Hi there,

I've kept snakes and various lizards for years now. Yesterday I ended up with a male S. ater due to some interesting circumstances.



He seems healthy enough, though a little ashy from retained shed bits and with very long nails.



I have no history on him- is it best to assume he is WC, or are CB ones common these days now? Any chuckwalla specific health concerns I should watch for?



I will be setting him up in his semi-temporary digs tomorrow- a 4' by 2' by 2' storage bin with slate on the floor. I have heard that they need quite bright light to thrive- will his MVB be enough for the enclosure, or would he do better with some fluorescent as well?



Lastly, I've seen conflicting info about two things: temperatures at night, and diet. I keep cyclura, and feed a 100% herbivorous diet to them. Should I do the same with the chuck? Is animal protein helpful or unnecessary? I breed roaches, so I could feed some if it'd help and not screw with his kidneys or something. Also, I read about a lot of folks feeding grasses or tortoise food to up the fiber content of the diet: needed?



Thanks in advance. I know a lot of this is simple stuff, there's just a lot of opinions out there, and though I didn't expect to end up with this guy, I want to do the best I can by him.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]