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My panther chameleon was bred 03/31/05 and should be close to laying her eggs next Friday thereabouts...now the dilemma.. I have a five gallon tub with playsand 14 inches deep, slightly moist (just enough to build a cave). It has a small ficus tree in the corner. She has yet to go in it, however, she is starting to go on the bottom of the cage (which she never does). Does this mean she finds the tub unacceptable? Should I give her more time and if she does not accept by say next Wednesday, move her into the trash can? (She is in a 3 x 3 x 4 cage filled with plants and vines..reptisun 5.0 bulb and 100 watt basking bulb).

This will be hers and my first clutch.

C

>>My panther chameleon was bred 03/31/05 and should be close to laying her eggs next Friday thereabouts...now the dilemma.. I have a five gallon tub with playsand 14 inches deep, slightly moist (just enough to build a cave). It has a small ficus tree in the corner. She has yet to go in it, however, she is starting to go on the bottom of the cage (which she never does). Does this mean she finds the tub unacceptable? Should I give her more time and if she does not accept by say next Wednesday, move her into the trash can? (She is in a 3 x 3 x 4 cage filled with plants and vines..reptisun 5.0 bulb and 100 watt basking bulb).
>>
>>This will be hers and my first clutch.
>>
>>
>>C
Hello C,

Does your bucket have a stick or vine for her to walk down into it? If we use an in-cage laying receptacle, we always make an easy pathway to get to the soil.

We also use 1/2 Super soil / 1/2 cleaned sand - moist enough so that it will hold a tunnel. You can use a spoon and dig a tunnel to see if it is right. We find that sand alone can be quite heavy, and may caves in.

If your gal stays down on the bottom of her cage (where they would normally find the dirt), you might have to place her in the trash can receptacle instead. We have had a few gals that didn't lay until they were in the out-of-cage receptacle.

Good luck with the venture... it is a great experience.

Yes, I have vines for easy access for her....I think it will be a fun experience after the fact...it is terrifying now (I also raise Spanish Norman horses...and our first foal was a terrifying experience -it went perfect without our help but I was a nervous wreck!). How long should I wait before I put her in the standby bucket if she does not accept the receptacle...say next thursday? It will be exactly 21 days on Friday...

Thank you so much for replying!

21 days is the early end of the likelyhood of laying. Most of my
panther females lay at about th 30 day mark.

You could set her in the place where you want her to lay the eggs,
to ensure that she knows its there. You could also dig a bit of a
hole there and she might take a hint from that. Generally she
should find the place on her own, as long as she is above it at
some point so she can see that there is dirt/sand/soil there.

Some advice...once she starts digging, don't let her see you or
she could abandon the hole. If she abandons it often enough she
could become eggbound. Most panther females that I have had took
a couple of days to dig the hole...so don't worry if she comes
out and takes a break as long as she goes back and digs again.
Don't leave extra insects in the cage when she starts digging.
They might eat the eggs or chew on her while she is laying them.
(During the actual laying, they are in a sort of stupor and seem
to not notice that they are being chewed on.)

You are right about it being terrifying now...and the next time
won't likely be any less scary!

You said "How long should I wait before I put her in the standby
bucket if she does not accept the receptacle...say next thursday? It will be exactly 21
days on Friday"...its hard to answer that since each chameleon is
different in the length of gestation to some degree. If she looks
okay and is eating and drinking, you should be able to give her a
few more days. Like I said above, 21 is not very long. 30 is more
within the average, and some even take longer.

Sorry I can't be more specific about when to move her to another
egglaying chamber.

Good luck with her! Keep us posted!
Waiting for the eggs to be laid needs patience. Waiting for them
to hatch takes even more!

don't go beyond 21 days. My older females take longer. Egg laying depletes the females and breeding takes a lot out of them I find my older females take longer to develop the eggs.
I have always thought it is because they are a bit depleted from laying previous clutches of eggs. No matter how you nurse them back after laying, the egg laying process is hard on them and females usually live shorter lives than males. I have a female panther that I bred for several years that is around 4 years old but you can see her age showing and I have retired her from breeding. A male the same age would probably not show signs of age.

C...
Chameleons have very little success reading a calendar.
We find that the females lay when they are ready... not when you think they should. If she spends lots of time on the bottom - searching around, then I would try the trash can now. Place her in there early in the day (be sure she has a light for warmth), and leave her. If she is not ready and sits up on the plant or sticks - by the end of the day, remove her. Try this every other day - and if it goes passed next weekend, try everyday.

One tip... when she starts digging - do not stop her. If night comes and she is still digging - turn the light out and let her sleep. If she is in the hole - do not remove her (unless she accidently gets buried). Also, let her smooth the soild until she quits... we learned with one of our first females not to interrupt the process.

Once out and done, you can give her a warm shower to remove excess dirt (they usually tamp the dirt with their head) and to relax her and rehydrate her. This is usually at least 1/2 hour treat. Then she should be ready to eat like a horse... LOL

Best of luck!

considering my problems with Luna, I am about the last person who should probably be replying here, but here is my expereince with her. She will not go anywhere near the tub until the moment she is ready to dig and lay. She will become restless and do a little screen climbing or wandering down the cage - to places she does not normally go - and sometimes everywhere except the laying tub, as if it isn't event there!) and I know the time is near.

The tub is in her cage, I put a 40w light on it (just to illuminate and to keep it a bit warm), put her in it once so she knows it is there (though this is becoming a bit old hat with us!) and let her find her own way back up. Then one day she will be a'diggin'

I only tell you this b/c I hear so often about chams that dig trial holes, go to the floor etc. and I find that Luna does not. Sometimes I wish she did do that, but I have gotten used to her other signs. Different quirks fo different chams
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0.1 Veiled - Luna
1.0 Beardie - For now his name is Beardie Boy
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

Thank you everyone!! She is not on the ground all the time. Today she just went to the ground and then back up. Tommorrow I will try putting her in the tub...she is not the most pleasant of chameleons but she tolerates removal for cleaning. This is a big thing to ask...but please bear with me this next week....I am so good with other people's animals (I have put in stitches....bandaged...) but when it is my own... I forget everything.

Thank you again!!!

C

Concerning transferring her from the cage to the egglaying
container...try to get her to walk onto a stick (about 18" long)
and tranfer her on that. I put on a long-sleeved sweatshirt
and pull the sleeve down over my hand and use that hidden hand
to "prod" a stubborn/grouchy female onto the branch. I try to
keep the branch so its just sitting above the one that she's
on...almost resting on it and "encourage" her from behind.I've
never been bitten that way. The chameleon always ends up
with a mouthful of sweatshirt if she's really grouchy.

Hope this helps!