Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

For the longest time I have always wanted a Chuckwalla. I can't explain why since I'm not much of a lizard person as snakes are more my passion. So I've longed for years to get one, and have found many while out in the field looking for snakes. I could never get my hands on one to collect though.

This year while out in Joshua Tree (City) I was able to catch my first Chuckwalla, an adult male. After handling him for a time I realized that this probably wasn't going to be as enjoyable to keep as I would hope for. He was gaping and never really settled down, so I decided right then that if I was going to keep one I would have to try to find one much younger. I let him go and wished him well. I was pretty bummed really (first one in hand) but felt it was best to do so.

Not long after that a friend spotted a Desert Tortoise across the way, and I proceeded over to admire this tortoise as I have never seen one in the wild. Now that was really cool.

Not far from the tortoise I partially lifted a rock and spotted a lizard I didn't recognize underneath it. I set the rock back down and asked my friend to help me catch this lizard. I assumed it would dart out thus not being able to check it out. Well I lifted the rock again and I was able to catch it with no trouble. As it turned out it was a baby Chuckwalla. Maybe 3" snout to vent. He settled down immediatly and I became a very happy camper.

So now I have this Chuckwalla home, set up, and thus I have some questions for the more experienced owners:

Since I've had her, she only seems to want to eat romaine, I've tried all the others, dandelion, kale, mustard...so will romaine be ok, and if not what can I do? This morning I put in a dandelion flower I picked from the yard, I wont know that outcome till I get home. I use a supplement made for tortoises as I have a desert tortoise too.

What about picking some creosote, or other desert plants. Is this ok, will it be edible by the time I bring it home. I wouldn't be doing this on a regular basis only when I'm around it. I actually wouldn't have to drive to far really.

I have also put in a sideblotched lizard I found this past weekend, was planning to use it for scenting (snakes). I made a decent (for me anyway) desert terrarium, so I thought I would put it in there with the Chuckwalla for the time being. My son thinks it's so cool I decided to make it a permanent resident. Is there any problem with this pairing as far as the Chuckwalla is concerned? I know they share the same habitat, so wouldn't think it would be a problem.

How fast do Chuckwalla's grow?

Is there anything to be concered about in introducing a mate at some time in the future? If I can get lucky and find a male juvie now I suppose that would be ok.

Can the sex be determined at a yound age like this, or could I be mis-sexing it?

I will post some pictures soon, and appreciate any comments.

Mike

Those are some good questions you have. As far as the romaine question-yes you have to get her to eat other stuff. Keep trying with the greens. Mix the darker leafy greens in gradually-she will eventually take them. As far as wild foods that is really the best way to go. In the experience chucks in captivity really seem to dislike creosote. I know a lot of references say it is their staple in the wild but I really think they only eat it as a last result. Eperiment with a lot of weeds from your area. DVL is the expert on that maybe he can give you some advice on what their favorites are. The chuck and uta should do fine together. Also you should not have a problem introducing a mate for her. Usually the only problem arises when you have 2 males in the same enclosure-they will fight. At 3" svl it should show signs of pores if it is a male but not always. They can be tough to sex at that size. Since you live in an area where they live I would try collecting a young male and introduce him and see what happens. If worse comes to worse you can always let it go exactly where you caught it provided it is only kept with native lizards that you caught from around your area. Chuck growth rate can very condiderably. I have seen them grow to breeding size(125mm svl) in one year and have seen them take 3 years to get to that size. Usually if you keep them under optimal conditions they will grow pretty quick. Good luck and keep us posted. Cant wait to see the pics either.

Tom, Alice,

Thank you so much for the information. I was beginning to think maybe coming out and stating I collected one was not a good idea. I really do appreciate the feedback, thank you.

She has adapted well so it seems, and appears to be calm in her enclosure. However, I had noticed that she seemed to be losing weight, and that maybe my 100watt heat bulb wasn't putting out enough heat, and that she wasn't processing what she was eating properly. That and for the first week or so she would eat very little if at all. The thermometer was reading 105+ but it just didn't seem to make her as active as I thought it should, and would only pick a few bites of the romaine from time to time, afterwords going right under the heat bulb. So I went to home depot and picked up a 250watt red heat lamp. I use a dimmer to regulate the temp. Now I know the temp is well over 105 and she has really taken to eating. They really do like it hot. I also have a 24" Zoo Med ReptiSun 10 UVA/UVB bulb over the tank as well. She is much more active now, and does cruise the enclosure more. I will be setting up a 60gal. tank for them in the coming weeks, after getting some more rock to fill the enclosure.

I have found that dandelion flowers were greedily taken and how, thanks Alice. It's amazing how much she will eat. She is very active now and has no problem packing in the dandelion flowers. I will continue to provide a mix of the other greens suggested too. Alice I can see how 80% of the diet can be these flowers in the beginning, she love's them.

