Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Folks:

I'm a long time lurker who has enjoyed learning from all of you on how to take care of chucks. Given all the action on this forum, I thought I should actually post!

I have 2 Hispidus that I bought from BJ as yearlings in late '99 (a wedding present from my wife!). I probably do not have to tell you what great lizards these guys are...lots of personality, very tame, and very interactive. Whenever I walk into the lizard room, they generally run to the front of the cage expecting a treat. My one frustration is that they have not bred. Only recently I read the article by Case which suggested to me that I was keeping the Hispidus too hot, given his comparisons of Hispidus and Obesus. I plan on cooling the temps a bit, and am also building a new 8' x 3' cage (they are currently in a 5' x 2' cage. Any additional thoughts are appreciated.

A little about me...I have been keeping herps (almost exclusively lizards and tortoises) for about 30 years now. In addition to the 2 hispidus, I have a pair of 12 year old Red Foot Tortoises (who breed like clockwork!), and a pair of Bearded Dragons. My male beardie is 11 years old and rules my reptile room...he head bobs at any person who walks in. I'm a professor at a business school and teach economics and entrepreneurship...I'm always happy to speak with anybody who is starting a business or trying to keep it going. I'm very interested in the business side of the herp industry, particularly in how prices evolve...isn't it surprising that new morphs of popular reptiles (like beardies) seem to emerge whenever prices on the old morphs start to fall!

Anyway, I thought I'd post a couple of pictures of my chucks!

Bart

My second hispidus

I wish you skill and luck in getting them to breed. I agree with your comments about Bearded dragons, amazing, I have a male, he is 5 years old and was bought then as sandfire red phase, over 50 dollars under 70 LOL Anyway hes pretty regular looking with a nice orangey beard. I finacially, can not even touch anything today with red on it, some of them start well into the hundreds, well into ! Oh well shame because now all the normal duller ones are for sale cheap, they are breeding them like crazy, trying for the bright colors, every classified ya see has a ton of beardies, I hope they dont start becoming like throw - away lizards, like some igauna's for 6.00 dang shame !!! Good Luck ! Eve

Hi Eve:

I remember when I bought my 11 year old normal BD as a month old hatchling for $150 and thought I was getting a steal! I've also wondered whether Bob Mailloux can collect on everyone marketing their Sandfire-related morphs. My female BD is a 7 year old Red/Gold that I got from Bob...it took about 3 years for her to really color up. I'm not sure why.

I also enjoy all your collared lizard pics. I have kept these guys off and on with varying success over the years. I had my collared lizard "Bob Marley" for about 7 years during the mid-70s to early 80s. He is the only collared that I ever had that would eat thawed frozen pinkies from my hand. He was also my first mail order purchase from an outfit called the Atlanta Wildlife Exchange that as I recall turned out to be a front for a govt sting operation in the reptile trade in the late 70s. I pretty much have given up on cricket-eating lizards given the difficulty I seem to have with the transfer of parasites from the crickets I was feeding. I also found my collareds to be very delicate with respect to medication...I lost an aquaflame that I got from Tom Jones a few years ago after a treatment for pinworms. Chucks seem a lot more robust, although nothing can beat a collared lizard for outstanding colors in my opinion.

Bart

Kong, you may have seem him, I agree chucks are great I love mine but the color of collareds, just unbelievable. This guy is a wc from Oklahoma 17 1/4 inches long. I find collareds opposite of what you have found, I find them extremely hardy ! Tough little buggers ! I will always breed them and have them as pets, as well as chucks ! Ever want to try again, let me know, hehhehehehhehe Eve

I enjoy seeing the different colors of various chucks. I see Tom is back too. I wish you luck with your pair. They are great lizards. I only wish it were easier to breed them because I think they are great pets. My guys entertain me and bring a great deal of joy to the family.

If so how have you been? We corresponded a few years ago and I though you just slipped between the woodwork. Glad your still around keeping animals. The hispidus are beautiful. Your frustration with them seems to be the norm. There are a couple guys that keep them outside in AZ that have regular luck breeding but for those who keep them indoors it is a frustration. It is funny about the Bearded dragons and their prices. I remember getting my first dragons from Glades herps that were redder than any I have seen and they were just considered normal but nice. I think this is all artificially done to get prices up. It is a joke to me. Anyway good to hear from you again.
Tom

Hi Tom:

Yes, that is me! I remember our interactions a few years ago. I think you sent me Rich Montanucci's great article on keeping chucks. I think you also steered me to BJ to get my hispidus. He really was fantastic in my transaction with him. I have also appreciated all the great info that I have picked up from you on the forums.

Are you still breeding chucks? I remember those beautiful red-tails that you had. Do you still breed them? I think I also read that you have some varius. Is this person selling them in Arizona really legit? I did not realize that you could get a permit for them.

When I got the Desert Lizards book by Randy Gray, I thought that the chapter on chucks would have been much better if you and Montanucci had written it. In fact, that book was a real disappointment to me. I have really liked the articles that I read by Gray, and I expected the book to be really insightful. I heard that Gray had gotten out of reptiles, and it seems to me that many of the chapters in the book just run out of steam. The exception is the collared lizard chapter that Gray did not write, and to some degree the Uro chapter. However, it really disappoints me when a book has worse information for the most part than what you can easily find on the net for no charge. I think a book like Desert Lizards would have worked much better if a different expert wrote a chapter on each of the different species. That way you would get more updated info and more insight into each herp than you get with the surface "TFH" treatment.

Anyway, enough ranting! It was nice of you to remember me after so many years!

Bart

Hi Bart

Yea still breeding the chucks just not as many. My varius were gifts from the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The guy in AZ is legit. I think the animals were illegal when he bought them but he went through all the permitting and red tape to get them permitted which I am surprised the feds did. Now I know that he traded some of his legal offspring for questionable animals but techniccally did not break the law since the animals he got were also in AZ. Hancock is not his real name also. I am not surewhy he is not using his real name or these may be people acting as agents for him as he does not allow people over his house and is very secretive which I really do not blame him for being. Tom

Beautiful Chucks you have there!!!

What I would do to have a pair of hispidus.
I had one when I lived in Napa, Ca back in the early 90's. Giving to me by Skip Kruse. He was a monster!! Close to 28" long.. Jet black, and SPINY!!!

Sad to say, because he was so old and set in his ways, he refused to eat. I think you know what happened to him.

Glad to see the animals are doing well. Same old same old here. Don't post much here anymore, but I stop by and read from time to time. Going to Baja in Oct. Can't wait

Hi BJ!

Sounds like you are doing pretty well...I had heard that you had scaled back your chuck collection. Is that still true? The pair of hispidus I got from you have really done well for me. These guys have so much personality! Do you still have any that you are breeding?

Baja sounds like a blast!

Bart