Baileywick
New Member
Hi folks. New to the forum and a proud (but worried) owner if two veiled yemen chams. Male and female both around 1 1/2 years old. After a lot of reading up, much of it on this site, I decided to try my hand at breeding them. My female became gravid after just 1 mating and began rejecting the male on the 5th of February. 2 weeks later I introduced a laying bin with a 50/50 sand/peat moss mix around 6inches deep. Now two days ago (33 days after mating) I came in from work to find her on top of her sand mix with an egg hanging out. I removed the egg and dug a small hole in the sand mix. I returned 15 minutes later to find another egg in the hole but Agatha had returned to the top of her vine. By yesterday morning she had laid no further eggs and was still not digging. So I replaced her bin for a larger one and when I returned from work around 5 yesterday found she had dug a nest and backed into it. This morning she was still there n looking a little stressed/dehydrated. I'm at work now and panicking about returning tonight to find her health deteriating further. Can anyone tell me how long it usually takes for a female to lay once she's backed into her hole? Can't seem to find the answer to this, but I imagine she's near the 24 hour mark. Thanks in advance
(I take it this is the reason for lack of replies). Anyway I got Agatha to vets lastnight for a shot of calcium n oxytocin. She went back in her hole and laid her eggs within an hour. Obviously this has been a difficult lay for her and undoubtedly taken its toll healthwise. I got some water into her lastnight via a pipette and she even took a couple of waxworms and gave a healthy looking poo/urate. I'm hoping she'll make a full recovery. My disappointment now lies with the eggs. Despite a good pairing with my male they're looking pretty infertile. Any chance of a second opinion/advice on candling?...
