Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my chameleon laid eggs about 5 days ago...and the eggs are fine that i can tell. and well she got REALLY skinny afterwords and i hear thats normal(this is my first reptile that ive bred so im worried about any little thing thats different with sharon). but last night she started to lay more eggs , or she wanted to....and i dont understand it because she WAY TOO skinny to have eggs but yet my mother and i seen her push but sharon seen us looking at her and went on a branch next to the dirt....and somthing was hanging out of her backend...and i went up to her to get a good look(im still not sure what that was hanging but...) i seen a egg pushed out a little bit in her backend... i am so worried that i might loose my baby , ive lost my jackson this year and i dont know what id do if i lost sharon! can anybody give me suggestions on what might be happening? could that of been something else but an egg? and can i do anything to help her? my friend said i need to keep her cage humidified(i dont know how to spell it) and i have , but that was before she started to lay more eggs...or well tried to.....thanks for reading and any help you could give me

brittany

she's also not eating good...im not sure if she's eating at all.../but i know she is getting water(i hand water her with a water bottle sometimes). does anyone know why?

brittany

I would see a vet if you want to make sure. Maybe if you give her some privacy she will finish laying if she still has eggs.
You can put a sheet or screen in front of the cage so she can't see you or any other animals. Females need optimum nutrition when breeding make sure you use a good gutload for her crickets. Try www.cricketfood.com
If you have to start force feeding try Repta-aid by fluker it has worked wonders for my sick animals in the past.
If she keeps straining and going to the bottom to lay more eggs and nothing happens take her to a vet ASAP
Does she still have a place to lay them in her cage? You may have to provide her with her laying container again if you have already removed it.

she is a veield chameleon...i took her to a reptile store ive become friends with their staff and their good with chameleons and one of them said she looks good but a little skinny by her back legs where her hips are showing just keep her watered and fed and keep the humidity up in her cage...i spray her cage 4-5 maybe more times a day...but her cage is screen besides the back and the bottom how could i keep the humity in there more? do you know? i think i will put a sheet over her cage when i get home from work , she has to places where she can lay her eggs....her first batch was in with the plant i have in there and i also have a large bowl in there that i try my best to keep moist.....i feed my crickets gutload and fluckers water for them...for sharon my chameleon and ozzy my bearded dragon and he is plump...but i hand fed my cham saturday night because she was on the ground and week...i could only feed her 2 crickets because i ran out..and i put calcium in the water i have for her and hand fed her water witht he water bottle...but i was surprised i could hand feed her because she is a VERY agresive(because the people i bought her from NEVER held her and im paying for it...but im working on it) but im not sure if i could hand feed her now..shes got her strength back a little and shes back to being aggresive towards me..i just cover the crickets with calcium and put them in her cage....(she looks intrested but i leave her be and dont watch her so she wont get even more stressed..

thanks so much

brittany

one way to keep a cage more humid would be to pur warm water and moisten a towell with it and cove the cage thios will also give her some privacy so she wont be stressed by people watching her. If she doesnt lay any more take her to the vet.
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1.0 veild chameleon
2.1 firebellie toads
1.1 jackson chameleon
1.2 leopard geckos
3.0 golden geckos

n/p

Use a indoor /outdoor thermometer (from Walmart) with a humidity guage to measure humidity. I put one temp probe on the basking spot (90-98)and one near the bottom in the plant leaves should be in the seventies. Humidity should be 60% to 80% and veilds don't like it higher than 80%
You can drape a towel over one side and spray it to increase humidity or get a small personal cool air humidifier for inside bottom of cage. If you get a big one aim it at the cage from outside.
Fluker gutload is not good enough for a breeding female in my opinion try www.cricketfood.com for her crickets.
You need to offer food to her ASAP if you are out get some locally or try www.expresscrickets.com
If she is aggressive and you need to force feed use leather gloves if you are afraid to get bit. I prefer to not use them because I can work easier without the gloves. I distract with one hand in front of her face and come around behind the back of her head/neck with the other hand and grab around with one finger on each side of her head right behind her jaws. She will probably open her mouth to bite and you can pop a cricket in (crush the crickets head first). If she eats on her own let her and do not force feed too many if she gets too stressed because grabbing her like this is stressful but it's better than letting her starve. Good luck with her

I would be VERY cautious about handling her like this if there is a chance she has eggs. If you rupture an egg in the struggle it will probably kill her (the egg contents can adhere to internal organs and cause infection). To find out if she has more eggs to lay I suggest an xray. They should show up. If she has retained eggs possibly the vet can induce labor (oxytocin) to expell them. Other than that I would keep giving her a good quiet place to lay, keep her hydrated and offer 1 or 2 live insects...if she can eat she probably will.

I meant after seeing a vet and if she needed to force feed she could try this. She should finish laying her eggs first.

