Female Vieled Chameleon possibly trying to lay eggs? help!

You might need to try the garbage can laying bin and put her in it for a few hours a day.

Do the same thing with moist play sand, put a plant in if you can it helps make it feel more natural I think.... cover the can with some branches, leaves, and a light to keep it warm and lite. I'm no expert but this was something I read on here that some people have to do to get hem to be comfortable enough to lay.... Good luck
 
Tommy Bonnet said:
You might need to try the garbage can laying bin and put her in it for a few hours a day.

Do the same thing with moist play sand, put a plant in if you can it helps make it feel more natural I think.... cover the can with some branches, leaves, and a light to keep it warm and lite. I'm no expert but this was something I read on here that some people have to do to get hem to be comfortable enough to lay.... Good luck
Click to expand...
The only issue is I work 12 hours a day so when I get back she's usually asleep. And shes alzo really aggressive towards me and dont want to stress her out anymore. I will try and see if I can get some time off for it.
 
Those are really really high temperatures, especially since you a re taking the reading in the center of a glass tank! No wonder she is down on the ground!

Glass terrariums need careful monitoring. First off, 33C is really hot at the basking level, let alone the mid level of the tank where you are measuring it. I bet the bottom is 33C as well since you have a very small glass Exo-Terra. There isn't any room in your terrarium for a temperature gradient especially when so much is taken up by the laying bin. The same amount of energy (heat) is going into your tank for less air mass, which heats up very quickly. Your temps will be higher than they were before you put in the laying bin. I suspect you are cooking that poor girl.

Why is her enclosure so hot at night? 27F is just too hot. They don't need heat at night. Temperatures in parts of their native range go down to freezing at night in the winter.
 
MissMichaelaH said:
After 7pm her tank drops to 2 degrees Celsius. And after 7am it goes up to 33 degrees Celsius. This is just based on the centre of the tank.
Click to expand...

That means ambient temps are around 92 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. That's 20 degrees over the recommended temp. Your chameleon is cooking alive, yet another reason most educated Cham keepers prefer screen enclosures. Please familiarize yourself with the care sheets here and mimic them religiously. They will help your pet live a long happy life.
 
I'm sorry I had read online these temps were ok? It's also the guide lines where given by the pet shop. I thought I was doing everything right I didn't realise :(
 
You came here to get help and that's the best sign. Lower the temps and give her plenty of hydration and she should be fine. It's sad but many pet stores don't know the proper husbandry for the animals they keep. The only way to combat this is to buy from reputable breeders instead of the chain stores. She does look a little round though so a laying bin should be available at all times regardless. Keep us posted, I'm anxious to know if she gets back to normal quickly.
 
So when I got back from work yesterday she was still laying in the same spot at the front of her tank. I was worried so me and my partner attempted to get her out. I managed to hold her which is the first time ever! And she seemed to perk up already. We put her on top of her laying bin and this morning still no signs of laying. However she did go back to sleep on top of her leaves and her colours are brighter again. I had put towels completely over her tank to give her privacy but I took them off and she seems a bit happier. I'm not really sure how long it's supposed to take to lay. I noticed her digging 3 days ago I'm getting worried I may have to take her to the vets.

I've attempted to sort out the temperatures I've managed to decrease it to 30°C during day and 19°C at night. Is this any better?

20160210_045037.jpg
 
19 Celsius is perfect for nighttime but 30 Celsius is still too high of an ambient temp. It should be:

30 Celsius or 85 Fahrenheit under the basking light
About 24C or 75f ambient temp
And about 22C or 72f at the bottom

Then it is good to have a drop to about 19C or 66f at night.
 
I was told to use 100 watt heat bulb is that too high? I haven't got a thermostat at the minute but I will be getting one hopefully today or tomorrow

Also they also said this small vivarium would suit her for all her life. Me and my partner totally disagree and want to get a much larger cage style for her. Would it best to wait until she grows a bit bigger or get one sooner?

