Chacos

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Weldd

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Making a mess at the dinner table
 

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bigred

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Great picture. they are giving you the look like -you are bothering me-
Do you breed these guys
 

Tortus

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That reminds me of the kitchen scene from Gremlins where they had food all over the place. lol

Aren't chacos rare and hard to keep alive in captivity? You don't hear much about them on the boards. I like their look, almost like a mini sulcata.
 

lovelyrosepetal

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I know that Chacos are rare in the US but in Thailand you can find them all over. There is a member on this forum who says that there they are as common as sulcatas are here.

Are you breeding them and if so, have you been successful? I have heard it is hard to successfully breed them in captivity...I have no personal knowledge but I have heard that.

I also like the look of Chacos and would like to have one someday. :)
 

Tom

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Love them. Thanks for the pic. They look super healthy and their shells are sooooo nice. Did you raise them? How old are they? I hope you get lots and lots of babies from them.
 

tortadise

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They are relatively difficult for most people to care for. breeding typically needs to be with very mature females. Egg bound tends to play a large role in this species as they lay rather large eggs. Another key element is that they do not lay many eggs either. Eggs usually take 350-400 days with numerous diapose sequences. They are just great species, but not for the masses.
 

lovelyrosepetal

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What makes them more difficult to care for than any other tortoise? I have read on many sites that ornate box turtles are the hardest kind of box turtle to keep but members here disagree. I wonder why a chaco would be hard to keep, hard to successfully breed I understand, but what would make it harder to keep? Someday, I would love to have a Chaco and I wonder why they are not good for the masses?
 

Weldd

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I've had these guys for ~2 years. They were just 4 inches when I got them and are 6-7" now. They've done great so far. No problems. I'm not completely certain but it looks as though there are 2.2. No breeding behavior yet. Plenty of time for that. :)
 

tortadise

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They can stress really easily. They are also really sensitive to getting sick. I would say this species has the best classification of why not to keep multiple species together. There antibodies are easily compromised from even other animals other than reptiles. I have had no problems at all with them. But they can be hard to get to eat and most people think because they come from South America they are like a redfoot, which isnt the case. They do naturally brumate and most people that brumate them end up killing them, because they do it wrong. Theyre care requirements are just a very tricky and different approach than other torts. For a lot they are easy but for some they end up not making it. But for some they are super simple.
 

Weldd

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one more pic...
 

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Tom

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It seems the climate where these guys come from is pretty similar to mine here in Southern CA. Am I wrong? Seems like they would do great outdoors here if I built them one of my super duper underground shelters in a nice sunny, but well planted, pen. What say you experienced keepers?

For incubation, it seems like in ground would work well here too. They could over winter for their diapause and then start cookin' when summer rolled around again, no?
 

lovelyrosepetal

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Thanks for the info. If I ever am lucky enough to get one, this is great to know.

Weldd, your chacos are beautiful and it looks like you are doing a great job. I hope that someday, you are able to get lots of babies.:)
 

tortadise

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Tom I think so. Depends on the subspecies. I know the ones from Argentina in the Patagonia regions will "brumate" for sometimes a day or a week only when temps drop, then wake up and do there thing. I have a friend from Paraguay who tells me each year its totally different in those regions and fluctuates the native hatchings. Sometimes the winter is really cold for 2 weeks or sometimes its very wet and hot all year. I notice mine LOVE it very very hot and become very inactive when less than 75 degrees. Id think South Cali would be good.

Welld yours are very nice specimens. Whats your observations in keeping yours? Don't get a lot of chaco talk around here. Even with zoos that have them, they have no clue to what they are doing with them.
 

Tom

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tortadise said:
Welld yours are very nice specimens. Whats your observations in keeping yours? Don't get a lot of chaco talk around here. Even with zoos that have them, they have no clue to what they are doing with them.

YES! YES! More chaco talk please. Please help to educate the uneducated.
 

tortadise

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Well there is not a whole lot of info on them. I can dig up some of my research of done over the years. Also I can give a synopsis of what I know about them.
 

Weldd

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Kelly, I've had them indoors as long as I've had them. I keep all of my tortoises indoors. I've raised them in the Vision tub you see in the picture but I'm probably going to upgrade them to a 4' x 6' enclosure soon. I use topsoil/sand/mulch mix as a substrate. I have them in my "arid" room which is probably not all that arid. The humidity is around 40%. I have a few other species in that room but they are obviously separate from the Chacos.

They've done well here. Put on size nicely. They are active and personable (they come to me for food). I haven't brumated them or anything like that. They will cool down in the winter - probably low 70's at night but that's the coolest they get here. I wouldn't be shocked to see some breeding activity next season but I would guess that I'm still couple of years away from any egg laying. I've done some research on incubation techniques. I think Dan has posted some info on shelledwarriors. I'll be ready when and if the times comes I think.

They're a fun species for sure...
 

tortadise

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Fantastic. Yeah they are a great species. Glad to see you are having good fortune with them. They really are awesome. Did you get yours from dan? I have found that 40% is a good level for humidity for all arid species with a rise in spring time seems to do well for all my arids.
 
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