help! chameleon laying eggs, hiding in her tunnel????

[aangb3nder]

I've had my female veiled for about two and a half years, and she has never layed eggs. I've always had a big bucket in there with half dirt and half sand and kept it moist for when the time came. I put various leaf matter in front to give her enough privacy, and finally this past week I saw her snooping around the bottom of her cage.

She dug her hole, and its a nice little tunnel, but the problem is that I feel like she's been down there for too long. What is the normal time period for her to stay in the tunnel? She's been in there for two days, and it's starting to worry me. I don't know if she got eggbound and just died down there, or if she needs more time to dig and lay her eggs. I've been spraying the cage normal and doing everything normal, but she's still in her little hole. I tried looking in to make sure she was okay, but she's way down in there lol. I don't know whether to dig her up to take her to the vet, or just leave her. Please help!

 

[Melina]

2 days is quite a few days to be down there - do you have a web cam you can set up to see if she is coming out at all without disturbing her too much?

Laying is such a difficult time - i'm inclined to suggest you should try and get a look at her.................

Lets see what everyone else suggests........

 

[pantherlover]

yeah 2 day is a long time. The first time you see her deep in the tunnel its freaky but in my experience it only lasted about 6 hrs. I definitely get a look. Id check if shes face up or face down. If shes down there and not moving within a span of a couple hrs, Id honestly get her outta there and get her to the vet for an an oxytocin shot. She may have become too weak to complete her task.

 

[jannb]

I would check on her. That's a long time. Sometimes the hole will cave in on them. I don't let mine see me looking buy still check on them through the egg laying process.

 

[aangb3nder]

Thanks guys. When I woke up this morning I started to get really nervous, so I took her lay bucket out and started digging. The hole did collapse on her, and the poor thing was face down in her tunnel with her tail sticking out. It wasn't moving and I got so scared but she started to move so i stuck my fingers under her bum and pulled her out of the sand and washed her off. She was so distressed :[ 17 little eggies though! too bad theyre not fertilized after all that, lol. I'm so relieved <3

I put ice up for her and sprayed her cage down again. Is there anything besides privacy I can offer her?

 

[jannb]

I'm glad that she's ok. 17 eggs may not be all of them. That would be a VERY small clutch for a veiled.

 

[DavidBuchan]

I'm glad that she's ok. 17 eggs may not be all of them. That would be a VERY small clutch for a veiled.

Mmmmm, maybe the tunnel collapsed before she was finished, so make sure the laying bin is still setup nice (like you said half soil half sand is good, and moist) - maybe put more sand in the mix now, or use coarser sand........good luck for round 2!
Privacy, and a calciworm treat?

 

[pantherlover]

Thats great to hear! What a trooper! Time to get her calcium up and get her hydrated. Feed her generously for the next couple days but dont overfeed for too long. Must have been a great sigh of relief...

 

[aangb3nder]

I'm glad that she's ok. 17 eggs may not be all of them. That would be a VERY small clutch for a veiled.

omg it may not be all of them? -.- I took the bucket out for today so I could try and dig all the eggs out, but I put it back in earlier when I got home from repticon

I bought a lot of crickets today. Should i coat them and give her like seven, or should I just throw a bunch of mealworms in there with clacium dust?

 

[BocaJan]

Give her the dusted crickets and a worm or two. When preparing a laying bucket be sure to keep the medium moist enough so you can make a ball. My ladies won't dig tunnels unless the sand is pretty wet. They will dig test holes but will cover them up again. I have had to take the bucket out and wet the sand more (I stir it up with a big wooden spoon) before she would tunnel in it.

Put the bucket back in in case she wants to lay more. She may decide to drop some eggs since they are infertile.

 

[aangb3nder]

I keep it pretty wet. Not to where its muddy and soupy, but to where it's really good digging sand. I test it out myself to make sure I can dig a nice hole that will stay open.

So mealworms are better than crickets for now? I bought 110 crickets at Repticon, and I want to use them. What about horned worms? I have about 25 of those, too.

 

[pantherlover]

I keep it pretty wet. Not to where its muddy and soupy, but to where it's really good digging sand. I test it out myself to make sure I can dig a nice hole that will stay open.

So mealworms are better than crickets for now? I bought 110 crickets at Repticon, and I want to use them. What about horned worms? I have about 25 of those, too.

I would ditch the mealworms all together. Can you get superworms?

 

[jannb]

I'd give her some of both well dusted with calcium. Hornworms are good and will help keep her hydrated. I use liquid calcium before and after they lay. It's really good for the females.

 

[aangb3nder]

I would ditch the mealworms all together. Can you get superworms?

I feel like they're too big for her to eat. I was planning on giving her the smallest of the horned worms that I have.

I've never used liquid calcium, I've only ever had the calcium dust. How do you apply liquid calcium?

 

[jannb]

You can put a drop on a feeder or just drop it on her mouth. It's sweet and my girls like it. You would use it in addition to powered calcium.

 

[Reptile Dude]

Chameleon laying eggs wat sort of soil should i use ?

Hi i am new to this site and my veild cham is gravid she has laid 67 infertile eggs at least but she is still going i was wondering wat sort of soil should i use because she is just laying them on the ground and i am worried in case she becomes egg bound or something plz help.

 

[kinyonga]

Normally a container of washed playsand (minimum 12" deep x12" x 8") is provided in the cage so that the female has somewhere to dig to show you she's ready to lay eggs. Many of them will lay the eggs in this sized container...some people move the chameleon to a bigger container (such as a 65 l. rubbermaid or a new trashcan) that has at least 12" of sand at the bottom.

You may be too late for that....but you can try anyhow.

67 eggs is a lot...you might want to consider decreasing the clutch size. If you feed her well for a couple of days after she lays the eggs and then cut her back until you know she's producing eggs again and lower her temperature a bit to slow her metabolism she should produce less eggs next time. Overfeeding veiled chameleons can lead to egglaying issues, constipation and even prolapses and MBD.