And is it normal for her to take this long to lay? Should I take her to a vets?
 
Without a thermostat it's difficult to say. It's definitely something every reptile keeper should have before they get a reptile. If "they" are pet store workers, its a shame but more often than not, they have no idea about the husbandry of the animals they sell. What are the dimensions of the cage? Minimum size for an adult veiled is 2'x2'x4'. I'm still not sure about the eggs, or if she's actually ready to lay. Sort out the temp issues and observe her when she is back to normal. She's not going to try and lay when she's 20 degrees over temp.
 
MissMichaelaH said:
I was told to use 100 watt heat bulb is that too high? I haven't got a thermostat at the minute but I will be getting one hopefully today or tomorrow

Also they also said this small vivarium would suit her for all her life. Me and my partner totally disagree and want to get a much larger cage style for her. Would it best to wait until she grows a bit bigger or get one sooner?

And is it normal for her to take this long to lay? Should I take her to a vets?
Click to expand...

I'm sorry if my post below might come across as somewhat critical. I do understand that you were doing/are doing what you believed to be good husbandry. It must be really upsetting to believe you are doing everything perfectly and then find out it wasn't so right after all. I understand how you might be lulled into not acting as quickly as I might want you to act because you really just can't believe the store got it so wrong. Honest, I do understand that, and I'm sorry if I have come across harshly. I really want you to get this right--she's a really cute little girl and I know you care very much about her.

Did you read the care sheets? The misinformation the store gave you is no longer their responsibility--it is now up to you to do the research and figure it out and get it right. I haven't found any reptile to be so simple that I can just open the box and turn on the lights based on the recommendation of any store clerk. It takes a lot of fine tuning to get it right.

You absolutely must use common sense. If the temps are too high it is because you are putting too much energy (heat) into the environment and not enough is leaving it.

Reduce the wattage. The wattage you use is dependent on many things such as the ambient temperature of the room, the air circulation in and out of the enclosure (and yours doesn't have much), the amount of energy (the wattage) you are putting into the enclosure, whether or not sunlight falls on the enclosure. You can reduce the wattage (or turn it right off) or lift the bulb higher but I worry that the whole area around the cage will still be just too darn hot.

I just can't imagine any house that people live in that would be so cold it would need a 100w bulb over a small glass enclosure--and make no mistake, you have a really small enclosure.

Personally, I suspect this little girl is under a lot of heat stress. I don't think her digging in her cage is related to laying eggs so much as being stressed by a small and extremely hot cage.

I could be wrong, of course. If she does need to lay, putting off getting her into a good environment to lay could very well kill her or cost you a lot of money.

Also, just because they are huge and full of eggs does not mean they are necessarily ready to lay them. We've all seen very heavily pregnant women but we aren't fretting about them delivering even past their due dates. Chameleons are the same. It doesn't matter how they look if they are not ready to lay. The trick is to know when they are ready to lay and not allowing them to become egg bound.

There are a couple of things you could do. They will take a lot of time to get it right.

You could put her in a garbage can with about 10" of proper substrate to lay eggs. Set it up for her to live in for awhile until you get a feel for whether or not she needs to lay eggs or her going to ground was simply her desperately trying to cool off. Put in some plants--plant them right in the substrate in the garbage can. Give her places to climb up to. Suspend her lighting over top and make sure she has enough light getting down to the bottom. A lack of light will shut them down and they will basically just go to sleep. Take temps at the bottom of the bin, in the middle and at the basking area. I would be inclined to have her ambient temps during the day lower than 75F except right under the basking bulb, and I would have the basking temps on the low side that the care sheets recommend. I would keep the bottom at 72F during the day. Give her a really good temperature gradient with cool temps in the middle of the cage. You'll know soon enough if she is going to ground to escape the heat or going to ground because she is either sick or trying to lay eggs. If she doesn't go to ground when you have dropped the temperatures, you will know it wasn't because of egg laying. However, her going to ground might be because she is sick.

