Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi! My female that I've had since Christmas is getting orange stripes. I wasn't too worried until I read a post here titled "Going Orange" that said something about pregnancy. My girl is extremely fat. Does orange indicate pregnancy? She may have been exposed to a male before I got her. I don't know.

Any info will be much appreciated.

Deb

Hi! You saw my pictures. When female is having eggs se develops orange spots on her bask and sides. But I'm not sure if this is true indicator. But I know for sure that my female is pregnant because she is twice the size of my male and eggs are clearly seen through the skin. I wasnt realy sure what to expect, because the guy who sold them to me said that they don't have babys the first year or two because they are too young. And my are only one year old.

Females tend to get their blush color or orange in the spring/ summer this actually means they are ovulating and the males become quite interested in them at this time to mate. They may be non- responsive at first but soon they usually will breed. We call them Gravid ( means with eggs)

About 22 -24 days after breeding occurs the female will lay here eggs. IF in your case your girl just turns orange and no male has been present for quite some time, then they will be infertile, but still you have to provide her with a nest/ laying spot. Now females DO retain sperm from previous matings, but I do not believe for that long (6 months)

She can become eggbound if she does not have a suitable place to lay.

Also if she wer to get her orange color and get quite large / eggs and time just goes by with no laying and she begins to slowly go back to normal slimming down and color fading then she could do what is called re-absorbing, and no eggs will be layed. I like to tell people this incase it happens and they alwasy wonder "where the eggs went" LOL

As far as age, a female can mate as early as 8 months but many I have do not until a bit older.
Collareds/Care and More

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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Thanks! She hasn't seen another collard since well before Christmas. She has a cave rock. Is that a suitable nesting site? She sleeps in there every night. Any other special instructions?

Deb