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So tomorrow is the 21st day of her being gravid and since then shes been showing more and more yellow and more and more size. A care sheet said she could lay as early as 2 weeks so i put her in a laying tub today (full of a dirt and sand mixture and a small plant in the middle and a heat lamp). I put her in there this morning and i just checked her (6:30 pm) and shes showing her gravid colors, completly black with blue and yellow dots (its pretty awesome). But does this mean shes ready to lay eggs? Why is she now showing them and not before and not even when she saw a male?

Thanks for any help

NP

I'm no chameleon expert but I know that black means they are in a deep, hateful rage. Did you put her into a laying container that she can't get out of?
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1.1 Easten Collared Lizards

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No gravid colors doest mean shes mad, this is a different kind of black than the stressed black and brown. Any more advice. When can i know when shes ready to lay eggs, right now she looks pretty darn big with the occasional apperance of lumps?

Heya,

She seems to be in good health, but I don't think she's quite there yet. 21 days is possible but doesn't happen that often. It's more like 28 to 35 days. So give her a little while longer. Try not to stress her out by moving her to new locations unless you are really sure that she will lay. You will notice a sudden drop in food consumption (most stop eating all together) and you will see an increase in activity. She will start decending to the ground and pacing up and down the cage. When this happens you can try and place her in a suitable place to lay her eggs.

Make sure that the substrate you use for her to dig in, is solid. Half potting soil (unfertizlized) and half childrens playing sand. Make sure it's moist to the touch, but not too wet.

It can sound a bit daunting, but it's easier than it all sounds.

Good luck.

René Imming.

To add further confusion, the true gestation of eggs begins the first day the female shows gravid colors, which may or may not be the day of mating. A female can house sperm internally but her ova may not be ready for fertilization for days to weeks after mating (hence, the process of clutches from stored sperm, months after mating).

Typically after a female mates, I carry her into eyesight of the male on a daily basis until she shows the usual gravid response (color change, "leave me alone" attitude, gaping, etc) and I consider that Day 1 of gestation, and count from there. Sometimes all it takes is one mating, and you get gravid colors immediately! One Carpet female I have mated five times in six days and didn't show gravid colors until four more days later, and proceeded to have a normal gestation. Or, because nothing with chams (or science, for that matter!) is absolute, sometimes, despite everything seeming normal, you get all the right signals but end up with an overlong gestation, bad eggs, egg-binding, etc.

Your female might just be in the early stages of gestation, and not ready to lay yet. It is useful to weigh gravid females serially to observe rate of gain (the rate of weight gain is really impressive), and as someone mentioned, a big clue to readiness to lay is obvious behavior and food intake changes. Try not the fuss with gravid females too much either, their reproductive and pregnancy states are truly finicky and really need to be left alone as much as possible to avoid undue stress and its potential problems. I am such a firm believer in not stressing my gravid females that I have a special cage set up just for gravid females with four substrates available for digging (most choose the 50-50% soil/sand mixture) that gravid females go in the first day of gravid colors and remain there for the duration of their pregnancy, in a quiet, no-traffic room with no other chams or animals. They need their privacy!

~Kerry

I wouldnt worry yet. She knows when its time. Just give her privacy and make sure that her laying bucket is moist and packed tight so she can tunnel. If she cant tunnel, she cant lay. if she doesnt lay in 2 weeks, then you should worry, but dont sweat it for now. Just give her space and she will do the rest when its time. IS she still eating? If she is then she isnt ready just yet. Good luck.

Make sure she cant see the male becasue if she can, shes trying to tell him shes already pregnant. I would put her in her egg laying chamber for a half hour each time about 2 times a day and if she is ready to lay she will usually begin to dig fairly quick and when she doese start DONT LET HER SEE YOU!! but the half hour thing worked for me and my female veild.