Thank god i think she's laying her eggs! What next?

F

Farmers

New Member
My veiled cham is about a year old and has been showing signs of needing to lay eggs for a while so i put a deep 10" square tupperware tub filled with playsand into her 2x2x3ft high viv. After 3 full days of digging in the sand (she even fell asleep in it. I dug her out each evening as I didn't want her to suffocate overnight) she has at last turned around so i assume she's now laying her unfertilised eggs. So i now have a few questions about what to do next:
How long will she be laying for?
How many eggs will she produce?
What will she do when she's finished?
Is there anything specific I need to do for her once she finishes?
She hasn't eaten anything for days - should i feed her straight away?

Sorry for all the questions!

TIA
 
How long will she be laying for?- No answer when she is done she will be hopefully done :) You will know because she will cover the tunnel and climb back up to her normal spot. be prepared to see a very dirty much slimmer girl!

How many eggs will she produce? No way of telling-anywhere from a few and I have heard 60's. My lily did 28 first clutch
What will she do when she's finished? answered above


Is there anything specific I need to do for her once she finishes? Mist her she will be thirsty
She hasn't eaten anything for days - should i feed her straight away? Yes as much as she wants and dust them- she used a lot of calcium in making those eggs.

Now- Congratulations on your first clutch! I was tickled pink when it was finally over too much stress on me-lol.

after she is done and sure she is done I waited about 8 hours to make sure- you can take out the bin and dig up the eggs- mine were all the way at the bottom of the bin so keep looking! Then you will know how many :)

Then sit back relax and prepare yourself for when it happens again:(
 
Thanks for your answers lindawaz

Well she's finished now and I helped her fill the sand back in as she looked so wobbly bless her. She's eaten 2 wax worms off my hand and is now drinking the spray, but her aim was a bit off for the wax worms - she got my hand a couple of times before getting the worm. Is that normal? She does still have some sand on her head though so maybe that's impairing her vision a bit?

How often do they lay eggs if they're not mated?
 
Kinyonga wrote a very helpful, informative piece for Brad Ramsey's blog on keeping female veileds. It's worth a read. She suggests practices which might reduce the size of clutches and possibly even eliminate them entirely.

We've seen some sad stories of females laying infertile eggs 4 times in a year. Obviously that would be very hard on her so you want to help her avoid it.
 
Thanks that makes really interesting reading :)

I've now finished sifting through the sand and she laid 51 eggs in total. She managed to climb part way up one of her branches to sleep so hopefully we're through the worst of it now
 
Farmers said:
Thanks that makes really interesting reading :)

I've now finished sifting through the sand and she laid 51 eggs in total. She managed to climb part way up one of her branches to sleep so hopefully we're through the worst of it now
Click to expand...


Congrats on the eggs - we've got 97 eggs in the incubator (Vields) and 28 Panther eggs... now comes the HARD part for you and your girl, the waiting....... Good luck! :) Sounds like you (and she) did wonderful.

Glenna
 
If she is dirty tomorrow let her rest today you can use a damp Q-tip to clean her face up a bit. Just be carefull not to poke her.

I don't know about the missing aim. I would just chalk it up to EXHAUSTION!

Feed her well for the next day or two- dusted and gutloaded. Then start doing what is needed for the smaller clutches.

So happy it is finally over for the both of you, kick back relax and give her a chameleon size hassock to rest her weary legs on:)
 
You said..."I dug her out each evening as I didn't want her to suffocate overnight"...unless the tunnel collapsed on her I wouldn't have dug her out. You're disrupting her by doing that.

You said..."I helped her fill the sand back in as she looked so wobbly".....and..."her aim was a bit off for the wax worms"....She managed to climb part way up one of her branches to sleep"...I hope these things are not indicating a problem but suspect they might.

You said..."she laid 51 eggs in total"...that's a lot of eggs. You might want to try to lower the number somewhat. Feed and water her well for a couple of days and then I would cut back on what you are feeding her for a while to help limit the number of follicles that ovulate.

What supplements do you use specifically and how often for each? What do you gutload with? How many insects do you feed her in a week normally? What UVB light do you use...brand and type (compact, spiral, long linear, etc.)?
 
We all have a passion for these animals, that's why we're all here. Although some people may be misinformed or uneducated on the keeping of chameleons, we don't need to come off being so harsh.
 
I was wondering that myself. I didn't see anyone post anything harsh. There was some good information posted in this thread. The first clutch, regardless if it is fertile or not, is always traumatic for the owner, probably more so then the cham. LOL. Congratulations on making it through the ordeal.
 
Farmers, it might be helpful if you filled out the dreaded form. You have one of the experts on keeping female veileds successfully here. You should take advantage of that!

