Receptive

[scs]

My female veiled chameleon has never been bred and has laid three clutches of eggs: 61, 57, and 40. Between the second and third clutch I started feeding her on a 'diet' recommended on this website: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

I know that less food overall leads to smaller amounts or no eggs at all. Iggy, my chameleon, is only about 3ish years old... I've kept up the feeding little or nothing two days and then a medium sized feast on the third day but I'm not sure when to start giving her as much as she wants. She recently (as in two days ago) started getting more vibrant robin's egg blue and orange colors and she is constantly on the move around her big cage. Since chameleons need to be fit, well fed, with the right amount of calcium, and just generally with enough energy when they lay their eggs, I'm not sure if I should continue feeding her only a little up until after she lays her eggs.... any suggestions about timing?

 

[kinyonga]

When did she lay the last batch of eggs?

 

[scs]

December 17, 2014

Not sure if it matters, but she just finished up shedding a week or so ago...

 

[scs]

Any thoughts? I don't want to start feeding her a lot and then make her lay a large amount of eggs but also don't want to not feed her enough before she lays her eggs because then she might not have all the energy she needs...

 

[kinyonga]

Again...when did she lay the last batch of eggs?/

After that last batch of eggs, did you feed her well for a couple of days and then cut her diet back or how did you do it? What do you consider a medium feast? What's your dusting schedule and what supplements specifically do you use? What do you feed/gutload your insects with specifically

 

[scs]

December 17, 2014

Not sure if it matters, but she just finished up shedding a week or so ago...

She laid the last batch of eggs on December 17, 2014.

I fed her well as in about 10 crickets every day for about 5 days and then I started feeding her a bit less and less until about 1 1/2 weeks after she laid her eggs she was back to:
day 1: 10 crickets
day 2: nothing
day 3: 5 crickets/worms
^repeat^
As for dusting/supplementing:
calcium- 4 times a week
D3- once every two weeks
MultiVitamin- two feedings every two weeks

Waxworms and Mealworms just stay in their little sawdust- filled boxes in the fridge. Crickets get Flukers orange food cubes, Flukers hydrating stuff, and whatever we happen to have some of: lettuce, leaves (dandelions, etc), little chunk of carrot or fruit, etc. The extra greens/veggies/fruits vary depending on what is outside (weeds and garden) and what we happen to have...

 

[scs]

I've still been feeding her on her 'diet'... when should I start feeding her a lot?

 

[happy]

Id start feeding her normally the day after she lays. be sure to offer more water, and calcium dusted crickets... calcium left her, and went into eggs.

 

[kinyonga]

When did she lay the first clutches? They could/should lay a clutch every 120 or so days.

The idea of the diet is that if the chameleon is fed well for a couple of days after laying the clutch it will help her recover from the egg production and laying. my opinion is that if she is then cut back she will hopefully ovulate fewer/no follicles and thus produce less/no eggs. If she isn't cut back far enough that she stops producing, then when she is producing the eggs and in the stage of the biggest growth of the eggs (likely the last 30 or so days of the 120 day cycle) she should have more food....not all she can eat...but more than the "diet". This is mostly my opinion from what I have learned over the last 20+ years of keeping/breeding/raising chameleons.

You didn't say what brands of supplements you use. Also...what form of vitamin A is in the vitamins?

Crickets, roaches, superworms, locusts can be fed a wide variety of greens such as collards, dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive and a wide variety of veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato.