Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello (from Scotland!),

I am new to kingsnake chuckie forum but i have been avidly reading all the posts for a while now. I thoguht that i would finally post to try and pick everyones brains about breeding my beautiful female.

I have a 5 year old chuckie female and i am really wanting to breed her. I am trying to design a new viv for her and i am looking for some advice/ideas about the best viv size/style/setup:

Breeding-whats the best way to go about this? Do i need a group?
Would i be able to keep them in the same viv all the time or will i need to separate after breeding ? (space i have to build this in is about 4ft * 3ft * 20" - going to give them lots of heigh cos she loves to climb )
Would i be able to keep the young in with the adults?
What would be the best place to find a handsome adult male for her (anyone else in the UK?)?

So many questions i know but i am wanting to get this setup right from the start. I have never bred lizards before although i do have experience with other animals and i have been keeping various herps for years. My chuckie has always been my favourite and i think that now is the time to make her a really nice new viv and get her a partner!

Thanks a lot,

Ben

Hi, Welcome to the forum, Ben.
As far as space goes, I don't think you can really give them too much (within reason). For example, My wife and I have a pair in a 300 gallon stock tank, which is about 5 feet wide and 6 feet long. This is a very spacious cage for the pair, but not what I would consider excessive. The smallest cage we will keep a pair of adults in is about 4 feet long, 18 inches wide, and about 20 inches high.
For breeding, you don't need a group, they will breed just fine in pairs. You can maintain pairs together all year, unless they start fighting, or one declines in health. I would not recomend caging the babies with the adults. I have never attemped it, and I have heard of this ending badly for other people.
Not sure where you may find an adult male chuck in the U.K.
Hopefully someone has one for you.

Hope this helps.
Take Care.
Nick (& Austin)

Welcome Ben! The biggest Reptile Expo in Europe is the Hamm Show. Here are some people you might contact who sell Chucks from Germany. Check out these:

www.terraristik.com
saurochuck@yahoo.de
thomasdrost@web.de

There is also a group of three friends who started a business in The Netherlands. I believe you might read the previous posts on this Forum to find them. They seem to have magnificent animals, including Chucks, and the all look well kept.

Good luck!

Here is the website for Kamiel Khamers. Marvelous!!

www.agamen.nl

Hello,

Thanks you both very much for the info-I have managed to track down a private seller with a 3yr old male. I have seen pics of his phemoral pores and they are quite well developed-what age are chuckies ready to breed?

I was thinking about posting a photo diary of my new viv build with fake rock wall etc do you think anyone would be interested?

Thanks again,

Scotchuck

At 3 and 5 years old, your pair should be ready to breed. It is kind of dependant on size and age, but yours should be ready to go, unless one in unusually small for it's age.
I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in seeing the process of you building a new enclosure, myself included.
Sounds like a fun project.
Good luck.
Nick

Hi and welcome to the group. I would be very interested in seeing your photo diary.

Hello,

Thanks again for the replies, I will definitely put together a diary. I have managed to find myself a nice 3yr old male and he is arriving today! are there any tips on introducing them? I am going to adapt my setup today to give her as many hiding places as i can.

Cheers,

Ben