You said..."a coworker gave me her 2 veileds yesterday. I immediatly started looking up the best care ect. on the web. She basically dumped a 10 gallon (with an elevated screen attachment) with two adults in my lap, with no info at all. im a reptile person so i kinda knew the basics and ive already moved them into a bigger screen cage, but for the moment still together"...its not a good idea to keep them together. Their health will likely be compromised.

You said..."While looking up more info i looked into why one of them might be such a dark shade, i was worried it might be sick, well i ound out instead that shes probably going to lay eggs."...you need to provide an appropriate egglaying site for her ASAP. I hope its not to late. To begin with you can put a container in her cage that, when empty, is big enough that she can fit into with several inches to spare on all sides including above her. Fill it about 2/3rds full of washed playsand and moisten it so it will hold a tunnel. This gives her a place to dig to show you that she is going to lay eggs. Do not let her see you watching her once she starts to dig. You may need to move her to a larger egglaying site once she starts digging. We can talk more about that when the time comes.

You said..."what should i do for the eggs?"...she may dig in the same hole more than once or for more than a day or she may dig several test holes and then chose one. Once she has dug the hole to her satisfaction she will turn around bum down and lay her eggs. She will then fill in the hole and tamp the area down. Once she has returned to the branches the eggs can be dug up.

You will need a place to incubate the eggs where the temperatures are in the high 70'sF. You will need a container to put the eggs in to incubate them and some vermiculite for a substrate in the container. I will talk to you more about this later...I want the other information to get to you ASAP so you can work on it.


You said..."should i give her more vitemin supplements than usual or calcium?"...its important to make sure that she has good exposure to UVB and to make sure she gets enough calcium.

Here is some more information about veileds...
I have kept/raised/bred/hatched veiled chameleons for many years and most of the females live to be over 6 and the males even longer. This is what I do and why...

I provide UVB with Repti-sun 5.0's. They rarely get sunlight because of the climate I live in...but sunlight is the best form of UVB. There should be no glass or plastic between the UVB and the chameleon and the UVB whether its from the sun or the tube light. Compacts have been known to cause problems, so until they are proven okay, I wouldn't use one. Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce D3 which allows it to use the calcium.

Since most feeder insects we use have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous, I dust at most feedings with a phosphorous-free calcium powder.

I also dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene won't build up in the system. However, there is controversy as to whether all chameleons can convert beta carotene or not....so some people give a little preformed vitamin A once in a while. Preformed vitamin A can build up in the system...so be very careful with this. Excess preformed vitamin A can prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD.

I also dust with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder twica a month lightly to ensure that the chameleon gets enough D3. D3 from supplements can build up in the system...so don't overdo it.

Its important to have appropriate basking temperatures so that the chameleon can digest its food properly.

Its also important to gutload the insects and feed them a nutritious diet. I gutload my crickets with an assortment of greens (dandelion, kale, collard, curly endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc.).

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are four of the main players in good bone health and they need to be in balance. When trying to achieve the balance you need to look at what goes into the insects, what supplements you use and what is fed to the chameleon.

Watering is also important.

Good luck!

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