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Hi

I have a female veiled, she is now about 11 months old. I am not breeding her. Finally a few days ago she showed signs of getting ready to lay her eggs. I have always had a container of sand in the cage for this time. Instead of digging in the sand she has been digging at the bottom of the cage in places where there is no sand or soil. So I put in 3 more containers this time with soil in them. She dug in one for a while then left it alone. She is constantly digging in one of the containers to the point where she has dug up all the soil and is now digging at the bottom of the container, basically just scraping the plastic. I figured that it was not deep enough, so yesterday I put in a pot that was about 1 foot deep. She hasn't touched it, instead she is digging the plastic again in the other container. How long until I should really worry and get her to a vet? Am I doing something wrong?

You said..."I put in 3 more containers this time with soil in them. She dug in one for a while then left it alone. She is constantly digging in one of the containers to the point where she has dug up all the soil and is now digging at the bottom of the container, basically just scraping the plastic. I figured that it was not deep enough, so yesterday I put in a pot that was about 1 foot deep. She hasn't touched it, instead she is digging the plastic again in the other container"...she is likely happy with the container she is digging in. Often they will dig to the bottom and continue to dig. Is the container opaque or see-through? If its see-through, this may be part of the reason she is digging for so long. I would cover the outside of the container....even just adding cardboard around it should be enough. Eventually she should lay her eggs there.

You asked..."How long until I should really worry and get her to a vet?"...some of them take a few days before they will finally lay the eggs. Don't let her see you watching you or she might abandon the hole...and that can lead to problems if she sees you too often.

You said..."Am I doing something wrong?"...it doesn't sound like it....unless the container is see-through.

When she turns around with her bum in the hole and stays like that, she will be laying her eggs. Let her lay them and completely bury them before you dig them up. If you need more information about that and incubating them, just ask.

Thanks again kinyonga, you're always very helpful.

The container is see through and I will try to cover the sides, but I don't really want to disturb it, like you said, that can cause problems if she sees me. I haven't been looking at her all day today, just listening and peeking from the top of the cage where she can't tell if I'm looking. She has really been digging a lot today, mostly in that same container that she emptied out. The only thing that worries me now is that she dug so much, most of the soil is outside of the container now in the floor of the cage. How deep of a hole do they need to lay their eggs in?

I think it's been about 3 or 4 days since I first noticed her digging around.

thanks again for the help

Another thing you mentioned about incubation, but these would be infertile eggs, as she has not been mating. I just took a peek at her and now she's in one of her plants just resting on a branch. How will I know if she's done laying the eggs?

You said..."Thanks again kinyonga, you're always very helpful"...thanks for the comment!

You said..."The container is see through and I will try to cover the sides, but I don't really want to disturb it, like you said, that can cause problems if she sees me"...you could just fold some paper and wrap it around the container and hopefully that won't take long or disturb her much.

You said..."She has really been digging a lot today, mostly in that same container that she emptied out. The only thing that worries me now is that she dug so much, most of the soil is outside of the container now in the floor of the cage. How deep of a hole do they need to lay their eggs in?"...most of the ones I've had will lay in soil that is less than 8" deep....they seem to dig the tunnel somewhat horizontally and seem to be okay with it as long as they are completely in it (nose barely in sight is fine).

You said..."I think it's been about 3 or 4 days since I first noticed her digging around"...I would think that she is getting close to the time she will lay.

You said..."thanks again for the help"...you are quite welcome.

In another post (following this one) you said the eggs will be infertile and you asked how to tell if she was done laying them....let her bury them anyhow and when she is back up in the branches you can dispose of them. You will know that she is done when she fills in the hole and packs it down. (The only time they fill the hole and pack it down withoutlaying the eggs is when they are eggbound...and there should be other signs that go along with that). She should look somewhat thinner after she lays the eggs....and you will find them when you dig in the container after you are sure she is done.

Any luck yet?

Ok we have had quite an eventful couple of days. All day yesterday and the night before she was digging in the pot that was 1 foot deep. After what you said about the 8" that they usually need to bury, I knew that the other container wasn't deep enough so I didn't bother covering the sides, I just hoped she would find the other one and I am so glad that she did.

