhat cooler than before and she has had no visual contact with a male since about 15 days before she laid the first time. I am just posting this thread to see if anyone else has had this happen and if so is your female still healthy? I was always under the impression they could not begin to create eggs so soon after laying. I had two seperate long time local panther chameleon keepers/breeders come and look at her today/tonight and they gaurenteed me she was pregnate and had no idea how this could happen again so soon. So any insight would be very helpful. Thanks for reading my novel


Justin

 

[ChromaChameleons]

35 days for a panther to be egg laden after laying a clutch is pretty quick. Your husbandry must be allowing for above optimal conditions to trigger this activity.

From my own records , I believe the quickest repeat egg production from one layed clutch to another was as short as 46 days.

If she is young and strong , with good supplementation , she should be fine.

 

[jannb]

What temps are you keeping her at and how much are you feeding her?

 

[Lancecham]

SOme of my chams that retain sperm, will lay a second clutch about 30 days after the first clutch. So I don't believe this to be an usual thing.
Two clutches in a row drains a female, but younger(about a year old) can handle it better. After she lays, provide more calcium than normal as her calcium levels will be a little low.

 

[Nicodemayo]

35 days for a panther to be egg laden after laying a clutch is pretty quick. Your husbandry must be allowing for above optimal conditions to trigger this activity.

From my own records , I believe the quickest repeat egg production from one layed clutch to another was as short as 46 days.

If she is young and strong , with good supplementation , she should be fine.

I second Harry. Ive never had a retained clutch laid within a month after a female laying the first clutch. 1.5-2 months later is much more average. Unless she is just a monster female (90+gram female NOT gravid), then you need to be cutting back on her food intake. Even those girls wont usually lay that many eggs just massive eggs. If you are keeping her well nourished with a proper supplementing schedule with a quality gut load you will be fine, but a week or so after she lays this next clutch I would seriously consider you cut back on her food intake quite a bit and give her a good long rest if you decide to breed her again.

 

[kinyonga]

If a panther has been mated she will quite likely lay a second fertile clutch without having been mated....maybe even a couple of clutches....and in my experience its not unusual for it to be about 30 days from the last.

Since its known that there will likely be a second clutch IMHO you might be able to control the size of the clutch by feeding her well for a couple of days after she lays the first clutch after the mating and then cutting her back a bit for a few days to try to keep the clutch small...but you won't likely be able to stop the second clutch...so IMHO its important to feed her properly to allow the clutch to healthy after that few days of controlling the diet.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Her basking spot temp is 90 and she has been basking there alot lately. her temps were usually 74-77 during the day and 69 or 70ish at night except under her ceramic heater. I fed and watered her heavily after the first clutch to try and recouperate her since it was a rather large clutch. For about a week after I fed her about 6-8 large crickets/medium size discoid's a day, all with regualr rep cal no D3 and dusted I think 2 or three times in there with D3 calcium since they are now kept indoors. After that i put her back on her 8-10 large crickets or a few larger praying mantis' every 2-3 days depending on when she would come and beg on the front screen. I have never weighed her but she measured in at 12 1/4 inches from nose to tail tip. I don't know if this is big or not but she is quite larger bodywise than my 18mo. other female, even before being gravid. Also is there a way to, if she still has retained sperm, slow down the production of another follow up clutch? Thanks for all your info. I was just very worried because everyone had told me to let her recoup for a few months after a big clutch like that. This time she looks fatter and I can count alot more egg bumps than before. She is still very active and agressive, like she always has been, she is just digging and drinking more as expected with pregnancy. Like I said i did not and do not plan on breeding her again anytime soon. Because now for sure she will need plenty of time to recover.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

So I just weighed her. I know she weighs alot more because of the eggs and because I could even feel the weight difference from two weeks ago. she weighed in at 121grams. I do not know how much the average panther egg weighs so i cannot begin to guesstimate her actual weight but it will be interesting to weigh her after she has laid them to see the difference. Thanks again for everyones help.