How to treat an egg bound Panther Chameleon?

[Ron Jung]

Hi my name is Ron and I am fairly new here only posting now 3 times. I have a Nosy Faly female who is egg bound for around 1 month or longer. She would come down to the soil bucket and dig but never laid eggs. After 2 weeks she stopped digging and going down. Now she lays on the soil and doesn't move too much and is huge but she eats like 2-3 crickets a day and drinks from a turkey baster every day and really well. Is there anything I can do to help her to pass her eggs like cod liver oil or something along those lines? I am afraid if she stay like this she will die. She was a WC female and gave me 17 beautiful offspring but this time she didn't lay.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.
Ron.

 

[MWheelock]

Unfortunately, it is always hard to determine when intervention is necessary. I'm not sure I'm all that excited that she's just laying on the bottom of the cage.
I do like that she is still eating and drinking.

It is possible that a calcium injection +/-oxytocin might be required. It does sound like it's time to get a vet involved.

Good luck

 

[Jordyt]

Maybe?

Hi my name is Ron and I am fairly new here only posting now 3 times. I have a Nosy Faly female who is egg bound for around 1 month or longer. She would come down to the soil bucket and dig but never laid eggs. After 2 weeks she stopped digging and going down. Now she lays on the soil and doesn't move too much and is huge but she eats like 2-3 crickets a day and drinks from a turkey baster every day and really well. Is there anything I can do to help her to pass her eggs like cod liver oil or something along those lines? I am afraid if she stay like this she will die. She was a WC female and gave me 17 beautiful offspring but this time she didn't lay.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.
Ron.

I don't have a ton of experience because my girl has only laid twice. But it normally takes her three weeks of starting to dig and stopping, before she fully commits and lays. She will even stop eating for extended periods while this is happening.

Also are you checking on her too often. I am sure you know this already, but if you bother them too much they won't lay.

That's all I have so sorry if it doesn't help.

 

[Kath44]

I think if you believe her to be egg bound and she is laying down at the bottom. You need to get her to a vet, soon as you can. Otherwise your fear may come true.
Hope you can take her and she gets rid of those pesky eggs. Kath.

 

[Olimpia]

If she's being lethargic it is time NOW to go to a vet, otherwise she'll continue to go downhill. There really aren't any home remedies for egg binding. A vet will typically give her a shot of oxytocin along with some calcium to induce contractions.

But it'll be worth looking into why she's had trouble laying eggs this time so it can be avoided down the line again. Perhaps there is an issue with her laying bin? Or it could be nutritional, perhaps a lack of enough calcium in her diet for example.

 

[Ron Jung]

Thanks for all your responses. I know about not disturbing them so put a physical barrier up so she can't see out and we can't see in. Only time was when she climbed back up I would hand feed her and she drinks from a turkey baster. I use Calcium Plus from Repashy every feeding so that isn't the issue. I used the same laying container she used the last time when she dropped 17 eggs. Didn't change the type of substraite either so nothing changed not the conditions or diet. I guess the Vet is the next step.

Thanks all for your help.
Ron.

 

[MsRulh]

Do keep us posted!

 

[biffle]

My girls will not lay in the same bin unless either the dirt completely drys out between laying or I replace the dirt. I think that they are detecting traces of mold.

Jason.

 

[melble68]

. I use Calcium Plus from Repashy every feeding so that isn't the issue.
Ron.

I'm not saying that this causing the issues you are currently having, but I pretty sue the Repashy Calcium Plus contains D3. I don't think you want to be using that daily. I only use it twice a month. Calcium only daily, yes.

 

[Ron Jung]

The calcium plus from Repashy is medium D3 they also sell low and high. I use it daily because I don't use UV bulbs on any of my cham and have raised 17 babies with no problems without UV light. In the summer they go outside but all fall, winter and early spring they do without UV just a T5 HO 6500K light and never had any problems. I hope this doesn't start a UV debate as I read before back and forth on that one. In the 90's we didn't have UV bulbs and I raised Grandis Day gecko's and chameleons with no problems. Then went to darts now back to chams with darts.

My friend Edgar from Chameleons Canada just came by had a look at her and suggested putting her in another enclosure and putting 6" of soil in the whole bottom of the cage instead of a container and he said this sometimes works that they will lay eggs then. She still moves around and eats well and drinks well. Other think is she is a WC was an adult when I got her nearly 3.5 years ago so they generally live like 5 years she might just be getting to the end of her life and is finding it hard to pass the eggs so I will try the full soil bottom and see how that works.

Again thanks for all your thoughts and advise.
Ron

 

[melble68]

Ron, it sounds like you've got things dialed in. Interesting method you are having success with. Now back to your thread. I didn't mean to side track anything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Edgar's idea. You've got some super positive mojo coming from FL for your girl.

 

[Ron Jung]

The passing of my girl

She passed away tonight. I think I got to her shortly after passing so I opened her up and removed 27 eggs from her. I hope they are viable so she may live on through her offspring. May she rest in peace.

Ron.