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Orion stopped eating last friday or saturday. Today is Sunday... I had THOUGHT she had laid because her hole was filled in a bit, and she was up basking (she has spent all week either half down her cage, or digging). I went through the dirt, and still no eggs. She still looks pretty fat. I have no way of weighing her. I checked in the plants, and no eggs there either. So, I'm sure she hasn't had them yet... The sand was a little dry from being in there all week, so I think it just caved in a bit. I moistened it and put it back in, and started a hole where she dug one before.
How long after a female starts to dig will she lay? I'm worried about her, but that's mostly because I don't know that much about this... maybe it's normal what she is doing? Thanks for any help you guys can give...
~Lindsay

Are you having her lay in her cage or in an egg laying container? Is she digging into a pot of sand, the substrate, or into a potted plant? I tried a few pots of sand/soil in their cages and it seems like I had better luck by taking them out since you could give them more privacy. If you've got a deep substrate in her normal cage, it would be ok and she would probably go for it, but they can't be disturbed while digging. Try covering as much of the cage as you can or just don't use the room for a while. Usually, the only reason my females ever stop digging is if they see me look in at them, then sometimes they just keep going but alot of the time they stop and start over later that day or the next day. It doesn't seem like they dig any "test holes" or at least not that I'm aware of. I use Supersoil, just a basic clean potting soil. I tried sand also and had better luck with soil. I get it nice and moist all the way through at first then about once a day I get the top wet agian but misting it for quite a while. My females don't seem to ever take more than a day to do the whole process and once they start digging I'd say in maybe 8 hours max they are done. I put her in at night, she begins digging after I leave for work the next morning and when I get home at around 3 the female is usually completely done. If she's been digging though, I'd just do what you're doing, but maybe try to giver her more privacy and she shouldn't stop digging. Just make sure her conditions are right (soil moisture and heat). Any more questions let me know.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
1.2 Nosy Be Panthers
2.2 Sambava Panthers
1.0 Tamatave Panther
1.0 Nosy Be X Unknown Cross
1.1 Veiled Chameleons
0.0.2 CBB Desert Tortoises
0.0.1 Sulcatta Tortoise

Thanks for your response.
I have a tub (one of the ones that you get scoopable kittly litter in, lol) with about i'd say between 12-14" of one part sand one part soil mix.
I would check on her in the morning and then later in the day (around five). She'd be halfway up the cage on a stick., with dirt on her nose. The first time I thought she was done,a nd I looked in and saw that there was just a hole. A few days later she dug a different hole. I have been staying at my b/fs all week so that I don't bug her lol. Today she was up basking so I thought for sure she was done, but no eggs...
How long should I leave her for before I should worry? Since Tuesday I've been misting her every evening, she still drinks lots.
Thanks again!
~Lindsay

Oh, and I put her in a tub with light and covered it, but I could see her shadow trying to get out. I checked on her and she seemed REALLY stressed, so I put her back, and she practically FLEW onto a branch in her cage. If she doesn't lay by tomorrow night I'll try it again, but I really don't think she'll like it...
WOMEN! BAH! lol

When she finally lays, you'll definately notice the difference in her appearance before you notice anything else. My female veiled lost almost half her weight (112g to 60g). I wouldn't worry quite yet, especially if she's digging. Is the soil moist throughout? She may be getting down to a certain point and finding dry or "unsiutable" dirt and stopping the dig. My vet told me also that for egg laying you should be slightly warmer than normal, like 80-85 degrees (ambient). I don't know if it's applied to mine or not (didn't check the temps much), but maybe give that a shot. How long ago was it when she bred and how long after that did she show gravid colors? Or did she (sometimes without a male present they don't really show gravid colors)?
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
1.2 Nosy Be Panthers
2.2 Sambava Panthers
1.0 Tamatave Panther
1.0 Nosy Be X Unknown Cross
1.1 Veiled Chameleons
0.0.2 CBB Desert Tortoises
0.0.1 Sulcatta Tortoise

She was bred on Sept 17th. She showed darker colours right after, then the next day had her gravid colours on. A week or two after that he colours weren't as vivid as right after being bred, but they weren't her "normal" colours after.
I think that might be why she is basking... she might just want to do that before she's ready. She's been down near the bottom all week. I'll try to raise the ambient temp a bit also. I lowered her mv lamp and her basking lamp, and i'll turn the heat up in my room a bit.
Thanks! i'll see how it goes...
~Lindsay

Lindsay-

If she is digging and not laying, I would suspect that the soil is not to her liking. From your posts it sounds like it may be to wet. There was an EZine article on this topic of the "Nesting Site". If you have not read it click HERE.

My personal setup is a 2'x2'x4' cage (outdoor cage) with a 10-18 gallon Rubbermaid tub with the handles cut off. The tub will fill most of the bottom of the cage. There is a HUGE pothos plant that hands in the cage over the tub, and fill the whole cage. The soil I use is one of two, Supper Soil or Earthgro potting soil. I DO NOT wet the soil in any way. The mix is just perfect right out of the bag. I make a new tub of soil for every clutch, I use the soil up fast for other things. The soil is packed down well and is about 10-12" deep. My WC female has laid 3 clutches with this setup and the WC are the picky ones!

If your female is digging holes but not laying, she is not happy with the soil. Hope this helps!
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John W. Lucas

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