I hope to see some improvement in her body weight as her boney girdle is showing, and her tail has gotten a bit thin at the base. Is it possible that she could have a parasite, or maybe a bacterial infection? Would she drink if I put her in a shallow bowl of water? She is otherwise acting normal. I do dunk the flowers in water before giving them to her and noticed that the dandelions will hold some water. I do this in hopes it will help in hydration. It's really something to watch her eat, and that she can pack in so much compared to her size. I think she would eat all day if I could keep putting them flowers in there.

I have made an appointment with my vet today, better safe than sorry, I will let you know how that goes. In the mean time here are a couple of pics I took this morning during the warm up before spot cleaning. I didn't want to disturb them before I was able to get an in situ shot if you will.

I'm still not 100% sure she's a she, I can see the pores but her being so small and nothing to compare it to I don't know. If there is anything else you can think of I'm open to suggestions. Thanks again.

Mike

Mike
I would not worry about taking her to the vet(as long as she is eating). Sometimes chucks can be tough to acclimate. Believe it or not I have the easiest time acclimating adults and the worst time with sub-adults. Don't worry about the collecting thing-I think that's how we all got our animals. I would feed her all she will eat and she will be fat in no time. She does look thin but she also looks like she has a full belly. Soaking the dandelions is a good idea. Soon you will be trying to figure out how to eliminate water from her diet. LOL. When well hydrated they will expel a ton of water with the feces. Keep up the good work. Did you seew the post below with the wc chuck that was really skinny and a feww weeks later looks great? That is what yours will be like soon.

Thanks Tom, and you are so right.

I just got back from my vet, I just wanted to be sure. I've known him for nearly ten years now, he is a great guy, and has an article in the current Reptiles USA issue, DVM Tom Greek. Anyway, I brought some fecal samples with me, he checked them and no parasites. His advice was the same as yours, keep feeding, and as long as it's behaving normally should be ok, and to add a shallow water dish just in case it will want to drink.

Her/his weight is 5.1 grams, partly due to being a little skinny, and as you can see from the picture, just over 2" long, so I don't know how much more she would weigh otherwise. I'm guessing not much really. I'll post updates and let you know how things are coming along.

As a side note, I collected the rocks in the enclosure from "The Chuckwalla Mountains".

I didn't give you a reason for not taking the chuck to the vet yet. In my experience when animals are collected by yourself and not subjected to a bunch of other animals the likely hood of a heavy parasite load is not too high. Mostly the ones you see with parasite problems are the ones that go through reptile dealers and are subject to a bunch of unclean cages and foreign animals. Yes keep us posted. Tom

My first wild caught chuck was tough to acclimate too. With her, I found covering the front back and sides of the tank completely and all but the upper 1/8th corner of the front really helped her feel secure and start feeding. Once she started eating regularly I gradually started cutting away the paper covering the front of the tank. Lots of secure rocks that she can hide under or between also really help, and put the food bowl in close proximity to a hiding area. A large tank also helped in my case, my girl didn't really start settling in until I moved her into the hundred gallon tank (she was a bit bigger than your baby). I also think that those mercury vapor lights really help. I got the basking site up to about 120 degrees and she's up there cooking first thing every morning. I got kind of desparate with her and got her a cb buddy (food looks much more appealing when someone else is eating it).

Her big favorite in terms of food is dandelion flowers. I think that these comprised about over 80% of her diet the first year I had her (luckily I've got lots I can harvest in the lawn). Mustard flowers, wild raddish flowers, and nasturtium leaves are also big favorites. I also will feed alfalfa, plantain, mint, sweet alyssum, and dandelion greens regularly and she'll take these too now. In terms of supplements, the T-rex iguana dust is the only one I can get my chucks to take. I typically only dust the dandelions since they will leave the salad if it's dusted, but even dusted dandelions are irresistable. Other food items I use include pansey flowers (they like the lighter ones better), hibiscus flowers, bush mallow flowers, cosmos flowers, and assorted leafy greens from the gocery store (collards, cilantro, carrot, etc) but I find it much more economical to grow the bulk of their food myself.

This is my female when I first caught her (blown up like a balloon).

Here's my cb male as a baby:

and a picture of his pores at that size and again a few months later:

I don't have any pictures of the female's pores, but hers were never as defined as the male's, even in the first picture.

In the first year I had them, my wc female went from a starting weight of 35 grams to about 78 grams while my cb male went from 14 grams to 140. I expect that she'll grow a lot better this year. It took me almost 6 months to get her eating regularly and doing more thatn just maintaining her weight, and even then she was picky. This year she's more willing to take a wider variety of foods and will eat more of them.

-Alice