Female won't stop laying eggs...

[OldSkoolxReasons]

So I have an adult female ambilobe panther that is now almost 15 months old. She was first bred at 12 months of age. At that point she already weighed 92 grams. The last time she was weighed, a week after dropping her second clutch she was 107 grams. She has laid two giant clutches in the past 3 months and is about 12 days into producing another. Her first clutch was 44 eggs, only 3 of which went bad so far. The second clutch was 48 eggs, of those I lost 2. 1 because she dropped it in a pot after she laid the first 4 and it dried out, I found it about 2 weeks too late. The other was just infertile. Well now she is already becoming giant again after having just laid a few weeks ago. I have done everything there is too try to prevent it. I feed her every three days and not very much, probably 5-8 crickets or 4 large silkies. She is healthy and maintains her weight with that but is still producing eggs. Her ambient temp is at 70 degrees with an 81 degree basking spot which she doesn't use too often at all. She has not seen a male since the initial mating and they were only paired together for 45 minutes and then separated as she got very very angry at the male and bit him on the side instantly after he pulled out and was trying to crawl off of her. The vet said that the only other option after this clutch if she starts to produce another is to spay her. I tend to agree because if she begins to produce another giant clutch like this I do not think she will live long after depositing it. Like I said she is in perfect health and sort of a giant compared to the rest of my females but I do not want her producing eggs to the extent that it end up killing her so young and although I have seen no ill affects yet I believe there has to be some physically that she is not showing because she is laying so many eggs. I was just wondering if anyone has any other ways that they try to slow down their females. I know it is near impossible if she still has sperm left to use up but I have never seen one mating under an hour produce so many fertile eggs before. Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.



Justin

 

[sandrachameleon]

Once she lays her current eggs, give her a few days to eat well and then feed her less. If I read your post right, you are giving her as much as 16 crickets and 8 large silkies a week. That's more than she needs. Try reducing that by half, to a total of 8-10 bugs a week, spread out over the week.

Sometimes, they are just programmed to reproduce.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Yes she has been getting as much as that, usually more in the middle half of the numbers. I will cut it back down again. I was giving her more food after this second clutch since she just laid and then have just recently started tapering it off like you suggested, but a little more than you said. The amount I put is what I was feeding her for the last week or so, since she's been back eating normally. I didn't really expect another giant clutch like this or a clutch at all for that matter. I was thinking she might give herself a break and stop producing for a little bit but I guess not. I'll make sure to keep the food intake down though. She's been gravid colors since september, I have to look at pictures so I don't forget what her normal colors use to look like. Yeah I know some are just programmed to reproduce, it would just be nice if they took their health into consideration so we didn't always have to though wouldn't it? Lol. Thanks for the info.


Justin

 

[kinyonga]

With veileds I seem to be able to stop reproduction altogether...with panthers, I can only decrease the clutch size to about 20. They have always continued to lay eggs.

I'm not a vet and what I have done is just what I think helps. What I think is that when the chameleon has laid a clutch, she will then start growing the follicles again. I feed the females well for a couple of days after they lay the eggs to help them recover from the egglaying. I think by cutting down the food and keeping the temperatures a little lower than you do for the males, less follicles start to grow. I also think the whole way I keep them, what I feed the insects, etc. all plays a part.

Once you know she is producing the eggs again, she needs the nutrients to maintain her own health and produce the eggs...but I'm still careful not to overdo it.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Yes I know that. She is already 12 days into this clutch I believe as she is starting to show tiny bumps. I am still going to cut down her food intake for the time being, but not to the point where sandra said. I'm saiving that for after the clutch. Overall she will be eating probably 4 decent sized dubia nymphs and probably 4 large silkworms a week. The dubia are being gutloaded with cricketcrack and plenty of collard greend, spirulina, bee pollen, carrots, and dandilion greens. I also sprinkle a little plain calcium powder on the food in their gutload container. I know it kills them if they eat it often but they are going to get fed off anyways. I also feed the silkworms shredded carrots and chopped collard greens or whatever kind of greens in addition to the mulberry chow. they seem to eat the carrots and collard greens for a few hours and then switch over to the mulberry chw. I give them carrots and whatever else I have on hand with their chow every other day and so far every batch I have hatched from egg to moth and then started over again have all grow very large and have done quite well. they are prolific breeders. I have thousands of eggs in my fridge and have stopped the moth breeding for now and all the ones that cocoon just get fed off after they emerge. I still plan on keeping the temps where they are at to see if that in addition to the fewer food items can help control her clutch size. I really hope this is that last clutch as it is going to take just about all the feeders I have breeding to feed these little buggers when and if they hatch. Thanks for your advice kinyonga and sandra.



Justin

 

[CammieBaby]

I think I heard that somewhere.. That if the temperature is cooler they won't produce eggs...at all..

 

[imcurt]

I had the same problem with one of my female panthers I cut he feeding back to 3 crickets 5 days a week and droped the baking time and wattage now im useing a 40 watt for 7hrs a day. It had stoped he egg production for 3 month now she was laying evey 60 days reguardless. I this helps