drewtt
New Member
I first noticed she may be ready (let's call it day 0) because I came home from work and she was sitting on her chillout branch. I don't have any dirt brown chameleons, so it must have been Ms Cristatus sitting there, caked in dirt. Her terrarium was a mess; plants were somewhat uprooted, and the ground wasn't level at all. I couldn't find any eggs in the enclosure, so she must have still had them all inside of her.
Day 1 - Before heading to work in the morning, I put her in a grey translucent rubbermaid, ~18x12x18", with 8 inches of dirt. No lights on her, except ambient window & fluorescent light. No luck when I came home.
Day 2 to 5 - Lay bin set-up similar to day 1. One day I added a fluorescent light; one day I moved the bin so it got less light; one day I added more dirt (a finer topsoil); one day I tried adding more moisture to the soil -- no luck.
Day 6 - It was suggested to me that I cut her lay bin substrate with sand. I didn't have any sand, and I was presumably too lazy to go to Home Depot and get some, so I figured I'd try that the next day. Instead, I followed another forum member's suggestion heating up the soil. Because I was going to be putting 40W over her lay bin, I dumped her lay bin soil in a much taller lay bin and added whatever I had leftover laying around. The latter was topsoil with perlite, and you can see it in pictures -- yes I'm aware of it. The soil temperature was around 65 and the ambient temp was 68 on all the previous days. With the added heat, the soil temp went up to 69, and the temp in her bin was around 72-73. She got water in the morning, then went in the bin. I got home around 4pm and she had just started to dig. I jimmy-rigged a blanket over her bin so I could watch her with the camera and so she couldn't see me.
By 530pm, all her eggs were out, and she was patching up her little hole.
By 630, she was done and wanting out of the bin. She went right to the shower to have a drink, then binged on a silkworm. I conveniently snapped a pic of her in the shower while she was doing 'that eye thing.'
The end result: 11 happy eggs
Long story short:
I believe she was ready to lay a week before she actually did. I'm not sure if it was the increase in ambient temp, the increase in soil temp, or the drop in humidity during the day that she doesn't usually experience, but I believe that it was one of the changes that triggered her to dig and lay. However, I was not expecting her to lay so late during the day.
Some of you will know that cristatus literature is quite variable. I hope that someone in a similar situation may learn from my experiences, and that it can be of some assistance down the road.
Cheers,
Drew
Day 1 - Before heading to work in the morning, I put her in a grey translucent rubbermaid, ~18x12x18", with 8 inches of dirt. No lights on her, except ambient window & fluorescent light. No luck when I came home.
Day 2 to 5 - Lay bin set-up similar to day 1. One day I added a fluorescent light; one day I moved the bin so it got less light; one day I added more dirt (a finer topsoil); one day I tried adding more moisture to the soil -- no luck.
Day 6 - It was suggested to me that I cut her lay bin substrate with sand. I didn't have any sand, and I was presumably too lazy to go to Home Depot and get some, so I figured I'd try that the next day. Instead, I followed another forum member's suggestion heating up the soil. Because I was going to be putting 40W over her lay bin, I dumped her lay bin soil in a much taller lay bin and added whatever I had leftover laying around. The latter was topsoil with perlite, and you can see it in pictures -- yes I'm aware of it. The soil temperature was around 65 and the ambient temp was 68 on all the previous days. With the added heat, the soil temp went up to 69, and the temp in her bin was around 72-73. She got water in the morning, then went in the bin. I got home around 4pm and she had just started to dig. I jimmy-rigged a blanket over her bin so I could watch her with the camera and so she couldn't see me.
By 530pm, all her eggs were out, and she was patching up her little hole.
By 630, she was done and wanting out of the bin. She went right to the shower to have a drink, then binged on a silkworm. I conveniently snapped a pic of her in the shower while she was doing 'that eye thing.'
The end result: 11 happy eggs
Long story short:
I believe she was ready to lay a week before she actually did. I'm not sure if it was the increase in ambient temp, the increase in soil temp, or the drop in humidity during the day that she doesn't usually experience, but I believe that it was one of the changes that triggered her to dig and lay. However, I was not expecting her to lay so late during the day.
Some of you will know that cristatus literature is quite variable. I hope that someone in a similar situation may learn from my experiences, and that it can be of some assistance down the road.
Cheers,
Drew
