Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am having trouble getting my young chuck to eat anything but flowers! He basically ignores everything else I give him but is quick to devower white mums and any flower orange or yellow. Is it ok if his diet consists of ONLY flowers?? I got him from DVL and am having problems getting him to settle down after going from a large outdoor enclose to a modest indoor aquarium. He spends most of his time digging and scratching at the glass instead of eating which is having some noticable physical side affects like a tail that increasingly thinning. I had a female chuckwalla that I recently sold who was much larger than this guy and adapted great to the enclosure. anybody know if this chuck is doomed or will he eventually settle down and eat!?

How big is the aquarium? Have you blocked off at least 3 sides so he can't see out? What types of hiding spots do you have?

How long have you had him?

Have you tried cutting up the flower and greens in small pieces and giving it to him as a tossed salad? It makes for a messy clean up, but he'll get a little of everything.

My chhuck would only eat danilion leaves for the first few weeks after I got him. I watched him pick out and apart the cigar shaped roll of various greens to find the dandilion leaf. The rest of the stuff got thrown around the tank. I was worried how I would be able to maintain a fresh supply year round. Luckly Tom alerted me to an ethnic market so I can get it.

The good news is that after a while he got tired of just dandilion leaves. Just keep offering him things. My chucks seem to go in stages where they can't seem to get enough of some things for a few weeks, but then they will suddenly turn their noses up when they see it. Fresh garden peas were a hit for 2 weeks, after which they got tossed and scattered. Right now sweet potato is in and red leafed lettuce. A few weeks ago they wouldn't touch the red leafed stuff. Go FIGURE! Just keep offering a variety.
Angela

the aquarium is a 40 gal i believe. id post a picture of the enclosure but i dont have my digital camera so ill do my best to explain it in detail. what i have is about 2"-3" of sand/pebbles instead of reptile carpet. on one side of the cage i layed down a nice large flat rock that has the dimenions of probably 1'x'1 and then along 3 edges of this rock(against the glass) i have layed out large narrow rocks as a wall and then on top of that i layed down a very large, heavy rock the same dimensions as the first large one that acts as the basking spot. this creates a cave beneth the basking rock which my chuck loves to hide in. the structure is very sold and safe so it wont shift and hurt the little guy. i have a UV light and a 100w basking lamp that heats up the rock to around 110-120 degrees. sorry if i forgot some of your questions but thanks for the help!

The critter keeper chould be fine for a year or so if you have a little guy, but you'll need to look at getting or building something bigger after that. They really do need and use the space.

Hi,

I have a small army of DVL's chucks. He is my chuck pusher of choice. I wean my DVL chucks by giving them a couple of stress free days alone. Then I feed them a mess of dandelions with a handful of greens mixed up fine. Over the next week or so I start putting in less and less flowers. I also supplement the greens with mixed veggies and commercial iguana feed, calcium and vitamins and flowers a couple of times a week. They eat everything but come to expect the greens as the primary source of food. I find that the chucks usually drop a little weight the first month but put it back on when they fully acclimate.

Also, are you pumping in UV light. I'm not sold that all lizards need these bulbs but considering that the mad herper's (DVL) set up is so natural and perfect with access to direct sun light that coming indoors may affect them psychologically.

Hope all goes well and keep us informed on your little one's progress.

John

Has he decided to start eating yet?? Give me a holler if he really starts going too far down hill.

David