How big does a laying bin need to be?

[Zachariah]

My Fiona (female Veiled) is 10 months old so I want to know what a decent size laying bin should be, how deep, how wide, and what type of substrate to use? Do I need to keep it in her house always or just when she shows signs of laying eggs? If there are signs? I'm pretty freaked outabout her laying eggs because I heard that it's really stressful on the females and that they get really dehydrated and can possibly die. What can I do to lessen the stress on her during that time? I know that I have to keep her hydrated, that's really important. But do I need to provide less light hours? Less heat, more heat? More humidity, less food or more? Cover all four sides of her cage while I'm at school? What do I do with the eggs if she does lay? Since they will be infertile, do I remove them or will that anger her, stress her, or make her very protective?

 

[Elizadolots]

Somewhere I read a formula involving measuring your chameleon....

However, I think the general recommendation is something close to 12 x 12 x 12. It needs to be deep enough for her to dig a tunnel she can disappear in. It needs to be big enough for her to walk around digging test holes in.

The best substrate, in my opinion, is no substrate. It's just a chance for more problems.

If you post a picture of her, people here can tell you if she's bearing eggs.

If she does have eggs she needs to lay, it would help her to have a sense of privacy, but it doesn't want to be dark. So, maybe wrap the cage in newspaper or something else that lets light through but makes her feel like she's not being watched (poke a peekhole for yourself!).

 

[Zachariah]

Substrate?

I have green Zilla reptile carpet for the bottom of her house, but I was wondering what type of substrate for the laying bin?

 

[ChameleonRave]

for the substrate for the mixture for the laying bin you want soil that has not pesticides also a sand mixture you want it damp not soaking wet to where it will cave in if you can make a solid tunnel with your hand i say thats good enough for your chameleon to dig. Make sure that it doesn't dry out over time. (also clean out the sand before you use it.)

Also for the size of container you use depend on what your chameleon will use, I use a 5 gallon bucket almost all the way filled, but some use a NEW garbage bin and fill it full of dirt and sand mixture.

 

[Zachariah]

Wow, that's large!

A five gallon bucket would take up most of her house. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to fit something like that in her enclosure, with all her climbing tree, branches and vines. But if that's what she needs to be healthy then I will make it happen for her. My dad said that he'll help me build her a larger house if we can't fit it all in her current house. Her current house is 18" by 18" wide square by 36" high. Thanks for the advice.

 

[pantherlover]

A large plant pot will do fine. You want the soil/sand mixture to be pretty moist. What I do is leave a large deli cup full of the media in the cage. If you come home and there's dirt everywhere, than its time to put the full size bin in the cage. She will dig so deep in the bin she will probably be out of vision. Don't panic, she knows what she's doing. When she's done, she will back fill the hole and pack it down even stiffer than you did. When she's done offer lots of water and feeders heavily dusted with calcium. Try to beef her up for a few days after the lay than go back to normal feeding and supp schedule. Keep the the feedings small and the temp in the low 80s to reduce her clutch size, thus lengthening her life.

 

[jannb]

Veileds will sometimes refuse to lay in a small bin so the larger the better. I use a large trash can, the kind with wheels like to roll out to the side of the road for the trash pick up, with 12 inches of washed playsand in the bottom. You might find my laying bin/egg laying blog attached below helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

 

[kinyonga]

IMHO...the idea is to have a container about 12" deep by 12" x 8" filled with washed playsand in her cage from the time she reaches sexual maturity so that she has a place to dig to show you that/when she is ready to lay the eggs. This way you won't miss the sometimes subtle signs that she is ready. (Some females will lay the eggs in that size container.)

Once she starts to dig intently she can be moved to a larger container. I use a 65 liter rubbermaid container. I cut a large hole in the lid and screen it over. I fill the container half full of sand and add a branch. I put the chameleon in there ONCE SHE IS DIGGING INTENTLY...and leave her there. I put the lid on and lay a light on the screen part to keep her warm and let her see. be careful that you don't overheat the container by using too big a light.

Once she is digging don't let her see you watching her...or she may abandon the hole. If she abandons dit often enough, she can become eggbound.

You can feed and water her when she is in the large container as long as you don't leave any uneaten insects in there and as long as you don't do it while she is digging.