So yesterday night I noticed her packing the soil back into place, a few hours later I saw her on the branches and she looked about half the size she was before and her colour had changed. Before she was very colourful, bright colours, almost like when she is sleeping, I noticed that now she is dark in colour. She looks so skinny that her skin is folding in places, I've never seen her so small!

I put some worms in the cage and noticed that she ate both right away. That brings us to today, I put more worms in the cage, she has ate a few but not all of them. I noticed that she went back into the pot of soil and starting digging a bit. She was also scratching the sides of the pot with her front paws, it was kind of weird. It seemed like she was going in circles and scratching the inside of the pot with the front paws and I think she was digging with the back ones. She seems not to have disrupted the soil too much, I think she may have been packing it in place more.

Most of the time now when I see her she is basking.

I have heard that sometimes chameleons lay a few more eggs a couple days later, so I haven't touched the pot yet. Is this true, or should I go ahead and search for the eggs?

thanks again!

You said..."I have heard that sometimes chameleons lay a few more eggs a couple days later, so I haven't touched the pot yet. Is this true, or should I go ahead and search for the eggs?"...with my own chameleons, none have ever laid a few eggs later...but I have heard other people say that it has happened to them. I'm not sure why it happens. All I can suggest/say is that if she shows any signs of decline in health or odd behavior in the next few days, take her to a vet to have her checked out for egg retention.

I also know of cases where a female that is eggbound will dig a hole and fill the hole in, just as if she had laid the eggs but she hadn't. Your chameleon is thinner though, so that is not the case with yours.

I hope/expect that she was just finishing off her hole-filling. Keep me posted?

Thanks again kinyonga.

I will gladly keep you posted. She has kind of acting different today and did not seem very well. Yesterday I also noticed that her eyes were both closed and she was hugging the branch she was on. I'm not sure if she was sleeping or just resting her eyes, but when I opened the cage to spray water, she opened them right away and walked away from me. She has been eating, about 12 mealworms over the last couple of days.

I haven't seen her be active at all in the last couple of days. She has just been sitting on the branch near her basking light and basking or sitting higher away from the light. There was a point where I saw a bright green/white looking spot on her body about the size of a penny, while the rest of her body was brownish. This was where the basking light was on her, I thought maybe she had burned herself but when she moved away from the light, the colour went back to brownish. I did notice her drinking a couple times too after I sprayed.

So I guess the behaviour doesn't seem too strange, but I'll definitly keep a watch on her. I think she's just very exhausted from digging for almost 5 days. I haven't seen her go back into the pot since the time I mentioned before, so tonight I will go digging myself for the eggs and see what we have.

Thanks for all the help through this, and I will definitly keep you posted.

You said..."She has kind of acting different today and did not seem very well. Yesterday I also noticed that her eyes were both closed and she was hugging the branch she was on" and..."I haven't seen her be active at all in the last couple of days"...I think if she were mine I'd dig up the place where you think she laid the eggs and see if she really did lay them...and then I'd be taking her to the vets to check to see if she has any inside her.

Its good that she is still eating and drinking, but her behavior is worrying me. I would like to be wrong and hear that everything was okay.

59 eggs! I can't believe it. There is still a lot of soil at the bottom of the cage where I need to check for more, but at the bottom of the pot where she was digging, we found 59!

She is acting normal today, she has been moving around and eating and looking a lot better. I think she is ok now, for her first time this must have been stressful.

Glad to hear that she's acting okay now@ I was worried because of the way you described her.

You said you didn't breed her, didn't you? If you hadn't said that, I would almost say those eggs looked fertile.

Yeah I didn't breed her. She's never even seen another chameleon, I plan to get another pair in the future for breeding but I will never breed her.

She doing fine now, moving around, basking, eating so all is well, and after seeing so many eggs I don't think it's possible she would have any left over!

Thanks for all the help during this time, I'm sure I would have had complications without your help.

Glad to hear that she's doing okay!