I have a veiled chameleon whos almost 1 year old now. I now know that females will have infertile eggs. At the time when she was digging and at the bottom of the cage I didnt know about that or to have a lay bin for her. It was probubly the beggining of May maybe earlier if im remembering right. I had wood chips and saw her eat one with a cricket and thought that was why I didnt see any poo in the cage as much.(removed the substrate now tho) took her to a vet and she did something with her stomach to make her poo. I got some xrays done and the vet showed me she had eggs. The vet told me by the look of them the eggs werent hard enough and gave me a liquid calcium to give her. Does this sound right? Now that I know what she was doing before was looking for a spot to lay it doesnt seem right. Now she is still eating, eyes open, and has a strong grip and ive put a pot with moist top soil in the enclosure. I dont know how long she will hold onto the eggs. Will she look for another spot to lay again when the eggs are fully calcified? The vet told me if she doesnt lay in the next week that I should give her the shot to get her to want to lay again. Is that the only thing that will get her to lay or will she look again for a place to lay. I dont want to wait too long and have her become egg bound or need surgery.
Veiled chameleons usually lay their eggs 21 to 28 days after being bred. In your chameleon's case, since she wasn't bred and just produced an infertile clutch, it would be hard to say when she is due to lay. SInce your Vet told you the eggs were not fully calcified when the X-ray was taken, I don't think she was looking to lay her eggs at that time but maybe she was studying her cage to see if there was a suitable place for laying. Now that you have a laying bin, she should try again on her own when she is ready. Some chameleons even lay the eggs without looking for a spot and just drop them all over the cage. If that happens, you simply pick out the eggsand throw them away as they are no good anyway. If you see her getting into the laying bucket and digging around, then she will likely dig a hole, lay her eggs and cover them. She will also look way skinnier and have a big appetite after that. I wouldn't rush into giving any injections until you are certain she is not able to lay her eggs. If you Vet takes another X-ray and the eggs look to be fully calcified and she also seems to be in distress then indeed the injections or even surgery will be needed. In the meantime, it seems you are following instruction and the chameleon looks to be in good shape so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Let her be and make sure she is acting, eating and drinking ok.
Ok I wasnt really sure about the vet because they deal with dogs and cats and pretty much all animals, but the lady i talked to says she has experience with exotic reptiles. The first time i took her in the vet didnt even mention anything about being female or having eggs until she took the xray. She just rubbed her stomach and made her take a crap lol. Should i keep feeding her if she is still interested in food? Ive given her 2 crickets the past fews days and havnt seen any poo in the cage. Im scared she will get backed up if i keep giving her food and shes not passing it? Ill try to get a pic of her so i can post it on here today
Heres are some pics of her http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/189/1020104t.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/1020105.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/217/1020108.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/1020109.jpg/
She does look bloated so maybe she is carrying eggs indeed. I sure hope so because otherwise she is way too fat for her own good. When are you taking her for follow-up X-rays?
Now the vet i was going to is telling me the oxytocin will not work because her eggs are too big. Although a week ago she said she thought i should try it before i resort to doing surgery. Today i went in and she told me my only choice now was to get her into surgery pretty much. Im going to contact another vet and get a second opinion. Ill keep you updated, thanks for the help so far.
Oxytocin is never a sure shot thing with lizards but it is always worth a try before attempting surgery. If the eggs are really that big, then surgery might be needed regardless but I agree with you in trying to get a second opinion anyway. Was a follow-up Xray done?
I didnt know if I should risk using the oxytocin because I read people saying if you use it and the eggs are too large then it can cause more problems or even kill her? Then when i take her in the vet tells me not to use it because they are big. So I didnt have it done. I dont know if this vet just wants me to pay 500$ for a surgery. Then she tells me that shes lost weight since the first time I took her in and she didnt know why but "something was going on in her". I dont know what to do its been a while now since this first started and she was looking to lay. If i get her into surgery i want to do it while shes still in good shape rather than later. Hopefully this other vet will know a little more today, waiting to hear back from him.
