Help, my veiled dropped an egg ??????

[gemmatony10]

Hi, recently bought another veiled chameleon, female, 20 months old. She has kinda struggled with the move, and has been a bit stressed since I got her, has not been impressed with the new flex, and has been dark quite alot of the time.

Am very closely monitering her temps and humidity, and have put her in the quietest room in the house, taped up her flex with black paper to give her privacy, when I realised that she is carrying eggs, and of course sorted out laying buckets too.

I was taking her out, and misting her with warm water every other day, as she was showing signs of dehydration.

She is now eating again, and am managing to get her to drink using the spray n pause technique, which is very time consuming, but so worth it, just to see her take a few laps of water.

She had perked up over the last few days, and is alot more active, her colouring has been alot brighter as well.

This morning though, there's 2 eggs of the floor of her viv, am freaking out right now, as ive never heard of this happening, and my other females have certainly never done anything like this

Ive spoke to her previous owner, she sais she has never had any problems with egg laying, had a small cycle at 6 months, and another at 18 months (2 months ago) and laid loads of eggs over a 6 week period....again ive never heard of this, and all of my chams dug for a few days, and laid in the one go

Any advice would be great, as im really stumped on this many thanks in advance, Gemma.

 

[tedkelly]

1ST are they fertile????
It seems to be common for pregnant chameleons to go off their food for a while, as their urge to dig increases greatly. Making sure your chameleon has a good place for digging, Might be the key to getting her to relax and eat.
You want your container to be at least 14 - 15 inch tall and wide enough for a chameleon to at least dig 4-5 holed in it. Put her in a room where she cant be desturbed and as complete privacy and see if she will lay the rest! I cant say Ive heard of them laying over several months so i will let someone who know answer that for you,
Am sure you will get more advice then this but this is what i would do for now.
As i take it shes still in her cage as you said you found them on the floor???

 

[dagy24]

Can you describe the laying bin you've set up a little more? How big, is it in her enclosure or do you have a big separate one you put her in etc. I'm assuming since you've had other females that have laid you know the drill, but I think that information would help narrow down the problem or rule out the husbandry as the problem. Filling out the How to ask for help form and posting it here might also help.

 

[kinyonga]

IMHO you need to get the container in her cage right away since she's dropping eggs. I hope you can catch her in time.

Do not let her see you watching her when/if she starts digging...it will make her abandon the hole and can lead to eggbinding.

Female veileds can lay infertile eggs from the time they reach sexual maturity on...and if they are fed too much the clutches can be large and the chameleon can have difficulties with the process of laying them. They can lay them three or four times a year.

 

[gemmatony10]

Yes she is my 3rd female veiled and I know the drill, have been through sucessfull lays with my other two, which are cooking away nicely, I am also raising panther ambilobe girls for next year so am not a beginner.

She was with my male a few weeks ago, and im pretty sure the mating was succesfull. As its her 1st time with a male, I wasnt planning on incubating this clutch anyway.

The laying bucket's have been set up since I got her, its a large planter that you put large potted plants or trees in. There is two, one with sand, and another with a sand/soil mixture. She has shown no interest in these what so ever, never seen her in them.

So far ive found 4 eggs, two that were up close to her basking area (all dried from the heat) and two on the floor, so she is obviously dropping them from the branches. One was covered in poop, and it kinda looks like she has passed it the same time as shes been passing the stool. The other is really soft and squishy, and you can see the fluid floating around in it.

They are very small (about the size of a baked bean) which makes me think they might be early, and they are not "formed" like the ones I have in my incubator.

Since she has passed these, I cannot believe how much better she looks...is there a chance then were lodged somehow, and its been making her ill the last few weeks ???????

Ive lifted her down to the soil bucket, and she is still there...so fingers crossed she understands what she has to do.

Im just concerned about the previous owner saying that it took her 6 weeks to lay the last clutch a few at a time.....I know this is not normal

thanks for all the replys guys, and I will keep you all posted

 

[Miss Lily]

As you know they usually lay them all at once. Sounds like maybe should wasn't kept in great conditions in her last home. Having said that, my first female dropped a singel egg a couple of days before she laid one of her clutches and went on to lay successfully! Are you giving her plain calcium at every fed to give her a boost? Mine get calcium every feed - Tues and Thurs and vits with D3 on Saturdays.

 

[gemmatony10]

She was in beautiful condition when I got her, the only think is the uvb was suspended inside her flex, and she used to climb on it

She was in a rep room, so not used to alot of human contact, but to be honest, she is the most tame and non-aggresive out of my 3.

Shes looks good this morning, and no more dropped eggs, so later on I will lift her back down to the bucket, to try and encourage her again, and yes she gets calcium and every feed except a saturday, when she gets nutrobal multi-vits.

Im still thinking right now, that its just down to stress of the move, as shes obviously been carrying eggs when this has happened