Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have these in the U.S. for sale? Is anyone importing captive-bred specimens from South America? Seems like a great species to work with, good temperament and size for captivity but I can't find any. Advice appreciated. Thanks.

I believe you can't get them because it's protected and they're very rare.

There are a hand full of people breeding these in the states but they are snapped up before they hatch or they are kept.

They seem to be a very difficult species to breed and the eggs are difficult to hatch out only because there is so little information on the captive care of this species and the information that is available is very inconsistant.

Those that come out of the wild are very difficult to acclimate. Once acclimated... they do great. They have one of the best personalities of all the tortoises.

There used to be a quota out of Paraguay but I don't know if there still is or not.

>>Does anyone have these in the U.S. for sale? Is anyone importing captive-bred specimens from South America? Seems like a great species to work with, good temperament and size for captivity but I can't find any. Advice appreciated. Thanks.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Thanks for that detailed reply. I'd really like to get involved with captive breeding of the species. For myself, on a small scale, but with an eye toward ensuring that a genetically diverse, stable/growing captive population exists. Maybe set up a U.S./Canada studbook, like the Radiated people have? Seems like a good idea. Seems there are a lot fewer Chacos out there than Radiated, or maybe Chaco folks are just lower-profile? I don't know. But very few people have had any kind of response to my numerous inquiries about the species. Kicking myself now because there was a group of Chacos come up for sale on Kingsnake last year and I wasn't ready to commit. I really don't want to do imports unless they're captive bred. Knowledge of the species in situ seems so limited, there's a lot of taxonomic confusion/conflict and photos I've seen show different shell shapes, colors, even different head markings. One link in turtle forum is from a girl who bought a Sulcata in a petshop for $40 and was worried because he "wasn't growing;" turns out it was a Chaco! I wish I could be so lucky!

Interestingly, not an awful lot of them are exported after doing some research. that's why I thought they were protected.

There's actually quite a bit in situ information on Chacos. There's a really good paper... email me at epirog@comcast.net and then there is a book... South American Tortoises by Vinke and Vetter... probably the best information you are going to find on the species.

All of the keepers I know that work with this species are very low key. I'm still finding groups that have been kept for years and I've been keeping them for about 10 years now.

>>Thanks for that detailed reply. I'd really like to get involved with captive breeding of the species. For myself, on a small scale, but with an eye toward ensuring that a genetically diverse, stable/growing captive population exists. Maybe set up a U.S./Canada studbook, like the Radiated people have? Seems like a good idea. Seems there are a lot fewer Chacos out there than Radiated, or maybe Chaco folks are just lower-profile? I don't know. But very few people have had any kind of response to my numerous inquiries about the species. Kicking myself now because there was a group of Chacos come up for sale on Kingsnake last year and I wasn't ready to commit. I really don't want to do imports unless they're captive bred. Knowledge of the species in situ seems so limited, there's a lot of taxonomic confusion/conflict and photos I've seen show different shell shapes, colors, even different head markings. One link in turtle forum is from a girl who bought a Sulcata in a petshop for $40 and was worried because he "wasn't growing;" turns out it was a Chaco! I wish I could be so lucky!
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

The South American Tortoises book is great! Thanks for the recommendation! I emailed about that paper and hope to read it soon. Thanks so much.