Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I hope someone can help me with this because I'm worried about my adult female veiled. Over the course of the past few days, she has begun acting in a strange manner. She has started beinh very active, digging in her cedar substrate, and is now just sitting in the corner of her tank on the floor. I've only had her for about 4 months, but I have never seen this behavior before. She has always just perched on her branches before now. I've made a few changes in her diet recently (switching primarily from meal/super/wax worms to crickets because I know they are better for her. Since this strange behavior began, she has not eaten. Here are a few facts that I hope will help explain the problem.
1) A friend gave her to me, so I cannot know her exact age, but I guess she is about 1.5 years old.
2) She is in a glass aquarium with a mesh top. I know this is wrong, but this is what the person who gave her to me had her in. I'm planning a new enclosure for her in the next couple of months.
3) She does not have a drip system. However, I mist her heavily 3x a day to provide water as well as putting ice cubes on the top of the mesh to drip on her leaves.
4) I have recently reduced her vitamin supplementation due to some recommendations that I read on the net. I have started dusting her crickets 2x/wk, as well as feeding them commercial gut-load.

I hope someone can tell me what's going on. I'm really worried about the little girl. Thanks.

Sam

Sounds like she is eggbound...You need to provide her with a container full of moist sand or sand and peat moss mixture to lay her eggs in. It needs to be about 10 inches deep or so because they like to dig tunnels to lay in....Hope this helps

She's never been mated. Can she be eggbound nonetheless? Do veileds have to be inseminated to lay eggs, or will they lay infertile eggs as well? Thanks

Sam

Yes they will develop eggs and lay them without the presence of a male. That's what a lot of people do not realize. Infertile or not She will lay and needs to or she will die....Being eggbound too long can kill her.....hope this helps

Yes, all females will lay eggs, whether mated or not. Of course, the eggs will be infertile.

It's difficult to pinpoint what could be wrong with her because frankly (and with all due respect), this girl's past husbandry was/is just not suitable or healthy for a chameleon, especially an adult. You need to get her out of that tank ASAP and into a large screened cage. You mentioned she's digging in her substrate. That could be a sign of impending egg laying, but she should definitely not have any substrate, especially cedar or pine which emit toxic hydrocarbons. The high humdity in a tank is a perfect conduit for bacterial and fungal infections when a substrated is present. Most keepers use nothing or paper towels.
You've already made an important switch to crickets as her primary diet, and gutloading/dusting the crickets as well. Super/meal/wax worms are not, as you've learned, very nutritious and mostly used as treats, not a staple diet.
You've not mentioned her lighting at all. Chams need a source of heat as well as UVB. Does she have a heat lamp or UVB strip light? The UVB lighting is critical to prevent bone disease.

Ice cubes as a drip is not usually recommended either. Chams like warm water (like that in their natural habitat). It's easy to take a disposable cup, poke a small hole in the bottom, and fill with warm water. She's more likely to drink if the water is not ice cold. I presume you have seen her drink when you mist, right? (Misting with the same warm water)

You've already made important changes in her husbandry and I applaud your concern and research. Keep up the research, make the necessary changes ASAP and hopefully she'll be fine.
If you could, a picture might be helpful also.

As was already suggested to you, it would be wise to provide her with a proper place to lay her eggs....sand, soil (without those white bits in it), or some other appropriate substrate moistened so that it will hold a tunnel...and big enough that the chameleon can dig a hole longer/deeper than her own body length. I use a 65 liter rubbermaid bin that has had a hole cut in the lid. Over the screen, I place a light for warmth as well as light. I add a bag of moist washed sandbox sand to the container piled at one end and a branch for her to climb up on.I put the chameleon in and
put the lid with the light on top on the cage. Don't let her see you looking at her while she is digging. She might abandon the whole thinking its not a safe place to lay the eggs. She should lay the eggs in the hole once she is satisfied that the hole is acceptable...and then she should fill the hole in and pack the substrate down again...and go back up into the branch.

If your chameleon is still digging and has not given up then there is still a chance that she isn't eggbound. (I have my fingers crossed for that!)

You have some husbandry issues to address too....supplementation, UV light exposure, etc. You mention giving her vitamins...but does she get calcium and D3 too? I've been having some computer problems and don't have access to my bookmarks....but chameleonjournals has some good information on vitamin D3, MBD, gout and other things that you might like to read about....and ADCHAM and the e-zine have some good information too. Maybe someone else can post the links for you since I can't at the moment??

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them (if my computer doesn't act up again).