Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On my last post, I posted that my veiled chameleon had laid about 23 eggs, and that she still looked quite gravid. I was concerned, so I took her to my vet. He looked at her and assured me that although she was still very gravid, she was doing fine, she would have another batch of eggs. According to my vet, although not common, it's not unusual for veileds to lay multiple batches of eggs. He further suggested increasing her amount of calcium, and to give her some pedialyte to keep her electrolytes up. That was Wednesday.
Yesterday, I went to check in on her, she was mostly pale with some black along her limbs. Her eyes were completely sunk in, but still barely alive. She died before I could get her to the vet.
We're at a loss, don't know what happened. She was well hydrated, had plenty of calcium, and was eating as well as a very gravid female could be expected to eat.
The autopsy showed a possible impaction, but it was difficult to tell because of the eggs she was still carrying. There was no binding.
We extracted the remaining eggs. I'm not expecting anything out of these eggs, but I really do hope something comes from these eggs. It would help to think that at least her death was not in vain.
I didn't have her long. When I acquired her, she was already quite gravid. She laid her first eggs just a few days after I got her. But we quickly became attached to her. I just wish this update had some better news to share.
-----
Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Victor-

Sorry to hear the bad news. I thought what your vet told you was odd, but I think I have also read something about that in one of the chameleon books. Like I said in some of the emails to you, I think the stress of moving her was a big factor. Well you know what is odd, the day after my last email I sent to you my female Ambilobe laid 23 eggs, the same amount your Veiled did. Where the eggs you found inside her the same size as what she laid?
-----
John @ Chameleon Paradise
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers
1.2 Rhampholeon uluguruensis

I'm hoping that they are viable. They appeared yellowish at first, but they've whitened up since we extracted them. Did I mention that we extracted 26 eggs from her (total of 47 eggs being incubated now!)?
My vet and I are on friendly terms and he allowed me to participate in the post-mortems. Maybe it's a bit ghoulish, but I figured I might as well make the most of a situation and look at the insides of the chameleon. I don't know, I guess my thinking is that we should take advantage of all opportunities to learn more about our chameleons. I'm sorry if anyone finds this objectionable, but my curiosity got the best of me. It was educational.

Congrats on your eggs!
-----
Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

was there any sign that the eggs were blocked by intestines? I have seen this a number of times, and all of them were from the intestine blocking the remaining eggs.
Sorry to find out things happened the way they did.
If the eggs were yellow, but whitened up, there may be hope. None of my yellow eggs did anything but shrivle up, but all the white ones were ok. You still have 23 good eggs, at least, which is about how many I like to shoot for.

>>was there any sign that the eggs were blocked by intestines? I have seen this a number of times, and all of them were from the intestine blocking the remaining eggs.
My vet didn't mention any blocking, but it's certainly possible. The primary reason for the post mortem exam was to extract the eggs. He did mention some possible impaction, but he could have been alluding to intestinal blocking.
>>Sorry to find out things happened the way they did.
>>If the eggs were yellow, but whitened up, there may be hope. None of my yellow eggs did anything but shrivle up, but all the white ones were ok. You still have 23 good eggs, at least, which is about how many I like to shoot for.
We extracted 26 eggs. We have 21 viable eggs that she actually laid. I have nothing to lose by incubating all the eggs, including the extracted eggs, so I'll do that.
I was keeping my incubator in the garage, but it's been getting over 90 in there lately. I moved all my eggs (including 6 from a leopard gecko) into my furnace closet. The furnace is off, but it's always about 80 degrees during the day, with a drop to 70 at night.
-----
Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com