Female thought she laid eggs but didn't?

[Hurst08]

I have a female veiled chameleon. We do not breed her but we do know females lay 'fake' eggs. She showed signs by digging and getting slight discoloration on her side. She also seemed much bigger in the belly. We hooked her up with the sand. Which she dug in non stop for three days (her appetite remained the same, 6 or more crickets a day) we woke up one morning and everything was covered up. Thinking she laid her eggs we searched the sand. Nothing to be found. But she has showed no intrest in digging since and her belly seems shrunken as well. Is it possible she thought she was laying eggs but there never were any? This has happened a few times and were confused!!

Your help is appreciated
Cote M

 

[Syn]

Have you had a talk with your vet about this behavior?

 

[kinyonga]

If she looks smaller than she did then she must have laid eggs. Is there a plant with soil in the pot that she could have dug in??

If she doesn't look thinner (I know you said she did...but just in case she really didn't) then I would worry about eggbinding. Sometimes a female will act as though she has laid them but hasn't.

 

[Hurst08]

No I Have not talked to my vet. We do not have anyone local who services reptiles. Nor have we needed one since we've had her. This happened about 2 weeks ago and she's still eating well and has good colors and has not dug once. In her cage she has a good 9 inches of sand which is what she dug th tunnels in and covered them up. I was nervous shed be egg bound because there were nooooo eggs anywhere. But then again wouldn't she have shown signs of that by now? She's happy and healthy which is awesome I just want some sort of explanation for the weird behavior. Thanks for the help!!

 

[Syn]

Reptiles are very good at hiding their problems until it is too late. It is up to the keeper to see the signs of something being wrong.

 

[Elizadolots]

Could you post some pictures? Even if you don't have any from when she looked big, pictures of how she looks now would probably help the experts here.

 

[Hurst08]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1482160&l=113786cee3&id=1068510005

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1355464&l=fd39a0f25c&id=1068510005

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1167026&l=891b657240&id=1068510005

first pic was taken yesterday 09/01/10 (i thought she was sitting like such a lady so i decided to take a pic lol)

second pic was probably a month or more ago, when she started to change colors and 'swell' up a little bit

the third is prob 6 months ago

(all these were taken with my phone, sorry if the quality is crappy)

 

[Elizadolots]

That is a ladylike pose, isn't it!

She's definitely smaller in the newest picture.

Did you actually sift the sand? Infertile eggs, as I understand it, can be smaller than fertile eggs.

 

[Hurst08]

Well, good news!!! Everyone was right. I finally got around to completly cleaning her cage which means sifting through ALL the sand. And what do ya know. Tons of eggs!! It was actually a feeling of relief knowing that we did it right (considering it was our first female chamelon) and that she wasn't digging for no reason. Now we'll know exactly what to do for the next time. Thanks for everyones feed back. Much appreciated. She still is a happy, very healthy chameleon!!!

 

[jannb]

Glad that everything worked out well for your female. This link should help you out te next time. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html