Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know it's still early, but Luna's lovely new colors (she has "new" colors since I am home - lovely pale aqua and peach!) has me thinking ahead about egg laying. Unlike most on this forum I will NOT be breeding her. It was a condition that I agreed to when I adopted her.

I understand that after about 1 year old (she is only 6 months) an unbred female can begin sporadically producing eggs. I also understand that they are much smaller. Will it be apparent? Will she seek out a site for laying just as a bred female? Will her colors change?

I find little to no mention in articles as they are usually about breeding. Any input, experience or direction to info much appreciated!

lele & luna
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Lele and Luna,
Completely out of curiosity, why do you not want to breed her? I understand the health stuff (and not suggesting you to), I'm just wondering. She's well taken care of and those pics looked great. I have never had a female veiled lay infertile eggs, I had bred her at 10 months before she laid them, but at that time she was pretty big and probably would have laid them soon either way. I'm not sure if you would really see the eggs in a female veiled like you would in a female panther, since veileds are generally bigger (especially females) and they inflate themselves so much more that they can change their appearance (size) alot compared to a panther. But if you can see eggs, it would be in the rear end, just in front of the back legs on her sides. If the female is perched on a brach, head going up, the weight on her body will make the eggs show a bit on her back sides. I don't think she would show gravid colors, although I may be wrong, but I think that's just with fertile eggs. She will begin to act like a gravid female and since the egg laying process is the same, I would look for her to be crawling around the lower areas or bottom of her cage and wandering nervously. Some of my females also will just crawl on the front (door) of the screen cage like they want to escape. You may want opinions from other people who have dealt with it directly. She's probably ok for a while longer.... I wouldn't worry about it until she's 10-12 months old. Then just begin to keep an eye out in case.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

Tyler,

I won't be breeding her for a few reasons but the main was when Sonia offered her to me for adoption it was b/c she knew I have no interest in breeding. Luna was/is small for her age and although she is quite healthy there may be some concerns due to the reasons, albeit unknown, of her limited growth. I met her brother and sister while I was in FL last week and Stitch is much bigger than her and Ohana, who was hiding and hard to see, is bigger as well. I had told Sonia I thought Luna was about Ohana's size but once I got home realized that she is indeed smaller.

My other reasons are that I do not (and won't anytime soon) have the time or $$ to set up, care for and then sell or adopt out baby chams. I am in school, work and single so my time and $$ are limited. If I go on for my Master's I am looking at another 2- 3 years of no time, no money

I also understand that not breeding MAY result in a longer life and I am all for that. Folks may find that not to be true but with most people breeding - who knows? I'll meet all of you back here in 5 years and see how our females have fared - LOL!

Thanks for the advice!

lele and Little luna
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Lele,

The best advice I can give is to watch for her to hang out at the bottom of her enclosure and to offer a laying bin when she spends significant time down there. It won't hurt anything to give her the option to expel the infertile eggs if needed.

She may, or may not, turn a receptibe color before laying.
Right now, I have an example of both. One female showed receptive for a week and then turned normal. She began pacing the bottom a few weeks later. I will offer her the bin later this week.
The other female never showed any signs of receptiveness but, she is ready to lay.

You will probably face this a few months before she is a full year old. As early as 8 months old.

Healthy chameleons will let you know when they need a place to lay.
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Joe
- www.silkwormfarm.com-- Site Comes Online 12/21/03

Lele,

If you don't want her to develope eggs, or at least slow down the process, don't over feed her. We only feed our veiled chams every other day after 6 months. We don't breed our females until they are a least 11 months old. Over feeding and laying eggs too soon causes two problems. One it depletes the calcium. Second it adds body weight faster than the bones are developed. We keep our girls lean and then load them up with liquid calcium (gluconate-vet supplied) a week or two before breeding and continue for several weeks after eggs have been layed.

Yosemite
Reptayls Ltd.

I just e-mailed you about it it happened yesterday into the night and continued this morning.
Actually they are 8 months old! They were born in early May. How time flies. I can tell you detailed info about it as I will take pics of how I set it up and send them to you.
The aqua and peach probably means she is receptive right now so she may lay eggs within the next couple of months if they develop!

Hi Sonia,

I emailed you back and sent you pix. I think I was just stuck at 6 months old! LOL! I thought they were born Mid-May which would mean 7 months - but who's counting! ;-/

This is all quite interesting! Her colors are so pretty - I hope they stay! Do I need to up her calcium even though they won't be fertile? I mean she still needs to form the eggs thus using calcium. Since she is hardly eating getting calcium into her is tough (she's eating one cricket/day) but I have neo-calglucon (left from leaf cham emergency). I don't want to do anything wrong!!!

lele and pretty Luna

>>I just e-mailed you about it it happened yesterday into the night and continued this morning.
>>Actually they are 8 months old! They were born in early May. How time flies. I can tell you detailed info about it as I will take pics of how I set it up and send them to you.
>>The aqua and peach probably means she is receptive right now so she may lay eggs within the next couple of months if they develop!

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta