Reptile & Amphibian Forums

if i remember correctly, crotaphyskid, i think, told me to go early morning when they are cold. what is the best way to make a good chuck noose(to pull them out of the crack with, not kill) and whats some good areas around SO.CAL? if you wanna share with me that is... im bound to get a chuck this year, i hope...thanks, nick.
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0.0.37-blue lab chichlids
0.1.6-sandiego gopher snakes
0.0.1-cal. kingsnake
0.0.1-anole
0.0.2-f.b.t
2.3-coturnix quail
0.1-cockatiel
0.2-s. black widow
1.1(fixed) cats-eddie/buzz

I almost never noose chucks. If they make it into the crack there is no pulling them out, and they would be left with a noose around their neck. So, unless you are really sure, you can get them noosed and airborne before they can get into the crack, I wouldn't try it.

When they hide, you've basically got a couple of options. Sometimes they hide under a flippable rock and you can flip it and catch them. It helps if you have at least two people here, one to flip and one to grab.

The other option, if the rock isn't flippable is to induce them to back out. This is best accomplished by tapping them repeatedly on the nose with a small stick. This is how I got mine. When Gracie dove into the crack, I was able to slip a stick in bellow her so that she couldn't go deeper. I then had my friend put his hand over the back of the crack. It took about 15 miutes of gently tapping and she gradually backed into his hand thinking it was an extension of the rock.

There is no pulling them out. If you flip, be sure to return the rock to its original position. I would also urge you to not break apart the rocks / permanently damage the hiding spot as this would ruin it for future chucks. If you get one in a crack, and there is no reaching the nose, either move onto another spot, or back off and wait and watch out of sight. Depending on how badly you traumatized the chuck in your initial extraction attempt, it cold re-emerge in a matter of minutes.

-Alice

Once they get into a crack...if you can get to their face, you might be able to get them to bite onto your finger and thumb. I have a friend that tells me he can carefully pull them out head first with some gentle manipulating...I believe he may also poke at them with a stick too to get them moving a bit. You can pull them headfirst, but never tail first...good look.

John E.

That sounds a bit painful! I'd like to see someone do that with a big male

When I was tapping Gracie's nose, she'd occaisionally latch onto the stick, but she didn't hold on very long, and never with enough strength to allow me to budge her. It did really tick her off though, and she'd wiggle a little farther back towards my friend's hand.

-Alice

Large collareds are pretty nice, as well as large Tokay geckos. It's amazing what one will do to catch a lizard ;O)

John E.

If that was the only way, maybe, but only if the chuck wasn't too big

-Alice

"if you can get to their face, you might be able to get them to bite onto your finger and thumb. "

Hey John,
Let's try that with these four foot iguanas down here. (I mean, you hook 'em while I take photos) Ouch! Bring lotsa bandaids or I'll use my sewing kit.
Lindsay

Find any Nile monitor populations near Clearwater yet LOL...I'm not sure if I will be able to get out for a trip south again or not...the look in Tami's eye was not good when I mentioned it

I may have to stick near the homestead (Clearwater area). I'm up for some snake flippin though if you know some areas close by.

I'll give you a call soon.

J

every once in a while you will get one that goes under the rock instead of in a crack.if you cant flip the rock some times you can dig underneath them and remove them. sometimes youll get lucky and they will go under a rock with loose sand under it.