Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i saw my chameleon digging deep tunnels today in the plant pot where i have a plant. I've noticed she has been near the bottom of the cage these past few days like shes looking for somewhere to go. shes not pregnant or anything i was just a bit worried. Can anyone tell me what shes trying to do??

How do you know that she is not gravid (pregnant)??? What type of chameleon?

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

well, its a velied chameleon maybe a year old and it cant be pregnant because its never even been in contact with a male before so its kind of wierd to me

Get that girl a bucket of sand!! Veilds don't have to mate to lay eggs. The can lay eggs without the male, they just won't hatch! Keep us posted!
Thanks
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.0 Panther chams- Lou and Yosamite Sam
1.0 Giant Day Gecko- Mr. Gecko
0.1 Aussi Whites Tree frog- Frumpy
1.0 Peacock tree frog- Igaro
0.1 Reeds tree frog- Dottie
0.0.2 New River Tinc. Dart Frogs- Tinker and Bell
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 Fiance- Trent species unknown
and the list grows on.............

o geez now you have me worried. im not sure wat to do right now. its 9PM on the east coast and i think shes sleeping. Shes still in the hole but i dont want to disturb her. Ill stay online for now and wait for a reply because im pretty confused right now.

If she is still in the hole, leave her there. She may be happy with that place to lay her eggs....and it doesn't really matter if she lays them in a difficult place to dig them up since they are not going to be fertile.

It could be (since she is still in the hole and its late) that she is laying the eggs or will lay the eggs in the next few hours.

Its not unusual for a veiled chameleon to dig the same hole for several days or to dig several holes over a few days...so if she comes back out don't worry. The only thing to wonder about if she digs several holes and still doesn't lay the eggs is whether she's satisfied with that place or not.

DO NOT let her see you watching her when she is in the hole...she could abandon the hole feeling that its an unsafe place to lay the eggs. If she sees you and abandons the hole often enough because she sees you she could become eggbound and die.

Hopefully things will go well and she is now intent on laying the eggs. If this is the case, she should lay them and then bury them and tamp the soil down well over the hole...and go back up into her branches. (The only way to know if she has laid her eggs if you can't see a difference in her size/girth is to dig them up....so I would advise you to do that when she fills the hole in.)

If things don't go the way they are supposed to (as described above) please post about what is going on.

If she is healthy and you don't watch her, she should get through this with no problems. (There are some things that can happen...after all life isn't perfect...but they aren't very common if the chameleon is healthy.)

Good luck!

I've not experienced this myself but I have read of females doing this even when not gravid. And once they find an acceptable laying spot they will lay infertile eggs. Because as far I understand females produce eggs whether they are gravid or not once they reach sexual maturity. Is this false?

YEA FEMALES CAN LAY INFERTILE EGGS 3-4 TIMES A YEAR. MY FEMALE IS OVER 2 YEARS OLD BUT SHE HAS ONLY LAID 5 CLUCHES AND IS ABOUT TO LAY HER FIRST FERTILE CLUTCH. I USE A BUCKET OF SAND MOIST NOT SOAKED AND SHE DIGS THERE EVERY CLUTCH. ANOTHER MEATHOSD IS TO PUT HER IN A LARGE TOTE,BUCKET,GARBAGE CAN TO LAY HER EGGS. THE CHAMELEON NEWS WEBSITE IS ALSO AN EXCELENT RESORSE WHERE YOU CAN GET INFO. DO YOU HAVE ANY CHAM BOOKS? MOST ALL BOOKS HAVE A SECTION ON NESTING SITES. WELL GOOD LUCK AND KEEP US POSTED

I don't get why people are so surprised about Female Chameleons laying eggs even after never mating.

After all, HUMAN Women do it, and they do it MONTHLY! They just only get the mood swings instead of digging in the dirt. But it would be awesome fun if they did dig!

(No offence ladies, but men will never know whats going on inside you)
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
2.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizards
0.0.1 Giant Mellers Chameleon
0.0.2 Kenyan Pigmy Chameleons
500 Escaped Crickets

i agree also chichens produce infertile egg thats what we eat.the thing that upsets me is that people who own chams dont know this and if they have even done the minimal research about chams they could find this info. this all leads to the fact that i wish pet shops shouldnt be able to sell chams to the uneducated public.most of the workers are part time kids and dont have a clue on husbandry,lighting,etc.
all we can do is help ande educate people
by the way your comparison between female(women) and chams as far as egg production was a good and interesting point
take care ,LETS SEE SOME NEW PICS OF YOUR PINK PANTHERS
i love your pics
chameleon76

Hehe, My male is quite nice, and he his huge. Doubling the size of the one female the same age as him. so I fear I will have to wait months later even after she has matured, just so she can bulk up too. He has more colours than a beach ball and at night he glows like a neon lamp. He has never 'not' accepted food either.

They are though eating me out of house and home, but an expo is comming up and I should be able to grab cheap crickets and silkworms. AND, after seeing Adam (Ank-Inc's) Fatty's I'm going to have to pick up some hornworms. I wish butterworms and waxworms were cheaper!

I hope I can start saving for some new caging though. I'd like to have some for April (my birthday month ). And then 6 months later I hope to have some baby cages for raising eggs.

I'd like to get some photos but all the cameras I have are not suitible for taking great photos if reptiles because of the focusing distances. And this coming from a photographer (My other passion) Check out my website: www.exiledphotography.com

I need one more bearded Dragon cage and then I'm set for them. But thats another $150 or more to set up. I know that soon they will be approching a more aggressing age and it wouldn't be right to keep them together.

So if my financial slump problems weren't enough now, I'm bored at work, and I have to force feed a dehydrated Mellers Chameleon. It was a rescue from a petstore, and it perked up a little once it was brought home, but has since declined despite my efforts to keep it hydrated and fed.

It was at the vet last week and treated for any possible parasites. He is extremely dehydrated. Sleeps all the time and wont eat. I have for force feed it baby food twice a day. AND Mellers chameleons are one of the most easily stressed chameleon species...

heh, its been quite a month. Sorry If I have been venting. Ill see if I can borrow a camera for some photos.

EXILED PHOTOGRAPHY DOT COM

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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
2.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizards
0.0.1 Giant Mellers Chameleon
0.0.2 Kenyan Pigmy Chameleons
500 Escaped Crickets

yea your chams are beautiful sorry to hear about the mellers but i remember from yuour previouse posts that you rescued him from very degrading conditions.at least if you loose him you can know you tried and gave him a better life than he would have recieved.I have been force feeding my male vieled for 3 weeks due to a bacteria infection that is very rare.i know bacteria infections are not rare but my cham 's infection has manifested itself in his front elbo joint and his back left hip joint. it is rare for it to manifest itself just there. a biopsy was done on the joint monday and i am giving him injections evey 72 hours of a stong antibiotic and am going to report my findings to the vey this coming monday. his outlook is pretty good as long as we can knock out the infection.other than that he is gaining weight and looking extremely healthy so i hope it works out. i will check your pics out when i am at my home computer because i to am at work i really hope your melleri makes a turn around . mellers are magnificant chams

Yeah, since MEN seem to have those MOOD SWINGS at least once a day, for UNKNOWN reasons, I'm sure they would not understand ,

hahahhahahaha ! No offense
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Haha you !

EXILED PHOTOGRAPHY DOT COM

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1.1 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Maroantsetra Panther Chameleons
2.0 Long Tailed Grass Lizards
0.0.1 Giant Mellers Chameleon
0.0.2 Kenyan Pigmy Chameleons
500 Escaped Crickets