Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I just got a young Veiled Chameleon and I'm wondering what gender it is. I know about the spurs that males have. It's just that this chameleon is so small that I can't really tell. Can someone post a picture or a link to one showing what the spurs look like on a male's feet? Thanks!

The spurs are pretty visible almost from birth. When you look at the hind feet you should see a small bump right at the base of the leg on the back where the toes join. How old is your cham? Check the species profile on http://www.adcham.com or the articles on veileds on http://www.chameleonnews.com

It's a newborn. The animal is just about two inches.
Well, if the spurs are truly as noticable as everyone says then I must have a female. But I'm scared now...I keep hearing horror stories of females becoming egg-bound and dying. Gulp...

I cannot recall who posted a pic of the spur and I thought I had it bookmarked. I linked you to a not-so-great photo.

As for the eggbound/death thing... I can only speak from my own experience. I got Luna last September at about 4/5 months old. She was not mated and laid a clutch of 42 infertile eggs in late April. She drove me nuts for 5 months (it's should have been about 4 weeks!) and I was afraid of eggbinding, too. From what I have learned (mainly here) the amount of feeding has much to do with clutch size. If it turns out you have a female we are here for you!! This forum supported me for all my obsessive months!! LOL!

lele
Link

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

here's the same pic but a bit closer (click on tarsal spur)
tarsal spur

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

That picture is just fine. I'm convinced it's a female, then. Oh, well. Of course I'll still love her, but it's still kinda nerve-racking. Thanks a lot for the picture!

You don't have to be scared, just be aware. So many new cham keepers have no idea their females even produce infertile eggs that by the time it's obvious she is beyond help. Or they've kept the pair together and the female is so stressed by constant contact with the male she is guaranteed to have problems. It is a myth that females must be bred to avoid egg binding. Many keepers have females that lay their clutches routinely with no trouble. First, the heel spurs should be obvious very soon if not now, if it is male.

If you do have a female don't panic! Much of the egg binding problems come from overfeeding, stress, ignorance, and poor supplementation, so you can avoid these things.

While she is a baby you can feed as much as she wants just as you would a male. Don't attempt to breed her before she's a year old as there is more chance she is not physically mature enough internally to produce and lay eggs without trouble. Females draw so much off their own calcium reserves when producing eggs that you want her skeletal structure etc. to be in prime condition. When her growth rate slows down after 6-8 months you should not feed her as much. Go to every other day and watch her weight. Start weighing her so you have an idea when she slows growth or when she starts egg production and becomes gravid. Some unmated females kept alone without socially interacting (seeing him etc) with a male never start laying.

Here are some good sites with info articles on females, egg production and laying and how to get ready for it. If you know ahead of time chances are she'll be just fine.

http://www.chameleonnews.com
http://www.adcham.com
http://www.chameleonjournals.com

Great, thanks for the info. I do feel a bit better about it now...but just in case, should I always have a large pan of vermiculite on the bottom?

No, not necessary and it will just get grimy and hold bacteria. Read the info on breeding veileds and you'll see that this is a periodic thing only. Also, chams probably won't use a layer of vermiculite to dig in. It won't hold a tunnel and the layer needed would be much too deep for the cage. Also some chams get curious about loose substrate and shoot at it. Could cause an impaction if they ate enough. There are descriptions for laying buckets in those articles.