I would stop the calcium and just give her plain water or Pedialyte (or any rehydration liquid for babies). This will give her a bit of glucose and electrolytes. At this point calcium isn't going to add anything to her ability to lay this clutch. She could have problems for lots of reasons...egg mass is too large, the individual eggs are large, the laying area is just not what she wants, or she's got some other nutritional problems that have caught up with her. You can also add humidity to a cage with a room humidifier. They are about $30 at any larger pharmacy or drug store. Try giving her more digging area and privacy.

Also, she's not mean because her former keepers didn't handle her. Chams are individuals regardless of how much or how little they get handled as babies. Some simply don't like handling period. You may not be able to change this over time.

Here is my opinion- first, it sounds like your really worried, and as such your trying anything and everything to take care of her...this can be causing a lot of stress on your chameleon! First you need to relax. If you can, take her to an experienced vet, this will relieve your stress and give you the answers your looking for. Otherwise, you need to make sure her envirement is ideal. If your misting 4-5 times a day, that should be sufficient. You want to make sure that the cage dries completely between mistings. each misting should last at least 15 minutes. (chances are your misting at 5 or less minutes, 2 to 3 misting at fifteen minutes each is ideal) Right before, and during the egg laying process, chameleons will stop eating, if she hasn't stopped laying, she probably won't eat yet. Chams can go quite a few days without food, but water is critical! Once she does take food, she'll need alot of calcium covered, gut loaded insects, not just crickets!! Plenty of sunshine, and be left alone! Chameleons are not animals to be viewed as "pets" they are very anti social creatures who like to be left alone! though they will get used to you, it's not in their best interest to be handles are placed on the shoulder, etc, etc
Best of luck!!
Dave

Here is my opinion- first, it sounds like your really worried, and as such your trying anything and everything to take care of her...this can be causing a lot of stress on your chameleon! First you need to relax. If you can, take her to an experienced vet, this will relieve your stress and give you the answers your looking for. Otherwise, you need to make sure her envirement is ideal. If your misting 4-5 times a day, that should be sufficient. You want to make sure that the cage dries completely between mistings. each misting should last at least 15 minutes. (chances are your misting at 5 or less minutes, 2 to 3 misting at fifteen minutes each is ideal) Right before, and during the egg laying process, chameleons will stop eating, if she hasn't stopped laying, she probably won't eat yet. Chams can go quite a few days without food, but water is critical! Once she does take food, she'll need alot of calcium covered, gut loaded insects, not just crickets!! Plenty of sunshine, and be left alone! Chameleons are not animals to be viewed as "pets" they are very anti social creatures who like to be left alone! though they will get used to you, it's not in their best interest to be handled are placed on the shoulder, etc, etc
Best of luck!!
Dave

Here is my opinion- first, it sounds like your really worried, and as such your trying anything and everything to take care of her...this can be causing a lot of stress on your chameleon! First you need to relax. If you can, take her to an experienced vet, this will relieve your stress and give you the answers your looking for. Otherwise, you need to make sure her envirement is ideal. If your misting 4-5 times a day, that should be sufficient. You want to make sure that the cage dries completely between mistings. each misting should last at least 15 minutes. (chances are your misting at 5 or less minutes, 2 to 3 misting at fifteen minutes each is ideal) Right before, and during the egg laying process, chameleons will stop eating, if she hasn't stopped laying, she probably won't eat yet. Chams can go quite a few days without food, but water is critical! Once she does take food, she'll need alot of calcium covered, gut loaded insects, not just crickets!! Plenty of sunshine, and be left alone! Chameleons are not animals to be viewed as "pets" they are very anti social creatures who like to be left alone! though they will get used to you, it's not in their best interest to be handled are placed on the shoulder, etc, etc
Best of luck!!
Dave

Here is my opinion- first, it sounds like your really worried, and as such your trying anything and everything to take care of her...this can be causing a lot of stress on your chameleon! First you need to relax. If you can, take her to an experienced vet, this will relieve your stress and give you the answers your looking for. Otherwise, you need to make sure her envirement is ideal. If your misting 4-5 times a day, that should be sufficient. You want to make sure that the cage dries completely between mistings. each misting should last at least 15 minutes. (chances are your misting at 5 or less minutes, 2 to 3 misting at fifteen minutes each is ideal) Right before, and during the egg laying process, chameleons will stop eating, if she hasn't stopped laying, she probably won't eat yet. Chams can go quite a few days without food, but water is critical! Once she does take food, she'll need alot of calcium covered, gut loaded insects, not just crickets!! Plenty of sunshine, and be left alone! Chameleons are not animals to be viewed as "pets" they are very anti social creatures who like to be left alone! though they will get used to you, it's not in their best interest to be handled are placed on the shoulder, etc, etc
Best of luck!!
Dave