Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there,

I'm primarily a monitor guy, but over the past few months I've really been intrigued by chuckwallas. I've read through three full pages on this forum, but have yet to find the answers to a couple of my questions (perhaps I simply overlooked something):

* Do chucks tend to breed more frequently if housed indoors, as opposed to being kept outdoors? I ask this because I read that they sometimes lay eggs just once every two years in the wild. IF this is indeed true, it would seem to be directly related to their environment--food availability, temp abnormalities, etc. If these factors are all strictly controlled indoors, it would seem they would grow faster and reach sexual maturity sooner. Am I way off base?

* Do S. obesus obesus make poor captives or poor breeders? It seems that hispidus is the "holy grail" on this forum.

Thanks--I appreciate your patience with a chuckwalla neophyte.

Sam
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I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

- Jack Handey

You got it correct as you stated. It depends on food availability which is directly related to weather. I think that outdoors is best but in most of the country you can't do that. Chucks, at least ater(formerly obesus)and varius seem to stress with changes in caging so I do not recemmend moving them in and out. There are exceptions and John E is one. He moves his animals in and out with no problems. All chucks are great and usually do well if provided with the proper conditions but the hispidus as a general rule tend to be more tame than the rest and again there are exceptions. Varius are the most high strung and flighty by far. The Island chucks varius and hispidus tend to be very difficult to breed in indoor terraria. Ater are probably the easiest to breed. Anymore questions feel free to ask. Tom