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I have a 11 month old female veiled that is scratching around the bottom of the cage during the day. She sleeps good at night and is eating 7-10 crickets a day. I have had her for about 2 months and she has been doing this for about 10 days. I thought she wanted to lay her eggs. I set up a sand box with moist play sand 18" deep and put her uv and basking lights on top. A week ago when I first noticed her behaivor I put her in the sand during the day for two days. She was not happy and seemed stressed. She did not lay any eggs. When I put her back in her cage she seemed a lot happier for a couple of days.

The enclosure measures 24 tall X 12 deep X 24 wide with two ficus plants and pleanty of climbing vines at various heights. I use a drip system and myst the cage twice a day. The bottom of the cage is very wet. It also has a #8 UV bulb and a 100W basking light @ 85 degrees.

For now I have her back in the sand box and will not disturb her during the day and see what happens.

I will completly clean the enclosure today and see if that helps. Is she trying to lay her eggs or is she just not happy with the enclusure?

Her basking site temps should be 90-100 degrees.
Also Veileds tend to not like soggy conditions in their cages.
The cage should completely dry out between mistings.
If she is about to lay eggs the sand should not be soggy. it should be wet enough to hold a tunnel without collapsing but not too wet or soggy.
Also she may be stressed by being taken out of her cage to lay eggs. Try putting a laying bin in her cage with her and see if that helps she seems to want to dig there.
Is she eating normally? How much and how often do you supplement?
Has her coloration changed?

Her coloration only changes when she is mad in the sand box. She is eating 7-10 large crickets a dat gut loaded with store bought cricket food and dusted with calcium every other day.

Other than her scratching she seems very normal and likes to be held.

I am off to clean the cage now to see if it helps. Thanks for the tips.

is her laying bin warm? I am waiting for Luna to lay (still!) and I have a 40w bulb in a dome shining on it so she is aware and to help warm up the soil....just a thought.

>>Her coloration only changes when she is mad in the sand box. She is eating 7-10 large crickets a dat gut loaded with store bought cricket food and dusted with calcium every other day.
>>
>>Other than her scratching she seems very normal and likes to be held.
>>
>>I am off to clean the cage now to see if it helps. Thanks for the tips.
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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

She needs to be in the laying chamber or she'll die from dystocia. A combination opf soil and sand is often preferred over soil alone. But more importanyly, Plant a Ficus in the laying chamber. Also put in a large log or rock. They often prefer to dig in the roots of a plant or under some structure. They'll often refuse to dig/lay if it's just a bare laying chamber.