# Veiled chameleon - female - info etc...



## MrFiddles (Aug 2, 2011)

Last weel I got a veiled chameleon, a female. She's awesome.

I was disappointed with how willing the store folk were to sell her to me and the poor advice they gave. Very little info, some incorrect. I have spent hours browsing your forums here amongst others and various care-sheets also. I have previous experience with corn snakes and geckos but I am aware there is a little more involved with chameleons. I am also aware the females will lay eggs, and have playsand and a small tub with low sides ready. I have been feeding her crickets dusted in calcium, and twice a week with multi-vitamins, gutloaded with spring (collard) greens and a little carrot and jellied water. I will give her 2 waxworms a week to encourage hand feeding and as a little treat. I have mealworms too, also, a few a week at most. She is in a terrarium with around 75% humidity and between 24-28c with a repti glo 5.0 lamp and an optional basking lamp (60w).

She is very active in her enclosure - a terrarium - I am looking to upsize shortly to a 60x60x120cm enclosure next week. She is happily drinking from droplets falling to the leaves (ice-cube drip) and as soon as I open the doors and put my hand out she happily walks over to it. Handling her this evening she was out on my hand and walking around my sofa for 15 minutes before going to sleep on my leg (8pm) but as she seemed tired I put her in her enclosure and turned off the light. Generally running 12-14 hours on 10-12 off.

She has been eating around 4-6 crickets a day so far so I am happy with that. I am assuming she is something over over 3/4 months age by size. She changes color when I feed her, and when outside she gets prominent black spots and dark green in the sun, she thins out leaflike to absorb the rays.

I think she seems happy so far but if she doesn't I'll be back here for advice.

Any additional advice welcome.

Pics to follow:


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## Higgt4 (Apr 25, 2009)

be prepared to offer another lay site if she rejects the one she has now, and don't underestimate the amount of calcium she will require to produce eggs, I did and lost my female because of it

She looks lovely and will make a great pet :no1:


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## MrFiddles (Aug 2, 2011)

Higgt4 said:


> be prepared to offer another lay site if she rejects the one she has now, and don't underestimate the amount of calcium she will require to produce eggs, I did and lost my female because of it
> 
> She looks lovely and will make a great pet :no1:


this is one thing I _could_ take advice on for sure.

how to be sure they're producing eggs, how to know when, how much calcium to provide, for how long before, during, and after.

from what age do they lay, and is there a way to encourage or discourage it?


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## Higgt4 (Apr 25, 2009)

they will produce eggs, mine was about 10 months when she started to become a 'bag of marbles'
She had two lay sites provided but still dropped a few eggs randomly in the couple of weeks before she finally chose a box and spent the entire night digging
she layed around 40 eggs (infertile as she was not mated) but she had a few retained follicles in her ovaries and shortly after laying she became ill and deteriorated quite rapidly and passed soon after despite the vet trying to save her with an operation


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## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

*hey, i posted the following in a thread couple weeks ago, it should help you with female chameleon egg issues
*
*yes its ture, females will lay eggs regardless of mating, i didnt relise this until a few weeks after getting mine aswell*

careful tho, when mine was gravid(pregnant) i didnt belive she was because i though she was too young, she was about 5 month old

it depends on how much you feed them i have been told, if you overfeed them they lay eggs quite frequently which mine did 4 months after her first time recently ( but htis is because i overfed her when i got her because she was neglected in the store and underweight, but when she got to her ideal weight i still continued overfeedin_g_) and mine is just over 1 year old, *however do not starve your chameleon, just give her a healthy amount of food, they can be extremely greedy, trust me*, i now give mine a healthy amount of food and she looks at a healthy weight but still runs over if i have food, but she would do this regardless of how much she had before hand.

however, make sure she has a good weight before shes pregant because she will loose alot of it after laying, mine was very fat and was skiinny afterwards

i use normal soil in a small bedroom bin which is 11 inches high and 9 inches wide which she has layed eggs in twice, i por some water on the soil in the bin beforhand and pat it down really hard to strenghten.

