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I have a veiled the is going through a tough time laying her eggs and I want to get some additional expert advise.

She is 16 months old. Her enclosure is 24X12X36 screen/glass, dripping water, UV 8.0, heat lamp with 98 deg basking area, live plants (no chemicals), and a sand box that I put in the cage is 1' deep when she starts to scratch and dig.

Three months ago she laid 43 eggs in the same enclosure with no problems. When she started to scratch I put the sand bucket in and she started to dig. She had 43 eggs covered up by the next day and fully recovered.

Now about three weeks ago she started to scratch again. I put the sand box in the cage and she started to dig like last time. By the next day it looked as if the was going to make a good recovery. I keep the box in the cage and sure enough she dropped three more eggs on top of the sand. She still did not look well. A week later she still looked as if she needed to lay some more eggs. I took her to the vet and we discover that she still had two more eggs in her. She was given a vitamin a/d shot and under the skin liquid injection. I am also giving her a liquid calciam supplement twice a day. She seems to have a little more energy but still does not activly chase her crickets, however she is still eating some. I can tell she is dehydrated and exhausted. She does drink the dripping water.

She still continues to try and dig in the sand. She will dig a shallow hole, back in and try to lay the eggs but they will not come out. You can visibly see the two eggs in her side.

It has been three weeks now and I am getting worried. The vet said the next step is a c-section to remove the eggs. I do not want to have to do that because of the risk factor. I am to go back to the vet this week for another evaluation.

I need some additional advise from someone who has experienced this problem. I am afraid I will loose her.

James

I had one do the same thing. She laid all her eggs and coverd the hole. A week later she started to dig and stoped. That went on for about a week and she was very weak and dehidrated. She was ready to die so I took her and sqeezed the egg out. What happend is the egg starts to grow on the inside and it gets to big and she can not push it threw the hole. she died. she will probley die any way from being all stressed out for to long.She gets so week from digging that she cant push the egg out. So if you have money go for the vet. He can get the egg out.So you can save her. I waited to long I kept thinking she would do it by her self but she want. Well good luck.....Scott.....

I am so sorry to hear about your Cham. You said you pushed the egg out ? Did it actually come out with her alive? Isn't there anything I can do? She still seems to have enough energy to dig a nice hole and try to lay the eggs.

Like I said in my post....the vet said as a last resort, they can get it out via a C-section but it is very risky.

If I was you .I would dig a hole to help her out she will use it. Then just keep your eyes on her. If you see she is not going to lay the eggs you might want to try to push the eggs out your self. But not to hard so that you heart her. Like I said the eggs start to grow in side her and they get bigger and she cant get them out by her self. She will die in the end from pushing so long she will go in and out of that hole so many time and you will see her trying to get the eggs out and they just want go. So you will have to help her to.But give her a chance to do it by her self dont get in a hurry.every on is diverent so she might just do it I hope so. the on that died on me was one of my young ones so she had a few cluchs to go. She was a small girl and this was her second cluch so it dont figure out what went wrong.You know in the wild some dont make it and some do. I guess this is part of it. well good luck and I hope it works out for you .......Scott......

I had a cham do the same thing. I could see the eggs inside. I put her in a container of warm water and rubbed her sides. I don't know if it loosened the eggs inside or relaxed her but it worked. She survived. I had to hold her up in the water so she wouldn't drown. She then laid the eggs fine the next day in her container.

I have also heard of this method i've never had to try it(knock on wood)but i think its worth a try in this case
just wondering how long did you keep her in the container of water while rubbing her?

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. It has been over three weeks since she laid her initial clutch now and she is looking pretty dehidrated. The vet gave me some liquid calcium suplement and told me to hydrate her with pediolite (for kids) once a day.

I will try the warm water soaking and gently rubbing the eggs. Hopefully with the liquids she will regain her strength and come out of this.

Is there anything else I can possibly try ? I am very worried about her and I will do anything to save her.

James

I rubbed her stomach for atleast 1/2 hour. I kept on adding warm water as the water got cold. I had to remove water as i went so it wouldn't get too deep.