Thanks for your interest in our blog.
Unfortunately after this amount of time you’ll need veterinary intervention.
An Oxytosin injection is the usual treatment, although surgery is sometimes necessary if the animal is, as may be the case here, very debilitated. Calcium increases muscle contractions, which helps expel the eggs, but drops will not be effective at this point; vets often administer a Calcium Gluconate injection along with oxytosin.
Once the animal is treated, we can discuss steps you can take to avoid a recurrence.
Here is a list of Reptile-experienced veterinarians in Colorado; if none are convenient, call several and ask for a reference; it’s a limited specialty, so practitioners tend to be familiar with one another. Failing that, the reptile department of the closest zoo may be able to help, or write me and I’ll search further.
Good luck and please keep me posted… it’s very useful to have feedback on medical problems, thanks, Frank

We’ve have a s female Anole for some time now but we were not quite sure what was wrong with her.

Today we took her to the local scales & tails and she is egg bound with two eggs. This has been going on for approximately 3-4 weeks now and the gentleman at scales & tails told us that the eggs inside her were hard and were not moving. He gave her some calcium drops and advised us to feed her some peach baby food, which she ate but she is extremely thin and quite lethargic.

Is there anything that we can do to pass these eggs and survive? Can you recommend any locations in Colorado who might be able to help?

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.

Laurie Saccomanno
Denver, Colorado

Nice to hear from you again,

What happens when unmated female veiled chameleons develop eggs varies greatly, and we don’t completely understand why some do fine and others do not. Some females resorb the developing eggs if they do not mate, and so fare well. Others simply lay the eggs, which do not hatch. Some do become egg-bound, which can lead to fatalities.

It is important to keep a gravid female well-hydrated and well nourished. Calcium is needed not only for egg shell formation, but for the strong muscle contractions needed to expel the eggs, so supplementation and UVB is critical. Also important is to provide a quiet stress free environment and a suitable laying site – a large flower pot with a foot or more of soil should be available.

If a female will not lay and appears in distress, a veterinarian can inject oxytosin to help move the eggs from her body.

Please see my article The Veiled Chameleon for a bit more general information.

Good luck, enjoy and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Frank Indiviglio here. Thanks for your interest in our blog.

Actually, an anole of that size is not very easy to keep. Larger crickets will definitely attack it, especially if temperatures cool down in the evening (the crickets are active at far lower temperatures than the anole). The anole will need very small crickets…pet stores specializing in reptiles sometimes carry different sizes…if you can locate one, ask for 10 day old or 1/4 inch crickets. Larger crickets, even if the lizard can down them, are likely to cause a blockage. Please see Part II of the article you referenced for some other feeding ideas.

Immature anoles need a good deal of calcium…food should be powdered with a vitamin/mineral supplement and a UVB-emitting bulb..

The terrarium’s temperature should be kept at 80-84F, with a basking spot of 90-95F (anoles experience cooler temperatures in winter, but keeping them warm in captivity is safest). If you haven’t misted the lizard with warm water, I suggest you do so ASAP…anoles will not drink from a water bowl, and small ones dehydrate rather easily.

Wild-caught anoles are usually high strung and should not be handled…the fact that yours tolerates handling may mean that it is in a weakened condition.

It might be preferable to release this animal and start off with an adult, or, preferably, a hardier species of lizard (perhaps a leopard gecko – captive bred, handleable, no need for UVB., long-lived)….Please let me know if you need further info or suggestions.

best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Thanks.
Hillary