my chaqmelion

Question
Hi there I have recently purchased a pair of yemens chamelions ,I was told by the place that I purchased them that it was a female and a male the suposed male is alot bigger and in the last 4weeks has become aqlot fatter and now has taken to sitting on the bottom of the vivarium with its eyes closed ,I have also noticed that it only opens its eyes every so often and some blue spots have appeared just wondered if you could help ,some one suggested that it mite be a female and be carrying eggs.

            any help would be greatly appreciated
                  Brett

Answer
Hi Brett, Yemen chameleons can be pretty reliably sexed even as very young babies so we should be able to figure out your pair.As adults the males are dramatically larger and much more colourful. They also have a much larger casque (the upper triangular part of their head). The males also have heel or tarsal spurs on their rear feet which is how they are sexed as youngsters. I've included a link that shows the heel spurs. Female veileds/Yemens will produce eggs regardless of whether they have mated. Captive and well fed veileds can produce very large amounts of eggs relative to their wild counterparts and this can lead to trouble. Some keepers will moderate the food intake of the female to try to keep the clutch size to a safer size. The other factor that leads to potentially fatal egg binding in females is the lack of a suitable laying spot to bury the eggs. Gravid females will restlessly roam around the bottom corners of the enclosure looking for a spot to bury their eggs. They need several inches depth of moist sand. If they don't find this they will often retain the eggs. You would not have recognized this pre-laying behaviour or the significance of the blue colour if your female was mis-identified as a male.
Assuming this is a gravid female that you are describing, it sounds like she needs veterinary intervention rather urgently. Once they get into a weakened state where they can no longer even attempt to dig and lay then it's a very serious and life-threatening situation. There is a hormonal treatment called oxytocin given through injection that can dramatically help. Good luck.


http://www.veiled-chameleon.com/care-sheet.html