Is She Gravid???????

[reptiguy]

Hi all,
I have a pair of adult FEMALE veiled chams and 1 is acting kinda weird... She has been very restless and she has started to dig in her ficus tree pot like there is no tomorrow. She is also looking a bit fat, possibly lumpy... I know they display this behavior when gravid but she has not been in contact with a male for months. Has anyone else experienced this? I have placed a bucket of damp potting soil in the enclousre just in case but I don't know how it would be possible for her to be gravid. And yes, both ARE FEMALES in case you thought that I might have mistaken 1 for a male :) Can the female store sperm and use it a long time later????
You think she is gravid or just tryin to dig to China?
Any help in the mater would be great.
Thanks,
-Reptiguy-

[DragnDrop]

Sure sounds like she's gravid. She might have retained sperm from a previous encounter with a male (up to about 1 year ago), or they could be infertile eggs. Females will produce eggs even if not mated, especially if they're overfed. I'd suggest you get her a suitable place to lay eggs ASAP.

[choriona]

Thats funny. :) Guys seem to forget that almost every female species has a regular cycle in which eggs are produced. I bet you knew that and just forgot. :) Think of chickens producing eggs that are unfertilized, and then all of a sudden it seems normal again.
Anyways, give her lots of water and get her to the lay bucket. With my one cham, this happened about every 4 months.

[Collide]

She is gravid get her a laying container asap. U can try to incubate the eggs but my guess is they are all infirtal but youll know that within two weeks of incubating. the infirtal ones will mold up.

[i have a cham04]

my guess is with the rest i was reading a book and it said the feamles lay 27-80 eggs 3-4 times a year and that she doesnt need to mate again to lay her next batch of fertile eggs...good luck with the babies if she has them and if you sell or give them away make sure you put them in very good homes...please...hope i helped

[reptiguy]

Hey guys,
Just got done writing a long description of what happened then the browser messed up and lost it all so here's the short version.
She did lay. The count was 46. They are in the incubator now and I'm hoping they are fertile.
Unfortunatly it was extremely har on her. She was super thin, she had dark colors, her eyes were sunken way into her head. I kept her warm and well hydrated all nigh but she was not doing well. She was also egg bound. Could clearly see that at least 1 egg was stuck inside her. She could barley move. I felt so bad. Later on in the evening she looked better. Her colors came back and as her lights went out it looked like she was headed toward the dirt to finish laying.
I woke up this morning to find she didn't make it through the night. It sucks big time but it's in the past and all I can do is learn from it. I still have 1 beautiful female and I will monitor her very closley for signs of laying. It just caught me so off guard!!!! She hadn't seen a male in months so I wasn't expecting it.
Thanks for all your help and wish me luck with the eggs!!!!
If I get the chance I will post pics of my 46 little eggs. I'm a daddy!!!! LOL
-Reptiguy-

[meow_mix450]

that suks, srry for your lsot, but when you have a female chameleon thats wut you have to look for, and see whats coming, once the female lays the egg its really hard on her like you said, but im glad you learned something

Meow

[Pirranha]

Sorry to hear about the loss,but good luck with the eggs.Hope there fertile and youll have something good come from this,besides some new information.

[choriona]

sorry about the loss.
In the future, you can pay attention to you other females pelvic area, and you may see some egg shaped lumps that aren't her ribs. If you see that, then its time to up the water provided for her. Gravid females usually drink constantly if you let them. The water is important in preventing dyscocia (egg binding).
You can usually visualize these lumps at least a week before laying.
r