Since it seems you haven't been on top of the temperatures, I would suggest you get three temperature gauges. I use both probes from the reptile store and indoor/outdoor thermometers from the hardware store.

The other option is to set up a bigger cage asap. Same temperature suggestions as above. I like laying bins that completely cover the whole floor of the cage. You might work that out by making a sub floor over top of the laying bin. Just make sure it is safe and it won't collapse or she could find someplace to get wedged in.

Based on what you've written, it is possible that this little girl has been severely stressed by too high temps and of course a new home. She is going to need a lot of TLC for a long time for her to recover from the heat stress--not days, but weeks.

Good luck. Please keep us posted.
 
jajeanpierre said:
I'm sorry if my post below might come across as somewhat critical. I do understand that you were doing/are doing what you believed to be good husbandry. It must be really upsetting to believe you are doing everything perfectly and then find out it wasn't so right after all. I understand how you might be lulled into not acting as quickly as I might want you to act because you really just can't believe the store got it so wrong. Honest, I do understand that, and I'm sorry if I have come across harshly. I really want you to get this right--she's a really cute little girl and I know you care very much about her.

Did you read the care sheets? The misinformation the store gave you is no longer their responsibility--it is now up to you to do the research and figure it out and get it right. I haven't found any reptile to be so simple that I can just open the box and turn on the lights based on the recommendation of any store clerk. It takes a lot of fine tuning to get it right.

You absolutely must use common sense. If the temps are too high it is because you are putting too much energy (heat) into the environment and not enough is leaving it.

Reduce the wattage. The wattage you use is dependent on many things such as the ambient temperature of the room, the air circulation in and out of the enclosure (and yours doesn't have much), the amount of energy (the wattage) you are putting into the enclosure, whether or not sunlight falls on the enclosure. You can reduce the wattage (or turn it right off) or lift the bulb higher but I worry that the whole area around the cage will still be just too darn hot.

I just can't imagine any house that people live in that would be so cold it would need a 100w bulb over a small glass enclosure--and make no mistake, you have a really small enclosure.

Personally, I suspect this little girl is under a lot of heat stress. I don't think her digging in her cage is related to laying eggs so much as being stressed by a small and extremely hot cage.

I could be wrong, of course. If she does need to lay, putting off getting her into a good environment to lay could very well kill her or cost you a lot of money.

Also, just because they are huge and full of eggs does not mean they are necessarily ready to lay them. We've all seen very heavily pregnant women but we aren't fretting about them delivering even past their due dates. Chameleons are the same. It doesn't matter how they look if they are not ready to lay. The trick is to know when they are ready to lay and not allowing them to become egg bound.

There are a couple of things you could do. They will take a lot of time to get it right.

You could put her in a garbage can with about 10" of proper substrate to lay eggs. Set it up for her to live in for awhile until you get a feel for whether or not she needs to lay eggs or her going to ground was simply her desperately trying to cool off. Put in some plants--plant them right in the substrate in the garbage can. Give her places to climb up to. Suspend her lighting over top and make sure she has enough light getting down to the bottom. A lack of light will shut them down and they will basically just go to sleep. Take temps at the bottom of the bin, in the middle and at the basking area. I would be inclined to have her ambient temps during the day lower than 75F except right under the basking bulb, and I would have the basking temps on the low side that the care sheets recommend. I would keep the bottom at 72F during the day. Give her a really good temperature gradient with cool temps in the middle of the cage. You'll know soon enough if she is going to ground to escape the heat or going to ground because she is either sick or trying to lay eggs. If she doesn't go to ground when you have dropped the temperatures, you will know it wasn't because of egg laying. However, her going to ground might be because she is sick.

Since it seems you haven't been on top of the temperatures, I would suggest you get three temperature gauges. I use both probes from the reptile store and indoor/outdoor thermometers from the hardware store.

The other option is to set up a bigger cage asap. Same temperature suggestions as above. I like laying bins that completely cover the whole floor of the cage. You might work that out by making a sub floor over top of the laying bin. Just make sure it is safe and it won't collapse or she could find someplace to get wedged in.

