Worried...!!

[Jebbio24]

Species: Veiled
Gender: Female
Age: 7 Months (Approximately)

My Female Veiled was showing different signs which suggested she was due to lay her FIRST clutch of (infertile) eggs sometime soon so I went through with the normal procedure from what I have read and put in a pot full of sand to allow for her to dig but she has been digging for about a week now!! I am keeping the sand moist so that she doesn't go off the digging site and try find somewhere else to dig. She keeps on returning to it each day and I have covered up half the tank so she has her privacy and that no background movement puts her off! The worrying part is that fact that I have found 3 eggs now spaced out over the week amongst her feces on branches and logs!!!
She is becoming very weak I think due to all the digging! I got her out of thre tank yesterday and she took two locusts from my ahnd which she has never done before which suggested she was very hungry! I also saw her drinking droplets of water today from the branches after I had misted the tank. The colour of her feces today was brown, white and clear which means she should be hydrated enough.

Has anyone else had this problem before? Does anything think it's because her first time and she doesn't really know what she's doing? I thought most of it comes with instinct?

I knew that she should be quite tired and hungry once she had laid her clutch of eggs but I didn't think it would go on for this long which has weakened her more that I expected!

If anyone could help it would be much appreciated.

I can proviode more info if needed. Also I will take a picture first thing tomorrow because she is sleeping now.

Thanks

 

[Jebbio24]

Sorry, just read my post again and my spelling is awful! Time for bed I think!

 

[Elizadolots]

Does it seem like she laid all her eggs or is she still carrying? Maybe you could post a current picture? 3 eggs doesn't sound like enough. Did you ever see her make a tunnel and go in?

 

[kinyonga]

If she is dropping eggs it can be okay but it can also be a sign of impending trouble.

How big is the container you have provided for her? Does she see you watching her when she is digging? Does she dig in the same hole over and over or keep starting a new hole?

 

[jojackson]

Following this closely for future reference..........

 

[RAFASTAR23]

Following this closely for future reference..........

I agree.

 

[CarmaChameleon]

How big of a container do you have??? How deep is the sand????

 

[Jebbio24]

Good news.... She ended up laying around 20 eggs after she had been digging for just over a week! The container is around 7 inches deep and was filled with sand I bought from the pet store especially for reptiles! I kept the sand moist each day as it seemed to dry out quite quickly with her digging every day! The wierd thing was like I said before was the fact that she had laid one or two eggs before hand on the branches and on the floor of than tank! She ended up dropping around 4/5 eggs whilst excreting her spaced out over the week!
Problem is now, she hasn't eaten for two days now and looks quite weak! She has however drunk quite a bit but still looks quite dehydrated!
I've read this is normal practice but how long do you leave
It before giving them a helping hand?? ie a vet visit etc!?

Any tips/ tricks from you guys?

Cheers

 

[farrahsc]

7" is not deep enough. At least 12" is recommended. Is she skinny now? Can you tell there are no more eggs?

 

[Jebbio24]

Doesn't that depend on the size of her though? No way is she fully grown! She dug right to the bottom and seemed ok with it. I think it was just because the sand wasn't moist enough and she couldn't dig deep enough!
I've come home today and she looks quite dehydrated as her eyes have sunk in a bit more than they should and her tail looks a bit shrivelled up so I gave her a gentle persuasion by putting her next to the water source. She has drunk quite a bit luckily so hopefully she'll be ok. Her attitude has changed since she laid the large clutch and she isn't digging anymore so I guess she hasn't got anymore eggs inside but I will keep a close eye on her in the next 24 hours and will update the thread with any improvements.

 

[farrahsc]

Here is Jan's egg laying blog which is extremely helpful!
My girl is also 7 months but has yet to show any signs of being gravid. I keep her at cooler temps and watch her diet closely. She is 10" long from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail. I've never heard that a smaller cham needs a smaller bin so you may want to read her blog. Can you post any pics of her?

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html

 

[kinyonga]

She should have been quite hungry after laying the eggs. She should recover quite quickly from the egglaying too (in a day or two). Her eyes should not be sinking in...she should be returning to normal.

If she's lethargic and not eating, sitting low in her cage or showing any other signs of not being back to her normal self, then I would take her to a vet. She may have retained eggs. If you find out soon enough, then she might be able to be given oxytocin to make her lay them....but if you wait and she has retained some, it will likely mean that the only recourse will be surgery.

While she was digging the holes, did she ever see you watching her?

 

[Jebbio24]

Sorry to say guys but after taking her to the vet and getting her a labour inducing drug and calcium injection, she became very weak and passed away. She actually gave birth to three eggs after the treatment so it seemed that she didn't lay all of the eggs all in one go! I managed to hand feed her some meal worms and also some water with calcium and vit C powder in but she gave up her life about four days ago! I felt that I had done everything I could for her but unfortunatley she didn't get better!

 

[jojackson]

Sorry to hear that, my sympathy.