Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,
I just visited my Chuckwalla hill,
(Incidentally Godzilla's former home) and
well, nothing.....yet. Has anyone seen
Chucks or DIs in the field yet? Since they're
such big lizards they might not necessarily be out
because of temps.. I suppose it wasn't
a total bust....I saw my first Desert Spiny Lizard of the year
a camera shy little creature..and I saw a Roadrunner which
is neat because I haven't seen one of those in about a year.
I'm going back today after lunch, and maybe I'll get lucky this time. Oh well. Happy herping!

-Phil

I think there has been a few sightings in AZ but I believe it is warmer there than Apple Valley. I used to have a cool pair of chucks from around Victorville. Their names were Victor and Victoria, go figure. The male was huge at over 17 inches but not real colorful. It should be anytime there so keep us posted.
Thanks Phil can't wait to hear more. Tom

HA!
I found 'em! I took a hike up
my favorite local mountain yesterday,
and there they were. 5 Chucks in all,
three males, a juvenile, and one unknown.
I think it was a female because it was sitting
on top of a very black male, who did a few
head-bobs and then went
back to basking.
The whole time it was around 82 degrees with a slight breeze.
I didn't
try to capture any of them until the last one.
The guy was SO busy basking, I got with in three feet of him,
He just looked kinda carefree, and so I was like OK pal
I'm gonna get ya. I basically picked him up off the rock and took a few measurements. He was 7 3/4" SVL 13" TL. It was weird. He didn't bite, pee or really do anything except puff up... Nice little guy, I just put him back on his rock. He went into a crevice, but as my friend and I hiked down the hill, I looked back to see him sitting there again. Wasted a whole roll of film on the Chucks, Spinys, the hundreds of Side-Blotches, and beautiful plants I saw, and I'm taking it to Wal -Mart later this week, then I'll post 'em for ya. If any of them turned out half as good as I hope, they'll be good.
With the sightings, I noted an interesting coincidence. On the same mountain during previous climbs, there weren't any creosotes or other bushes on the Eastern or Northern
parts but on the Southern and Western parts there were, and perhaps incidentally, so were the Chucks.... an interesting thought. So my hypothesis is this: The Chucks live where the food is easily accessible
rather than similar habitats where food
is scarce, or more of a task to get to.
Any one else notice this?
Well, it was certainly a hard, but worthwhile climb that I'm going to do again later this month. I hope everyone is well.

Yours,
Phil

I think your observations are probably correct. Also try to notice if you see pack rat midens at the spot you see chucks. I noticed this in the Mojave in NV. Almost everytime I found a chuck there was a rat nest within a few feet. I know they utilize them in the really hot weather. Thanks again Phil-can't wait to see the pics. Tom

You can and will always find Chucks on Southwest facing slopes.
I've been hitting the desert for the past 13 years. And it's always on the S.W. facing slope that I've found Chucks.

And a note about the mice dens. It's been reported that Chucks will eat mice pups. I found this true one day in the middle of May in 1995. As I was hiking the Basalt rock out cropping on Kelbaker Rd, I heard a rustling a few feet ahead of me. So I stopped to see what it was... to my amazement, I saw a chuck coming out of a burrow, backwards. I thought this an odd behavior. Then I found out why he was coming out backwards. He was dragging a pink mouse out of the hole. He didn't see me as he procedded to gobble down the pinkie. When I say pinkie,I mean it just barely had fur.

Hello,

Thats crazy! I've never heard of a Chuck
eating a mouse before....actually, I don't think I've
heard of them eating any vertebrate creatures at all.
The Southwest sides of mountains, eh? Its peculiar,
but that seems to be the sides of mountains I see them on.
Do you suppose it has something to do with sunlight hours,
or plant growth? I'd be interested to find out. Actually,
I'm going to conduct my own experiment with that your experiences. I'm going to go out as much as possible to
areas with suitable habitat, and begin my searches on the Southwestern side of my "study hills". It should be interesting to learn the results. Thanks for sharing your experiences, everyone. I'll get back to you all as to how it goes. All right, until next time.

Yours,
Phil

The southwest facing slopes cause they are the first to get hit with the morning sun. They warm up faster.

I saw three chucks yesterday northeast of Phoenix out basking.
Hope to see more this upcoming weekend with the warm temps.