Red Backed   Juvenile

We've worked with various species and races of chuckwalla off and on for many years.  We've always considered them secondary to our Uromastyx breeding but the care and work is so close to Uromastyx that we seem to keep getting back into them.  The genus is represented in the U.S. by three species; S. ater [obesus], which is the mainland species found throughout Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and California, and S. hispidus, the Angel Island chuck, and S. various, the San Esteban Island chuck, both of which are found on their namesake islands off the California coast.  I had a brief article concerning breeding one of our favorite races of  S. ater, the S. Mt. Carrot-tailed Chuckwalla published in Reptiles Magazine in the March 2008  "Ask the Breeder"  section.  I'll eventually repost it here, but for now I need to restrict this page to a summary of that information following a brief discussion of what  species we're currently working with and why.

First, the main reason I keep talking myself into breeding chucks is that so few others seem to be willing to do it.  I can count on one hand the number of serious breeders currently working with  the mainland species and not many more who work with the island species. These are one of Americas great reptiles and most their ranges are now closed to collecting or have been turned into parking lots and subdivisions, making the majority of them no longer available to the herpetoculturalist or pet keeper. If we don't get  these races established in sustainable domestic populations, we may never see any of them outside of a Zoo, and for many, not even there.  While many chucks tend to be somewhat skittish. most tame reasonably well, are easy to keep and make excellent companion or teaching animals.

Of the mainland  groups, we're primarily working with the Carrot-tailed Chuck. But we have a few Crater Mt. Red-backs that I'll eventually talk myself into setting up more seriously as space allows. These two have the best color contrasts of any of the mainland chucks, are non-aggressive and just nice overall lizards.  We also keep a few Angel Island and San Estebon Island chucks but so far we have poorer success breeding those.  We are in too cold of an area to house them outdoors even in the summer and I believe these two species may well need outdoor conditions to really breed well if at all.  Both do very well reared indoors otherwise and Angel Islands in particular have truly fantastic personalities.  We buy clutches of A. Island chucks from friends who breed them outdoors in Arizona just so we can offer them to our customers to enjoy.

San Estebons are one of the most beautiful chucks (and the largest at over 21" as adults) but being considered endangered (not from rarity but because they are found on only one island) the federal government require both the seller and buyer to have special Captive Wildlife permits before they can be moved across state lines.  As almost no one has these permits, San Estebons are rarely produced in captivity. They tend not to have the best temperament of the chucks as well, but exceptions exist. A few crosses were produced with  A. Islands chucks several years back and these are permitted to be traded as normal chucks. These are referred to in  herpetoculture as the Calico chuck.  Luckily the crosses seem to have  the best of both chucks - good looks of the San Estebon with the calm temperament of the A. Islands.  We have a small number of these as well but again  they seem to need to be outdoors to breed. We hope to rig up a seasonal outdoor pen to try to induce our island chucks to breed for us - but till then we're probably out-of-luck producing any.

Care Sheet

 for the

 Carrot-tailed Chuckwallas

As I indicated before, the Carrot-tails are my favorite of the chucks and the one we put the most effort into. It is one of the smaller chuckwallas with adults of both sexes averaging around 250-300 grams and 6-8 inches (15-18cm) snout to vent, 13-16 inches (33-41cm) in total length. Hatchlings and juveniles are boldly banded in black and dull cream the entire length of their bodies. Initially the cream bands contain a pink tint with brighter red flecks, but this high contrast pattern steadily fades during their first year of life, leaving them with more earth-tone colored bands. As they approach maturity, Carrot-tails become sexually dimorphic. Males loose all traces of banding, exchanging it for a rich solid black body and an orange tail. Occasionally minute scattered red flecks remain present across their backs, but these generally disappear with time. Adult females retain the earth tone bands but many slowly darken as they age, eventually resembling a dull male in overall coloration.

Initially they can be reared communally in 30 to 40 gallon, bare-bottomed “Breeder” format tanks (approx. 3’ long, 18” wide, 16” deep) until the hatchlings surpass  5” in total length. After that, you can either add washed playground sand or grass pellets as a substrate. Adults will need  at least a 4’ long by 2’ wide tank for each pair. Being crevice dwellers, they’ll need multiple rock hides as well as a large basking rock. For larger enclosures, half and full height cement construction blocks work perfectly for these. For smaller enclosures, stacked, glued slate works well. We also keep a large chunk of sealed driftwood in the cages for structural diversity. For individuals 2 years old and up, we also place a nestbox in the corner of the enclosure. This is usually a 10 gallon Roughneck Rubbermaid plastic container. This is filled ¾ full with a 50/50 mix of slightly damp playground sand and “Excavator” brand or similar clay-based soil. A 4” diameter hole is cut into the lid to allow the chucks access to the next boxes interior.   

We prefer UVB producing mercury vapor bulbs for the basking sites and high output compact fluorescent bulbs for the background lighting. The goal is to produce as bright a cage as possible for 12 to13 hours per day. The average floor temperature should be in the high 90’s F (35C) with a basking spot temperature of 110F to 115F (44C to 48C).  South Mountain has summer night time temperatures in the mid 80’s, so shoot for similar temperatures in your enclosures. We maintain these conditions through the year for non-breeding animals, maybe dropping the average temperatures by 10F to 15F during the winter months.

We rear both the adults and juveniles on a completely vegetarian diet. The base diet consists of a combination of commercial Spring Mix greens with added endive. The greens are dampened with fresh water and then dusted lightly with ground up Mazuri® tortoise diet and Miner-All ® calcium/mineral supplement with vitamin D3.  The more finicky eaters can be enticed into eating by adding edible blooms such as dandelion, violas or nasturtiums to the mix. As the chucks approach maturity, we start adding whole moistened Mazuri® tortoise pellets to the mix. Adults do best without a water bowl in their enclosure while hatchlings generally need access to daily drinking water for the first few months of their lives.

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We are avid supporters of captive breeding  and are always looking to support fellow breeders by purchasing healthy captive produced clutches of Chuckwallas.   Please let us know if you have an interest in wholesaling your clutches.  We hold all purchased specimens for several weeks after being shipped to us so we can verify their condition and to let them settle in before being offered to others.  So you can rest assured your hatchlings will be well cared for.  We occasionally buy exceptional adults as well.  E-mail us photos  if you wish us to consider your specimens.

For those looking for hatchlings or older specimens,  please look over our various web pages to get a feel for what we carry.   Please see "Deer Fern Farms Ordering / Policies"  for ordering information.  Availability for the various species can be seasonal or sporadic so please e-mail or call us (360 435-2679) if you're looking for to add a Uromastyx to your family.  We keep a "Wanted" list and fill it as specimens become available. 

We ship based on the prevailing weather patterns between us and you. Usually we can ship most weeks, but when large storms/severe heat/cold are forecasted, we prefer to hold off.   Please see  "Deer Fern Farms Ordering / Policies" for ordering information.