Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
I got my first chuck about 5 mo. ago and he rocks. I’m wondering if you fine folks could point me to some good care sheets, the info I find on them is mostly natural history. I also keep uros so I’m not totally in the dark w/ my chuck b/c they are similar. I’m mostly looking for info on diet, right now he’s on the uro diet which consists of mixed greens (turnip and dandelion are my staple with a random one selected every week.). I also give them frozen thawed peas w/ chopped squash, zucchini, and carrots about 2 times a week. I also offer a small dish of pretty bird finch pellets mixed w/ tortoise pellets and bee pollen granules which is avail to them 24/7. Thanks for any advice and info, I'll have to work on getting a pic up.

-Nathanael

Hi Nathan,
Welcome to the chuck forum, nice to have you, will be waitng for that pic for sure!

I seem to have misplaced my care sheets but I have a few things to add as far as eating. They love flowers, dandilions are a favorite, pansies, hybiscus, roses, make sure nothing has been treated.

And my three absolutely love BANANA, oh they go nuts licking chucks of it.
Also shredded sweet potato/ regular white potato, radishes, collards, kale.
I pull certain weeds during the warmer months, the stuff that grows inbetween the pavement, don't know what they are called but mine relish weeds. Again, make sure NO pesticides have been used.

Our Buddy DVL (David) would know the names of flowers and weeds, that they love, he plants alot of stuff in his outdoor pens. Hope he chimes in here and gives ya a lesson on horteculture, hehehhee LOL (He's quite amazing) GOOFY too

Make sure ya try a couple chucks of banana

-----
PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Thanks Eve,
I def. wold love to learn what wild plants I can give him and will try out some bannanas. Thanks for the input.

Have your chucks shown any interest in the dry seeds and beans?

I agree that chucks are awesome. I think that my guys are my favorite herps right now. They just have so much personality.

I'm not sure it this will help you any, but I feed my guys a lot of ornamentals, weeds etc. Here're the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

alfalfa (leaves & flowers)
dandelion (leaves & flowers)
filaree, Erodium spp. (leaves & flowers)
english plantain (leaves)
pansy (flowers)
hibiscus (flowers)
sweet alyssum (leaves & flowers)
nasturtium (leaves & flowers)
cosmos (flowers)
wild raddish (flowers)
mustard, Brassica sp. (flowers)
cat's ear, Hypochaeris sp. (flowers)
moss rose (flowers)
mint (leaves & flowers)

So far the nasturtium leaves are their favorite green and the dandelions are their favorite flower.

-Alice

Thanks for the replies,
Some of those things I do have access to like the nasturtium and the hibiscus. I live in Tallahassee Fl. and am not very familiar with the wild plants. I would be able to collect a wide assortment of plants because I live very close to forested areas. Does anyone know what wild plants I may be able to feed my Chuck that are indigenous to Fl? I went out and got a field guide for native Florida plants, but am not sure as to what is safe and what isn’t. Any more help will be appreciated.

-Nat

Here're a few web pages to peruse, if you do some google searches with Florida and edible plants you may be able to turn up some more specific ones. I had some other's jotted down somewhere that I can't seem to locate.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
http://www.anapsid.org/resources/edible.html
http://russiantortoise.org/edible_plants.htm
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8513.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07237.html

There are also various field guides available dealing with edible wild plants. I believe that there is one in the Peterson guide series.

When I'm offering anything new, that I'm not 100% sure is safe, I offer it alone in a separate dish (I normally chop and toss their salad, to prevent them from only eating favorites). This way the chucks can avoid it if they want to. Asking here about a specific species can also prove very helpful.

-Alice

Thanks Alice,
you have been a tremendous help! I just got the Peterson guide to edible plants this evening and will def. check out those sites. Once again, thank you.

-Nathanael