Panther cham laying in potted plant instead of laying bin

[dagy24]

I've had Priscilla for just over a month and for most of that time she appeared like she COULD have eggs. I put a laying bin in, which was a large-ish round planter with moist sand. She knows it's there.

Today I got out of bed (just now) and saw her tail deep in a hole she dug in a potted plant. I had small river rocks over it (big enough that a cham couldn't eat it though) and she's moved those aside. Since shes already gotten so deep I covered the cage (she didn't see me) and am leaving her.

Did I do the right thing in leaving her or should I have moved her to her laying bin/a different container? The soil is a mix of organic soil and sand and is a little deeper than 12".

 

[randomryan007]

i'd leave her alone. my female refused to use a laying bin too unstead she uses her plant pots. I just leave her alone. its her eggs not mine and who am i to tell her where she lays. personal choice i guess

 

[sdheli420]

just let her do her thing..they seem to "know" where they want to lay..ive only had a few bins actually used...

 

[melric]

I was having trouble with my cham laying in her bin last month. I took everything out and dumped a large amount of sand in her exoterra and she laid in the corner. It worked for me, but if she doesn't abandon the hole I would just leave her. My girl just kept digging large holes and abandoning them.

 

[dagy24]

Ok thanks guys. I have to leave now for a few hours, I'm helping a friend move today of all days! Ugh. But I peeked for the last time and she's still digging and is deeper in the hole so I'll just leave her and at least I wont be here tempted to peek at her.

 

[laurie]

Just have a nice dat thinking of the fun of getting those eggs out. I usually take the plant out then dig down by hand. Going into and past the roots is fun. Are they fertile eggs? If they are be very very careful if it is a plant with lots of roots.

 

[dagy24]

Haha, right? Mostly I need to clean the cage because she threw the dirt all over.

Either way, she abandoned the hole. I'm preparing her a bigger separate laying container (In a largish storage box.) and will put her in there when I'm done and see how it goes. Hopefully better!

 

[chams1]

Just let her be. Part of the deal is getting the substrate to their liking for their hole/nest, and if they find that "perfectness" in the plant, then so be it. However, just be sure to pay attention to them (at a distance) because things can happen with plant digging. I refer you to my prior post just as a precaution: https://www.chameleonforums.com/plant-digging-44639/

 

[dagy24]

Thanks chams1. I ended up moving her to a separate bin before I saw your post but either way, I made the substrate in the laying bin similar to what I had the plants potted in (organic soil and sand). If she hadn't stopped digging and gone back to hanging out in her plants I would have left her.

 

[dagy24]

FYI, she laid her eggs today in her bin. Just letting anyone who reads this thread know she's all done and it went well.

 

[kinyonga]

How many did she lay? How did she act after (eating? drinking?)?

 

[imcurt]

Dont leave us hanging hows she doing and how many eggs..happy ending are awesome!!Oh and my female ambilobe lays in plants too. another good reason to use organic potting soil.

 

[dagy24]

Haha Sorry! She laid 28 very white oval shaped eggs. I am 99.9% sure they are infertile but I'm keeping them anyway. Didn't have vermiculite or anything proper (my local stores had nothing last time I was there) so they're in a container with organic soil and sand but like I said, I am pretty sure they are infertile. I only got her a month ago, however, so I'm leaving open the possibility that the breeder let it happen and that she's been holding them for a while. Really doubt it though.

I found her having covered the hole after lights out time, and she was trying to climb up the sides of the container. She looks much thinner and I felt no eggs. I put her lights back on for an hour to give her time to drink and misted heavily and let a dripper run for that hour and she drank a ton. I put her lights out since it was 10:30 PM by this point and she'd been up since 7. Tomorrow I'm getting up with the chams to make sure she has her food right away. I didn't want to feed her this late since the lights were going out. She's asleep now in her usual place and looked well after coming out of the bin.

Funny she picked april fools day, haha.

 

[kinyonga]

I would get some vermiculite or perlite or hatchrite tomorrow and move them without rotating them as you move them. I think if you leave them on the soil they will be hard to keep at the right humidity, etc. and you could lose them.

28 is a good number! Not too big...not too small for a clutch.

 

[dagy24]

I'm on the lookout for those products today. Right now the only thing I have is like, home depot and lowes and they always have vermiculite/perlite products but not just plain vermiculite or perlite.

Today she ate the biggest hornworm I thought she could handle, so it seems all is well.