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My friend has a female panther that is about 1 year old now. Although I didn't see first hand, he told me that she was bred and showed gravid colors about 4 weeks ago. He explained how she looked, and it matches exactly what a gravid female would look like. Her cage was converted into an egg laying cage with about 2 feet of soil.

About a weeks ago, she stopped eating for 2 days. but resumed right after that. I was over there last week and she did not look gravid at all. Her colors looked very normal. Her belly is still very fat and she's eating consistently. Her bin was checked for eggs but there was nothing. When she is placed anywhere near a male she will gape and hiss.

In my past experience, after a successful breeding, within a week the female will show gravid colors, and about 4 - 5 weeks later she will lay her eggs.

How is it that this female is showing normal colors again. I showed a pic of what a gravid female looks like to him, and he swears she turned that color for 2 weeks, then started to change back to normal.

He's stressing now because he's read a whole lot about egg bound females. At this point, I don't know what to think. She seems very healthy and plump, and continues to eat both silks and crickets.

Next month she will be 1 year old. She is under a powersun bulb. supersoil for the substrate.

Anyone have any ideas?

thanks

Vinnie.

My panther turned back to normal colours after a few weeks also, but still had some eggs developing. I took her to the vet andhe took some xrays (at about six weeks). There were eggs but not fully developed so he suggested increasing the photoperiod to fourteen hours of light per day (gradually, a half hour a week), and increasing the temps a bit. If they think winter is coming they can slow the process of egg development and hold them over until spring. well, that's what i was told. It makes sense...
The only way your friend will know if she is really gravid and whether or not she is eggbound or just developing slowly will be to have an xray done. He should also have her weighed. Then he can go from there.
If the vet says to wait a little longer, give it two weeks and go back. I just went through a lot with my female who was about the same age as the girl you mentioned. If she is eggbound i can't stress enough how important time is. Doing something about it asap is the best way to ensure her health! Good luck! I hope that she is just taking her sweet old time.. keep us updated!
~Lindsay

Thanks for the help Lindsay. I am planning on seeing him over the weekend. I'll check it out. the last time I saw her was last week, and she just looked like a happy healthy chameleon. What are some signs of being eggbound? I'll keep you posted on whats going on as soon as I know whats going on.

I didn't really notice anything strange about orion at first. She didn't eat enough the whole time she was gravid though. I got her checked at six weeks b/c she hadn't layed yet. she was going to lay around 19 days.. dug a hole and everything, but then just resumed eating. at eight weeks she still hadn't layed. she had stopped eating on a saturday, i think, and by the thursday she still hadn't layed. BUT,she was staying down halfway in her cage. She was acting not like herself, but it's hard to tell. you need to really know your cham to know if they are acting strangely or not. Anyways she ate on the fri so i waited to take her to the vets again, but she vomited thatnight. so monday i took her in and on the story goes.
Monitor her food and water intake. If she stops eating but does not lay, or if she stays in a different part of the cage than normal, or does anything else that is wierd and doesn't lay have her xrayed. the problem is that by the time naything is noticable the chances for intervetion helping become slim. I was told by my vet that if they had taken orion in a day later she probably would not have made it...
im not trying to freak you out, just tell him to follow his gut. as soon as she seems off get her in there... they are good at hiding it and it may not be very obvious if something is wrong.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes!

he says she cant wait to get out of the cage. as sorn as he opens the door she tries to climb on his arm .i will pick her up and care for her until she lays .she is not herseif .sorry for the poor spelling but i am using a pocket pc right now