Infertile eggs, 1st time, 61 eggs

[scs]

Hi everybody,
My female veiled chameleon laid her first clutch of eggs right before I left for vacation (so about a month ago... just came back now). My parents cared for her during this time and said it only took her a few hours all together to dig, lay, and bury the eggs. After successfully laying 61 (infertile) eggs, she was super skinny and ate a ton. Now she has filled out and regained all strength and agility. I have read that to reduce chances of laying eggs often or in large quantities you are supposed to reduce the temperature and amount of food. I would have done this earlier but wasn't sure if she was old enough...
Her basking temperature is about 85 F now, but I'm not sure how much to reduce her food, as she has a huge appetite (she especially loves the moths and grasshoppers from outside ). I'd appreciate any guidelines regarding how to best care for her now.

 

[Paul30]

What makes you say those are infertile?

 

[brownie64]

Make sure you keep up on you supplements, and she gets a lot to drink. That's a lot of eggs, and that took a lot more out of her than you think. If you bred her give it a while to let her recuperate before trying again. When I first started Keeping chams I had a female that had 72 eggs, the next time she got gravid she became egg bound, and by the time I got her to the Vet it was too late to do anything for her.

 

[jannb]

Here's Lynda Horgan's blog on how to reduce heat and food. She's the one that came up with this method. I feed my adult females even less than Lynda. I do add greens and occasional fruits to their diet along with a limited amount of feeders.
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[scs]

What makes you say those are infertile?

Sorry for the confusion, by 'infertile' I meant that she wasn't bred... ever

 

[scs]

Make sure you keep up on you supplements, and she gets a lot to drink. That's a lot of eggs, and that took a lot more out of her than you think. If you bred her give it a while to let her recuperate before trying again. When I first started Keeping chams I had a female that had 72 eggs, the next time she got gravid she became egg bound, and by the time I got her to the Vet it was too late to do anything for her.

Did you breed the one that laid 72 eggs and next time was egg bound? Or are chams that lay a lot of eggs more prone to being egg bound if they are bred or not?


BTW-Thanks for the blog link Jann!

 

[kinyonga]

Laying large clutches can lead to reproductive issues unfortunately. It doesn't always happen though. Overfeeding can lead to bone issues, prolapse and other issues too.

When controlling the size of clutches and frequency with a veiled IMHO and experience you need to start the diet a couple of days after they lay. Starting it later/after she already has started on another clutch may not be the best because you want her to stay healthy to survive the next egglaying. It has been my theory that controlling the diet after they lay a clutch may stop them from growing/ovulating so many/any follicles thus produce a smaller clutch or no clutch at all. The only reason I lowered the temperature is to slow the digestion to make the female a little less hungry.

I know you are young so I hope I explained this well enough.

 

[scs]

Laying large clutches can lead to reproductive issues unfortunately. It doesn't always happen though. Overseeing can lead to bone issues, prolapse and other issues too.

When controlling the size of clutches and frequency with a veiled IMHO and experience you need to start the diet a couple of days after they lay. Starting it later/after she already has started on another clutch may not be the best because you want her to stay healthy to survive the next egglaying. It has been my theory that controlling the diet after they lay a clutch may stop them from growing/ovulating so many/any follicles thus produce a smaller clutch or no clutch at all. The only reason I lowered the temperature is to slow the digestion to make the female a little less hungry.

I know you are young so I hope I explained this well enough.

Thank you, I did understand most of it, except what you meant by "overseeing can lead to..." in the beginning......

Also, how long of a break do they get between clutches? And if she laid the eggs one month ago, is it to late to start the diet?

 

[brownie64]

Did you breed the one that laid 72 eggs and next time was egg bound? Or are chams that lay a lot of eggs more prone to being egg bound if they are bred or not?


BTW-Thanks for the blog link Jann!

Yes she laid 72 eggs, and the next time she became egg bound. It was way too fast for her she didn't recuperate from the large amount of eggs she laid before. You really need to do whatever you can to control the amount she has. It is just like with everything else even humans the babies take all the nutrients including her calcium which will compromise her bones and can lead to MBD. I recommend reading the sites that were previously mentioned

 

[kinyonga]

Oops....typo...meant over feeding.

According to a study from two years ago they can lay eggs every 132 days approximately.
As for it being too late to cut the feeding...I just would cut it back slightly/moderately but not as much as I would have recommended if it had been done earlier. You want to make sure she gets all she needs if she is producing eggs so she will be healthy when it comes time to lay them.