Chacos 2013

[tortadise]

Finally found me some more chilensis(chaco tortoises) to add to the group. These guys are very pyramided from similar care of too dry like sulcatas and leos. None the less I don't care and they worth adding to breeding colonies. These are captive bred 2006

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Oh wow-wow-wow! Congrats on finding them. Bummers about their former care. Thank goodness they are in your hands now. Are they dark from possibly not getting any sun, like what seems to happen with sulcatas when they have that honey color? I imagine chacos, and thought I saw pics, where they were lighter. Either way, yay for a great find!

 

[tortadise]

Yeah that seems to be cause.

Light in color? Like this guy? Hes my old man.


This was a female I had but got egg bound too. Pretty common in this species to get egg bound. They lay very very large eggs.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Beauties, the old man and the rip (?) female - okay, that makes me sad, she is so beautiful in that picture. What a difference between the two and the three you got. Still exciting that you got CHACOS!

 

[Len B]

Nice Find, Do you know if the pair that produced these are still together and producing eggs?

 

[tortadise]

They are indeed Len. On of the mothers is having some issues with holding eggs in though. Shes still alive and well but has 2 eggs in her that slowly come out piece by piece. So the initial purchase was 2.2 but the seller decided to keep one of the females just in case his old female didnt make it. Id love to show the adults. But i will get.permission from him first. They are beauts.

 

[Yvonne G]

This has always been one species that I'd love to have. Many years ago...in the late '50's, early '60's we had several desert tortoises that just "found" their way to us. It was a pretty common occurrence to find them on the streets in those days. I didn't know from tortoises, and never really understood that there were other species of tortoise. So when I found a yellow one, just assumed it was a "tortoise." Now, in hind sight, I'm sure it must have been a chaco. I had it in a cardboard box overnight, and it was gone the next morning.

 

[wellington]

Congrats Kelly. They will have thought they had died and went to tortoise heaven being with you.

 

[tortadise]

Man oh man yvonne. If you only knew . They can certainly live like the desert tortoises. Theyre winters in the gran chaco desert is very much like southern and central cali.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Kelly, why do they look so different, one group to the other. Are the first two wild caught and the other three captive bred? The shape of the shell, and the colors are so different to me. Even the faces. Different looks based on different region/range?

 

[Anthony P]

What a great find Kelly! I'm very happy for you, even given their condition.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

From Arkive:
Native to Argentina and Paraguay, from the Bolivian border into western Paraguay and north-western Argentina.
Excuse me Pope Francis? Hmmm, can you help me and Kelly and Yvonne get some chaco tortoises to take care of? Please.

 

[tortadise]

Haha yes would be great. I will post the different kinds. Theyre are 3. Patagonian, paraguayan, and bolivian types. The bolivian and Paraguay types look very similar but the Patagonian(Argentina) type is much larger and has spots on its carapace.

 

[Laura]

that one looks like MBD as well.. I hope it does well with you.. But Id be worried about breeding.. Not great shape and you say they lay such big eggs...
good luck.. these guys are so cool

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

The light colored female reminds me of a sulcata that shrunk in the wash. Such a darling face and stubby body. I just do not understand, and admittedly have not researched it all, why everyone in the world it seems, can get all kinds of cool tortoises and we are ix-nay by the hombre with regulations. I mean, does any other country have a cool community of tortoise peeps like this forum, to learn and be sure of the care and get support 24-7? Do I really have to go and call the Pope for a blessed little chaco or 2? or 3? or more? : 0

 

[conservation]

How are they doing for you? I was tempted to pick that group up. Are they healthy besides all the pyramiding?

 

[tortadise]

They are doing great. No problems at all. The previous owner is very in depth with his tortoises. He just raised these guys way too dry so they pyramided pretty bad. Not MBD is present, Healthy, heavy, active guys.

 

[Tom]

Did the previous owner finally learn something about the proper way to start a super rare, very precious tortoise species from this... ummm.... mishap?

I sure hope you can get some babies out of them.

 

[tortadise]

He sure did Tom. after many emails, and phone conversations with him. He still has the WC parents of these specimens I got from him. So he still hatches babies out. Very smart man. Just caught up with the confusion of "arid" desert type species. Chacos are almost an exact mirror image of "tiny sulcata". They do the deep burrows and are exposed to relatively medium to high humidity more so than one would think. I have had many species that are extremely "ugly" or badly pyramided, deformed, etc... Produce viable eggs without ease. I figured. The physical condition didn't resist me at all in acquiring these. It is the species I am going for in whatever condition. Hopefully these will produce and add to a good captive conservation effort from our program.

 

[conservation]

That is awesome! They are in the right hands.

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