New Veiled Owner with concerns...

[Janie]

Hey all, I'm Jane and I'm new to these forums. I fell in love with and bought a female veiled from a keeper at the Hamburg Reptile Show in PA yesterday and I have a few concerns.
1. She hasn't eaten. I know that it is normal for new animals to take a few days to settle into their new environment before they start eating again. I attempted to feed her both from hand and from a dish, superworms and 1/2 inch crickets, to no avail. I have yet to find evidence of her 'doing her business' either.

2. I'm pretty sure she is pregnant. I wasn't made aware of this at the time of purchase. As soon as I left the reptile show, she began to display the tell-tale colours of a gravid female. She is also pretty chubby. I have no idea how far along she is or how she was being kept prior to bringing her home. Or even if her clutch is due to her being housed with a male or if they are just infertile eggs. I am very worried that she will become eggbound. I have already made sure to set up her all screen enclosure with everything a pregnant female would need.

3. I have no idea how old she is. Neither did the keeper. I'm making a guess at 7-9 months, but that is only an estimate.

She is very active and very calm. She spends a lot of time out of her enclosure without showing signs of being stressed, and when she is inside her cage, she does the whole healthy-chameleon-explore-the-trees-very-slowly bit.

While I have never actually owned a veiled of my own, I have owned many other reptiles and animals as well as cared for other chameleons in the many years I worked for rep rescues and pet stores. I did plenty of research and reading for weeks before I decided to bring one home. I have enclosed a few pics of my new girl, Minty Coco.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[LilBlue]

Hi Jane, welcome to the forum

Your female chameleon looks healthy to me. Nice round alert clear eyes. And yep,I'm going to say gravid. Looks like she could lay soon. I used ice cream pails for laying sites when I had a female panther, I think Veileds are a bit bigger, just want to make sure her bin is big and deep enough, so she is comfortable using it, and leave her be when you see her digging or she could abandon the spot.

I would wait until she has settled and laid her eggs before you start bonding with hand feeding. Between the move and being gravid, she's not going to want to eat much. Any added stress right now could lead to egg binding, so keeping handling to a minimum is a plus too.

They are shy creatures, more of a look at and appreciate type. It's fun learning all the cute quirks they have during feeding and misting.

You're going to enjoy your Cham so much. Have you picked a name yet? Look forward to seeing more pics of her and her set up

 

[zlew]

I don't own a female, so I won't be of much help. However, LOVE THE NAME!

 

[LilBlue]

I missed reading the name at the end lol. Very unique, I like it

 

[sharp229]

She does look healthy and very gravid. I would make sure she always has access to a laying bin and that you keep handling to a minimum until she has laid. The laying bin should be about 12 inches deep. You can find more info on this thread if needed:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/

Also, you should be able to tell if the eggs are fertile after they are laid by the color. If they are and you are planning on hatching them, just be aware it can be pretty involved.

If she refuses to lay in the container in her cage, you can fill a garbage can with playsand or soil and leave her alone in it to see if that helps. If not you would need to take her to a vet.

As mentioned, they do need complete privacy during the entire laying process. You can cover the sides of the cage for this.

 

[Janie]

Thank you for all the helpful responses guys. I have her enclosure set up for her to drop her eggs. Here's a pic. It's about 12-14 inches of clean, organic soil mixed with ecoearth. Her plants are laid in the back with about ten inches space across the rest of the planter

 

[Janie]

Update!
MC started eating normally a couple days ago. She does this adorable thing where she grabs the misting bottle and licks the end of it. I will try to get a pic. She is much more active and climbing all over her home. Today, when I stuck my hand in to take out the dish, she climbed right onto me and wrapped her tail around my finger. Here's a pic!