Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my first cham and she is now 10 months old. I am pretty sure in the past 3 weeks she was wanting to breed. She got bright spots on her and was very anxious. She would hardly eat. She has settled down now but still not eating to much. I could not find a male for her. I was told that if I did not breed her she might become egg bound and she could die. Is this true? I am still trying to find a male but the pet stores around my town only have tiny babies and they can't tell me if they are male or not.

This is an old wives tale. She will probably develop infertile eggs and will need to lay them at some point regardless of being bred. There are articles on veiled chams and breeding cycles on these sites that should answer most of your questions. You should start limiting her general food intake over time to avoid very large eggs that might be hard to expell.

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

Thanks for your information. I will check out those sites. One more question, if she does have infertal eggs to lay is it ok that I use repti bark in the bottom of her house. Can she lay eggs and bury there?

No, the Reptibark won't hold a tunnel. She'll need to dig a tunnel for her eggs, but needs a mix of damp sand and soil that will hold the form of a tunnel while she lays. Those same sites should describe what the "laying bin" should be like. Different keepers have used different combinations of soil, and some females are fussier than others about what they want. As this will be her first clutch you will need to be ready to try several things just in case. Signs when she's ready to lay will be restlessness, walking or crouching on the cage bottom, digging in plant pots, pawing at the cage bottom. You should start weighing her to track whether she has a developing clutch of eggs.

Thanks so much for all the great information. I know I will be using this forum more in the future because of the wealth of information out there especially for beginners like me.

I'm assuming that you are talking about a veiled chameleon?

Its quite likely that she is getting ready to produce
eggs...or that she has already started to produce them.
The fact that she isn't eating and is anxious could mean that
she is getting close to wanting to lay....but it might not be
either. Is she plump? Does she ever turn almost black in the
background?

If you don't have somewhere in the cage for her to lay the eggs.
I would suggest getting a place ready for her...or you could be
heading for trouble. I put a container that is big enough for her
to fit into with some room to spare filled about 3/4 full of sand
in the cage with all my egg-laying females. This gives them some
place to start digging to show me when the female is getting
ready to lay eggs. When she starts digging in this container, I
moisten the sand and get ready to move her to a bigger container
that I have ready and waiting. The bigger container is a 65L
rubbermaid container that I've modified the lid of. The
modification consists of cutting a large hole in the middle of
the lid and covering it with screen so that I can place a light
or lights over it. I then put a bag of washed sandbox sand in
the rubbermaid, add a branch and moisten the sand so that it
will hold a tunnel when dug in it. I place the chameleon into
the rubbermaid when she is almost ready to lay the eggs...and put
the lid on an a light over the screen on the lid. She can be fed
and watered while in there...just don't leave any insects that
she doesn't eat in there...they might chew on her or the eggs.

Having to breed her so she won't become eggbound is IMHO and
experience, a fallacy. IMHO...egg binding comes most often
comes from bad/poor husbandry, misformed eggs, eggs that
are too large from delaying the female from laying, not providing
a suitable place for her to lay the eggs,internal deformities
in the female's reproductive system, etc.
I have had many veiled females over the years that I
have not bred until they were over 2 years old....and had no
problems with them laying infertile eggs.

Regarding delaying the female from laying her eggs....this
happens if you don't provide her with a suitable spot to lay
them...or if she sees you watching her when she is digging the
hole....so as tempting as it may be...don't watch her!

As for the stores not being able to sex veiled chameleons
(assuming that you are talking about veileds...they can be
sexed the day that they are born by the tarsal spur (males)
or lack of it (females).

Good luck with her!

Thank you so much for all great information. I am going to work on a spot right away for her in case this is what she is trying to do.

Hi

great advice given so far, but keep in mind that some chams (my Luna for example) did not actually begin digging until it was for real! There was no way I could have moved her to a different tub. All chams are different but I would plan to have her final tub in her cgae if you can. Luna's final indications were her restlessness, climbing all over the cage - interestingly sides and top and didn't do much near the bottom until it was time - and getting very b-tchy

I used a combo of builder's/play sand (home depot) and eco-earth (milled coco fiber) in a deep plant pot.

Be sure to keep asking questions. If you have been reading the tales on this forum we just had two incidents of gravid females with problems. One had surgery and did not make it (Erin I hope you are NOT reading this ) and one that needed very expensive surgery and will hopefully be OK. This was not necessarily due to poor husbandry but things happen. if you did not follow those threads you may want to check out posts by jwthought and melisondra on this forum.

lele
-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

My female blue bar ambilobe is currently nearing egg laying time. Earlier in the week I noticed her climbing all over the top and sides of the cage and I knew she was getting ready. Monday she dug a practice hole (wish it was the real thing but she obviously isnt ready yet). She doesnt wander the bottom at all yet but she does have both a laying container in the cage as well as a bin outside the cage. I tried putting her in the bin outside her cage for 10 hours today with no one entering the room and she didnt do anything no digging was just pissy and wanted out of that and back into her regular cage. She is currently basking for a while then cruising the top and sides of the cage for a while everyday checking on her laying bin 3-4 times a day. She went off food on Sunday so hopefully by this time next week I will have a nice clutch of eggs. Guess my female is like Lele's and doesnt cruise the bottom but instead the top and sides (confused little girls).

I think they may see the tops and sides as possible escape routes and only go to the bottom when nature calls. I have a jungle gym set up in the room and when she is not gravid she has little interest coming out on her own even if I leave the door open all day, but when she is gravid boy look out - anywhere but in the cage! Some nights I forget she is up there and don't want to disturb her so i just let her hang out. She is safe from the cats and I make sure she gets good and hydrated the next day. They all do have personality, huh? lol!
-----
0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

Actually reguardless of being gravid my female is always pissy and aggressive, but now that she is almost due to lay she is even more so. I'm surprised she did so well when breeding with my male and didnt try to kill him, well that didnt come till after the deed was done.

I think mine is gavid, but I'm not 100%. She's been restless a LOT lately, but wants to hang out near the cold window all the time, and sleeps somewhere in hte backcorner of my living room, tho I have no idea where (I've since installed an extra basking light in that corner). She's even taken to trying to get into my collard lizard's enclosure... how long are veilds gavid before laying eggs? (ball-park timeframe is ok).
And somewhat off-topic, all my lizards have stopped eating in the last 2 weeks, any suggestions?

What kind of lizards are we talking about? Could they maybe be going into brumation?
-----
~Melissa
1.0 Ambanja Panther (Diesel)
0.1 African Hegdehog (Kaimah)