Congratulations on getting through your first clutch of eggs. Hopefully you'll both bounce back quickly and she won't have to go through anything this dramatic in the future.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone

She is looking much happier today. I misted her well late Thursday and all day yesterday and she is now back to her lovely green rather than the near black she went when she was laying!

I think the mis-aim must have been down to exhaustion as I watched her splat 3 crickets perfectly this morning before leaving her in peace to eat the others. She has also got rid of the sand off her face so that's probably helped too.

At what point are we out of the post-laying danger period?

I can't copy and paste the form atm as I'm on my phone, but will try to turn on the computer later and do it if my kids will let me!

She has 5-6 4th sized crickets (the size down from standard) most days dusted with vetark calci-dust.

The crickets have a substrate of porridge oats and they also have a mixture of dandelions from the garden, potato, leftover veg and various greens. They also have a milk carton lid of bug gel.

She then has mealworms 1 or 2 times a week gutloaded with bread and greens and I also put greens in the bowl with them which she eats with the worms.

And occasionally she'll have a waxworm/moth

She has a strip exo terra reptiglo 5 uv light

We have only had her a couple of months as her previous owner wanted to increase her snake collection to breed them, but i believe she's about a year old.

I will definitely start on kinyonga's regime suggested by elizadots once we're out of this post-laying period as i don't want her to go through that again.
 
If you wait too long after the laying to control the diet your chameleon might still produce a large clutch. I'm not a vet but my "theory" is that controlling the diet as the follicles are developing is what controls the clutch size...but its just my theory.
 
So when should i start it? She looks so skinny but I'm not sure how thin is normal for her age as I haven't had her all that long.

The good news is that she's wandering around her viv with no problems, tagging food first time every time and puffing up at me whenever I try to go near her so back to her usual unsociable self :)
 
I fed lily what would be considered too much for two days then I dropped it down to the recommended portions
 
I would say feed her well for 2 or 3 days from experience and then cut her back. You don't want to starve her....mine never look thin.
 
I'm a bit concerned today as I've come home to 2 eggs on the floor or her viv, and a wee (or whatever you should call the whitish stuff that isn't poo!) and she hasn't done a poo since she laid her eggs last thursday

Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Female vieled, approx 1 year old. I've had her since mid-july as her previous owner wanted to expand her snake collection.
* Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Not very! She doesn't like coming out and I don't force her. The only exception to his was pre-laying when she would climb up my arm when I was putting food in without giving me any option!
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Pre-laying she was having 5-6 4th sized crickets (the size down from standard) most days dusted with vetark calci-dust.

The crickets have a substrate of porridge oats and they also have a mixture of dandelions from the garden, potato, leftover veg and various greens. They also have a milk carton lid of bug gel.

She then has mealworms 1 or 2 times a week gutloaded with bread and greens and I also put torn up greens in the bowl with them which she eats with the worms. And occasionally she'll have a waxworm/moth.

Since 2 days after laying she has been having 8-10 crickets or a spoonful of mealworms every 2 or 3 days and the occasional waxworm. Gutload has remained the same.
* Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Vetark calci-dust whenever she has crickets
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Misting for 5-10 mins at least twice daily and I have seen her drinking
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? She hasn't pooed since laying, but previous to that she'd produce a dark poo along with a whitey-yellow wee(or whatever it's called!)

Today (7 days after laying 51 eggs) she has produced the whitey stuff, but no poo.

* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Nothing that hasn't already been said in this thread


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Wooden viv with mesh door. 2ftx2ftx3ft high.
* Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? UV is a reptiglo 5 strip light. Basking light is an exo terra basking light. Both lights are only on for 12 hours a day.
* Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
I can't remember what her pre-laying temps were as I've only just got myself a probe thermometer.
During the day now she has a reasonably steady temp of 21-22 degrees C in line with kinyonga's suggested regime for reducing clutch sizes. At night the heating goes off so it drops down to about 18 (I've checked this by measuring with my probe thermometer in the middle of the night)
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I have a dial hygrometer in her viv and it's showing around 55%
* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? None
* Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? The top of the cage is practically touching the ceiling! No fans, air vents or high traffic near her.
* Location - Where are you geographically located? Newhaven, East Sussex on the south coast of the UK
 
Correction! Turns out she has done a poo, however it's stuck to the leaves under her favourite spot! Still a bit concerned about the extra eggs though, and would appreciate any comments you may have regarding my setup as I want to do my best for her
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SunkistCham
I think my female veiled is dying
Replies
3
Views
278
kinyonga
K
Gabriellehernandezxxx
Old Cham, is she ok?
2 3 4
Replies
69
Views
3K
jannb
jannb
D
Laying Eggs All Over Enclosure
Replies
16
Views
716
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
Ghostbirb
Moving with possible egg laying!
Replies
8
Views
290
Sonny13
Sonny13
W
New chameleon grandma with questions!
2
Replies
39
Views
1K
MzLaurie
M
Back
Top Bottom