Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there,
I've kept snakes and various lizards for years now. Yesterday I ended up with a male S. ater due to some interesting circumstances.

He seems healthy enough, though a little ashy from retained shed bits and with very long nails.

I have no history on him- is it best to assume he is WC, or are CB ones common these days now? Any chuckwalla specific health concerns I should watch for?

I will be setting him up in his semi-temporary digs tomorrow- a 4' by 2' by 2' storage bin with slate on the floor. I have heard that they need quite bright light to thrive- will his MVB be enough for the enclosure, or would he do better with some fluorescent as well?

Lastly, I've seen conflicting info about two things: temperatures at night, and diet. I keep cyclura, and feed a 100% herbivorous diet to them. Should I do the same with the chuck? Is animal protein helpful or unnecessary? I breed roaches, so I could feed some if it'd help and not screw with his kidneys or something. Also, I read about a lot of folks feeding grasses or tortoise food to up the fiber content of the diet: needed?

Thanks in advance. I know a lot of this is simple stuff, there's just a lot of opinions out there, and though I didn't expect to end up with this guy, I want to do the best I can by him.

Hi Anna. I have kept Chuckwallas for more than 50 years and have learned a lot! My Chucks usually live to be close to 20 years old. If you post a pic we might guess at his origin local, but whether he is cb or wc would be difficult to guess.

Chucks resort to eating bugs in a drought year in the desert, but are subject to kidney problems with animal protein. Best is herbivourus diet and as much flowers as possible and as much variation as possible with calcium and vitamin D supplements. I am able to put mine out in the backyard much of the year, so I don't worry about the lighting too much and just use regular 100 watt lights, but you will want to have the megarays on him for calcium absorption so he doesn't get mbd.

I plant as much of the good flowers as possible in my yard. Dandelions (favorite), nasturtiums, sweet alysum, hibiscus (turns their urine pink fyi), bower vine, cape (red) honeysuckle, green beans (cooked and well drained), escarole, arugula, raddichio, and other things. Variety is the key, I think. They get really spoiled on Dandelions!

They thrive between 85 and 100 degree heat with a hot end and a cool end. Love to bask!! Chucks are fantastic intelligent lizards and each has its own personality. With handling, they usually become very tame! Enjoy your new boy!! Post a picture and tell us what sort of climate you have where you live. Maureen

Thanks for the help!

We live in NW Oregon, so he'll only be able to be outside from mid-July through August. The rest of the time it is way too chilly and humid.

Thanks for the heads up on the hibiscus urine color thing, that would have freaked me out, and hibiscus (along with dandelion) are the two flowers it have easiest access to.
Are they able to eat any edible flowers that humans use, or are some unsafe? I am assuming that there are some that are not the best for them, and I do think I'll order some online until the weather allows for growing.

I have been just turning off his lights and letting him hit standard reptile room temps at night, which are generally about 70. He seems to wake up perky and makes it to his basking spot fine, so hopefully that is appropriate- what do nighttime temps range where you are?

Anyway, here he is. The MVB made colors impossible to capture, but it seems like the pattern is more important. He is quite black. The lighter areas are a nice buttercup yellow, with the tail being mostly a duller yellow. He has a couple of spikes around his tympanic membrane but nowhere else.
I have no idea what his age is or if he was cared for appropriately to allow growth, but he's approximately 6-6.5 inches SVL.

Thanks again! He is a pleasure, very calm with beautiful brown eyes.

Hi Anna,
You said in your post that your MVB was not allowing color to show. Did you mean just with the camera? What brand of mvb are you using? I ask because I just bought a few cases of megarays and while I trust that they are producing the uvb that my lizards need, I do notice that they do not produce the heat or light quality that they used to. Chucks need very bright light to really thrive, so I am having to use additional bulbs to bring up both heat and light quality in my enclosures.

He looks like a Nevada chuck to me. Very sweet face!

Yup, just with the camera.
That said, I've heard enough about their need for lots of light that I think I'll throw a tube in there as well. Better safe than sorry.

Thank you for the ID! He does have a sweet face

.

I agree with Donna (Rosebuds) that your Chuck looks like he could have come from Nevada. Just curious about his femerole pores. Are they big?
I would think that NW Oregon will probably yield very few basking days outdoors, so UVB's a must!
I am pretty sure that the flowers humans can eat would all be safe for a Chuckwalla. Never Oleander, and I have heard that Lantana is not good, though mine have occasionally nibbled on it. NOT their favorite.

Hi,

Yes, he has surprisingly large femoral pores for his size.
Unless females of the species can have decently sized ones too, that's the strongest indication of gender that I saw after being told he was a boy.
Some slight bulging at the tail base, too. Pretty macho.

Do specifically Nevadan chucks come up for sale much?

You're right about NW Oregon- I'd be surprised if we got 50-55 days that would be appropriate for most of my reptiles to be out in for more than an hour or two, so I'm long since resigned to spending tons on their UV needs

Thanks for the input on the flowers. I've found a few places to order fresh edible blooms until the growing season hits here, just figured I'd ask before trying anything unfamiliar to me.