Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Nick. I am not trying to be mean to you. I never do that on this forum. But by the questions you are asking it seems as though you did minimal research on their husbandry before you collected these guys. An adult male tyrant chuckwalla is not an easy animal to acclimate. You need to set him up in a proper cage and leave him alone. The more you mess with him(moving him between cages) the worse chance you have of him acclimating. It seems that people on this forum offer you good sound advice and you keep coming up with alternatives to their advice. I know there is more than one way to do something but we are trying to help with what has worked with us in the past. The captive born chucks even stress out when you move them into a new cage or even change their cages around. I am not saying you don't know what you are doing when it come to keeping reptiles. Hatchlings are much more forgiving in their husbandry that wild caught adults which can be very difficult. I have been keeping chucks for 20 years but if I switch to let's say collared lizards there is a lot I don't know and I would take the advice of experienced keepers of crotaphytus as gospel. If I did not listen to Eve, Will Wells and Johne about collared care I would have dehydrated the ones I have. Maybe start out slow-set up a hatchling the way you want to and see how it does then go bigger if it works out. Another thing is you need to listen. Ask Will Wells about the chucks he set up in his backyard in hard desert clay and stone mix. They dug out in a week. These chucks are experts at living in an area we could not even stick a shovel in. The females dig nest and lay eggs in this stuff. They are tough critters. Tom Greb

I think Will's chuck dug out in 3 or 4 days.

does my plan sound good to you? 5'by3'by2'high, 1/2" pvc vynal-coated wire, a hinged top, and a small gaurd around the bottom so i put gravel/sand in there, and plywood underneith. i need some ideas for rock placement.
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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

pick a spot in the brickyard and dig a hole about 16 wide by 12-24" deep...what ever you can get. Then place one large flat rock over it leaving some of the hole exposed so the lizards can get under it. It may not be necessary if those pine trees you mentioned shade it a good portion of the day. They will likely be overactive most of the time, trying to dig out etc so they will be more apt to over exert themselves.

Let me know how that PVC framing works...I have considered building a top for my cage with that stuff...I just couldn't think of a good way to attach the netting to the cover to keep out the birds.

J