chaco

leopard777

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
364
i find chaco and sulcata look quite similar when juvenile , what sort of traits to look out for ? other then clean white marking on the shell
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
Chacos have much bigger heads/eyes. They also will have chevrons on there plastron when juvenile and young adult. Sulcatas will not. Chacos also have a bicuspid beak and sulcatas have tricuspid beak. More people get them confused then normal. They're very rare in the United States. When they are young chacos will have spots in the center of the scutes kinda like a leopard and outlined with a darker brown at the growth lines. Sulcatas are always just blondish or tan.
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
ah ok , they have to related or something
Nope. Well they're both tortoises at least ha. The Chaco tortoise phylogenic history comes from the Galapagos tortoise actually. At some point many many many hundreds of thousands of years ago they must have ventured off from the stating point of the tortoise in South America and evolved into a small desert extreme condition species. Most full arid(desert) species are very small and lay very large eggs too. The only other species of tortoise that similarly live like a Chaco is a band of species from western South Africa, Namibia, and parts of Botswana and the Egyptian from north east Africa. Small little buggers.

Here's some chacos for yah.
I'm sure you don't need any sulcatas as there plenty of pics on here for that.
The two pyramided specimens are captive bred and raised. The one in the middle is Chico. I've had him for 15 years and the lady before me for 20 years. He is very very old and weathered looking. But Classic Chaco.
image.jpg
 

leopard777

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
364
nice , any signs of breeding yet ?

full arid(desert) species as in like mojave desert tortoise ?
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
nice , any signs of breeding yet ?

full arid(desert) species as in like mojave desert tortoise ?
Yep full arid complete desert, sand and everything. Not complete sand but very rocky dry and hot during summer. Have an egg incubating right now actually. Needs about 8-9 more months to go though. Was laid in early July. They take a very long time to hatch.
 

leopard777

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
364
Yep full arid complete desert, sand and everything. Not complete sand but very rocky dry and hot during summer. Have an egg incubating right now actually. Needs about 8-9 more months to go though. Was laid in early July. They take a very long time to hatch.


8-9 months thats long , how many eggs the female lay ?
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
8-9 months thats long , how many eggs the female lay ?
Well they take up to a year. The egg has been in diapause and incubation since July. She laid 4 one broke and two were laid at night and the armadillo got them which sucked.
 
M

Maggie Cummings

Guest
Chico looks a bit overwhelmed by the bigger tortoises. Is he shy? Are they a shy species? I was hoping a Chaco would be my next tort...:rolleyes:
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
Chico looks a bit overwhelmed by the bigger tortoises. Is he shy? Are they a shy species? I was hoping a Chaco would be my next tort...:rolleyes:
Not shy at all. They're just like a California desert tortoise but the males aren't as aggressive. Flipping will take place but not as severe.
 

leopard777

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
364
Well they take up to a year. The egg has been in diapause and incubation since July. She laid 4 one broke and two were laid at night and the armadillo got them which sucked.


guess is that explain why the rarity of it
 

William Lee Kohler

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Messages
879
Location (City and/or State)
Eugene, OR
One memory I have of my baby Chaco is that the front of his forearms had big prominent pinecone like scales mostly all over:<3:.
 
Top