you hear about chameleons dying due to laying eggs and not getting enough calcium etc because they loose alot in the process, however dont be alarmed they dont need as much calcium for laying as they only use it for the eggs shells in a way as they are not formed eggs so the eggs them selves dont need calcium etc for the babies to grow in the eggs unlike if they did if the cham had mated,

just remember to feed your chameleon up with food and calcium after she has layed to make up for the loss but dont over calcium as that can cause problems

*im no expert* *and i hope this helps*


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## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

its is also known that females are less colourful than males and also smaller, males get banded purple etc, mu female is green with dark orange marks on her and faint blue bands on her head and legs

there are signs to show that your chameleon is going to lay eggs in colours and behaviours

*Colours:*
Receptive colours are when you female is ok to mate and will allow a male to make a move on her











this is exactly what my chameleon looked like when she was receptive


Gravid colours are when she hass eggs in her and is ready to lay them and warn off any other chameleons that she is angry if they get too close










however, mine has never shown gravid colours and never really got seriously angrey until she went into the laying bin and never roamed abotu her cage in this colour, however yours may

*Behaviour*

when she is about to lay and wants to they will be pacing around there cage generally at the bottom, mine scratched to get out the second time she layed

they will stop eating, i was generally shocked the second time she layed because i thought she would keep eating as she loves locusts, she would eat the odd one if it was roaming near her tho

do not worry if she stops eating for a few days, she most likly wont eat until she has layed in which she will go crazy for food after it


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## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

humidity should be around 50 percent and dont give her waxworms often because they make them extremly fat which leads to them laying eggs earlier


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## MrFiddles (Aug 2, 2011)

when she lays how deeps does the sand need to be? i hear they tunnel into the sand, will it not collapse on her?


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## Higgt4 (Apr 25, 2009)

I used a mix of coir and peat with some chopped moss thrown in, if it is moist and packed down a bit it should be OK, the pot she used was about 10-12 inches deep and she went almost to the bottom


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

MrFiddles said:


> when she lays how deeps does the sand need to be? i hear they tunnel into the sand, will it not collapse on her?


I use a mix of eco earth and play sand. Make sure that it is damp enough to hold it's shape when you try and push your fingers into it. Keep an eye on it though if it's in the viv for a while as the heat from the lighting can dry it out.

Looking at your photo, she doesn't look that old yet, I would say under 6 months still as she hasn't got her big girl colours yet. Amy got hers at about 6 months old. They will lay infertiles without even seeing a male, but they vary a great deal in age when laying though. My first female didn't lay until she was 14 months and Amy laid her first back in November at 20 months old and she hasn't laid again as yet.

One thing I noticed in your pic though, your cham has quite skinny legs and is showing the start of some bands of colour coming through - are you sure that she is a she? What do the heels of the back feet look like? Are there 'lumps' (called spurs) or are they rounded? Spurs would indicate a male whereas smooth heels is female. You can tell by casque size, colours and body shape when they are adults - male and female are very obviously different in appearance.


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## MrFiddles (Aug 2, 2011)

Miss Lily said:


> I use a mix of eco earth and play sand. Make sure that it is damp enough to hold it's shape when you try and push your fingers into it. Keep an eye on it though if it's in the viv for a while as the heat from the lighting can dry it out.
> 
> Looking at your photo, she doesn't look that old yet, I would say under 6 months still as she hasn't got her big girl colours yet. Amy got hers at about 6 months old. They will lay infertiles without even seeing a male, but they vary a great deal in age when laying though. My first female didn't lay until she was 14 months and Amy laid her first back in November at 20 months old and she hasn't laid again as yet.
> 
> One thing I noticed in your pic though, your cham has quite skinny legs and is showing the start of some bands of colour coming through - are you sure that she is a she? What do the heels of the back feet look like? Are there 'lumps' (called spurs) or are they rounded? Spurs would indicate a male whereas smooth heels is female. You can tell by casque size, colours and body shape when they are adults - male and female are very obviously different in appearance.


No spurs. Listed as female @ reptile store.


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## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

I just use normal soil, in a 1 foot deep and 1 food wide bin, spray some water on the soil and pat it down hard to strenghten it


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

MrFiddles said:


> No spurs. Listed as female @ reptile store.


That's good then! Must be just her adult barring showing through. She's beautiful!


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