Based on what you've written, it is possible that this little girl has been severely stressed by too high temps and of course a new home. She is going to need a lot of TLC for a long time for her to recover from the heat stress--not days, but weeks.

Good luck. Please keep us posted.
Click to expand...

Hi thank you for all your guidance.

The shop i bought her from (which goes by the name of a reptile centre) gave me printed out care sheets and gave me a website to go to for extra help. So i had read them thoroughly but obviously I have just been reading the wrong stuff! I naively assumed the reptile centre I got her from was accurate which has proven me wrong.

I used to have a thermostat but last week it sparked at the plug and blew. I had to send it back and I received a new one this morning.
It's been set up to 25°C for the centre of her tank. And I will have to purchase more equipment to monitor this throughout the tank better.

I am really trying my hardest and I thought i was doing great! She was such a happy little girl always bright green and loved hand feeding.

She's never tolerated being picked up or held. I only managed to get her out last time for the first time. I know they're not supposed to be handled all the time but it is difficult when she wants to attack me.

She started digging and I assumed she was ready to lay but I clearly don't know enough. And since first seeing her digging almost 4 days ago she's got darker and wants to hang at the bottom of the tank. Which clearly the temperatures have been a massive factor!

Today she has been a lot happier her usual self but still digging but not in her bin!

Shall I still leave this bin in for a few more days or do I take it out?

I'm going to take her to the vets I think this Saturday and get her checked over (if I can get her out and to the vets!)

I am really trying my best. I genuinely believed I was doing everything right. Feel stupid and terrible for putting her through so much stress!!

I'll keep you all updated! Hopefully I can get things right for her! I feel so guilty.
 
You're taking the right steps to getting her back to normal and that's the main thing. The newest picture shows a definite bulge on her sides, and I'd say she is ready to lay. It's going to be difficult to tell but once she gets back to a regular temperature, she may start to dig. It may be that she never felt the site was suitable because it was too hot. I'd give her some privacy, hydration, and keep an eye on her without disturbing her. Some people achieve this by setting up a webcam or similar, or covering the cage so there's just a small hole you can peek through. Since you're having trouble with temps the former might be suitable. If you notice her seeming weak or very lethargic, she may be egg bound.
 
Sorry it's been a while before I've posted anything.

I wasn't happy so took her to the vets yesterday and got terrible news. She's egg bound and you can see follicles on the cray aswell. It is very early stages so hopefully should go well. We have surgery today. I'm petrified and heartbroken. I hope all goes well I will let you know what happens.

Thank you everyone for all of your support and guidance! Just wish I had done a better job!
 
MissMichaelaH said:
Sorry it's been a while before I've posted anything.

I wasn't happy so took her to the vets yesterday and got terrible news. She's egg bound and you can see follicles on the cray aswell. It is very early stages so hopefully should go well. We have surgery today. I'm petrified and heartbroken. I hope all goes well I will let you know what happens.

Thank you everyone for all of your support and guidance! Just wish I had done a better job!
Click to expand...

*xray
 
She made it through the surgery fine! They removed about 80 eggs from her.

Her tank has been updated with temperature probes so I can monitor the temperatures properly.

She is now more aggressive than before. I know it will be just because she's frightened but if walk past her tank she hisses and if I put food in her tank she will attack me. I know this will take time for her to calm down but I'm supposed to get her out again today for an antibiotic injection! That's going to be fun lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Raymond1412
Egg time? (help needed!)
Replies
6
Views
121
SteveH
SteveH
E
How much time does it takes for follicle absoprtion?
Replies
13
Views
397
kinyonga
K
D
Laying Eggs All Over Enclosure
Replies
16
Views
861
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
Ghostbirb
Moving with possible egg laying!
Replies
8
Views
387
Sonny13
Sonny13
Z33
URGENT EGG LAYING
2 3
Replies
58
Views
2K
elizaann2
elizaann2
Back
Top Bottom