Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male and female Nosy Be's that are almost a year old now and have been doing great (feeding, growth, activity). I'm concerned however about the female. Twice now she has looked as if she was developing eggs, but never actually layed any. Each time was within a few weeks of mating activity (never actually witnessed copulation). She would develop the gravid coloration (orange patches on her sides) and her belly would gradually get bigger. I put a Rubbermaid container in their enclosure filled with moistened dirt, some plastic plants and a branch, but she never goes near it. Sometimes I would see her near the base of the potted plants, but it looked like she was just hunting for crickets. I have never seen her digging nor have I ever found any evidence of it. Her belly never seems to get fully gravid looking as some of the pictures of pregnant females I have seen, and her coloring returns to normal. Eventually, after about 3 or 4 weeks, her belly begins to shrink back to normal too.

At first I was worried that she could be egg-bound, but she's eating normally and appears to be fine. Also, after the first time, she became receptive to the male again. This time, it's been about 5 weeks now since she first started to appear pregnant and I am getting worried again. Does anyone have any ideas what could be happening?

I have them in a large Reptarium enclosure which I clean on a regular basis. Their main diet consists of 3/4" crickets dusted with Repcal calcium/D3 and Herptvite. I use a Powersun mercury vapor bulb for their basking light. I mist them 2 to 4 times per day with an occasional shower soaking every few weeks. I also let them freely climb around the hanging plants outside of their cage or on the plants in my sunroom, and if the weather is warm enough, outside on the deck. I have been breeding Bearded Dragons for a couple of years now and have a lot of experience with snakes, but this is my first pair of Panther Chameleons, and I would really like to breed them successfully as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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1.4.0 Bearded Dragons (Frodo, Red Sonya, Galadriel, Arwen, Lakis)
1.1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleons (Fred and Wilma)
1.1.0 Peacock Day Gecko
0.1.0 Gold Dust Day Gecko
0.1.0 Columbian Red-Tail Boa (Bilbo)
0.1.0 Ball Python (Daisy)
0.1.0 California King Snake (Cali)
1.1.0 Honduran Milk Snakes
0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads
0.1.0 Fat Cat (Mollie)
1.0.0 Mini Pinscher x Chihuahua (Pepper)

...

I think you have been lucky so far David. Young female Panthers usually develop eggs between 5 to 10 months. She probably had infertile eggs and reabsorbed them. If the male had mated with her while she was young and still rapidly growing she probably would have died. They pull calcium out of their bones in an attempt to fertilize their eggs and she probably wouldn't have had enough for herself while growing so much. Its not a good idea to keep them together. Panthers are solitary animals and should not be kept in pairs, they come together to mate and otherwise live alone. She has probably been sending all sorts of signals to the male because she doesn't know herself if she is gravid(pregnant) or not. I would get another cage and separate them for a couple of months, then allow her to see him from a safe distance before you put her back together with him to mate. If she protests by gaping, hissing or rocking back and forth don't put them together. Wait a week and try again. You need to be on here more often asking questions. When someone shows up and talks about what they have been doing wrong all along poeple tend to not answer them but just roll their eyes.

Thanks for the response. After reading your post I went back and read over some of the initial research material that I used before getting the Panthers, and you are correct, they should be kept separately. I thought I had read somewhere that the Nosy Be's in particular could be found a lot closer together (within eyesight) in the wild, with a single male in the center of each cluster, and sometimes a male and a female in the same bush. That led me to try housing them together to see how they did. I also bought them as young juveniles (about 5 months old) from a breeder who said they could be kept together if the enclosure was large enough. They always seemed to get along great and I always made sure that they each got their fill of food, so I guess I got too complacent. I was thinking of getting one of the larger Reptariums, which I will now probably use for the female so I can fit a deeper nesting tub in there.

At what age do most breeders start breeding their females? Again, I thought I had read somewhere that 9 months was a good age to start.

Thanks again for your help!

Great, I'm glad you are going to sepearte them. Aside from that it sounds like you are doing a lot of things correctly. I don't know where your female might be at. She looks as if she could have eggs but she basically looks very healthy and your male looks fantastic.

I generally don't breed female panthers or veileds until they are over 1 year of age. I like to make sure that they are full grown before I put the demands of fertile eggs on the female.

Thanks, kinyonga. That makes good sense to wait until she is fully mature and strong enough. That's what I do with my Bearded Dragons (actually, I wait until they are 2 years old before introducing them to the male). I guess I'm too eager to start breeding the Panthers, I let my eagerness get the better of me! :O
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1.4.0 Bearded Dragons (Frodo, Red Sonya, Galadriel, Arwen, Lakis)
1.1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleons (Fred and Wilma)
1.1.0 Peacock Day Gecko
0.1.0 Gold Dust Day Gecko
0.1.0 Columbian Red-Tail Boa (Bilbo)
0.1.0 Ball Python (Daisy)
0.1.0 California King Snake (Cali)
1.1.0 Honduran Milk Snakes
0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads
0.1.0 Fat Cat (Mollie)
1.0.0 Mini Pinscher x Chihuahua (Pepper)

Thanks!

I moved the Fred to the sunroom for now since the conditions in there this time of year are perfect. He doesn't mind eating from a cup so it is easier to feed him in there without worrying about crickets running around everywhere. I'm checking on him regularly to make sure he doesn't roam too far, but there's not much for him to get into that could be dangerous.

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1.4.0 Bearded Dragons (Frodo, Red Sonya, Galadriel, Arwen, Lakis)
1.1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleons (Fred and Wilma)
1.1.0 Peacock Day Gecko
0.1.0 Gold Dust Day Gecko
0.1.0 Columbian Red-Tail Boa (Bilbo)
0.1.0 Ball Python (Daisy)
0.1.0 California King Snake (Cali)
1.1.0 Honduran Milk Snakes
0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads
0.1.0 Fat Cat (Mollie)
1.0.0 Mini Pinscher x Chihuahua (Pepper)

PS: That's a Night Blooming Cereus (Hylocereus undatus) that he is climbing on. It has beautiful flowers that blossom only at night. Each flower only blooms once and produces edible fruit if pollinated.

Does your bloom? This is a cactus, but the foliage on yours doesn't look typical. Just curious - could be the photo itself and the age of the plant! Looks like you have had it for a while. I have only "met" one once and had the pleaseure of seeing it in bloom
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet