Should I Get A Chacoan?

[Matthew Colella]

I was looking at some Chacoans at Tegu Terra, and I was wondering if I should get one. It would really help if I could get some advice

 

[RickyNo]

How much experience do you have with reptiles?

 

[Matthew Colella]

I've had a Columbian Tegu and a Leopard Gecko

 

[RickyNo]

A couple of things you need to ask yourself

1. Do I have the money to provide for a larger lizard?
2. Will I have the 1000 plus dollars its going to take to build a 4x8 enclosure for a chocoan?
3. Do I have a place to put such a large enclosure inside the house?
4. Am I going to be able to keep this lizard for its full lifetime?

 

[Matthew Colella]

1.yes
2.no, but I have a 100 gallon aquarium I used for the Columbian
3.yes
4.yes

 

[RickyNo]

if you can't get the right size cage than I would say no. The 100 gallon would last you 8 months or so though

 

[Matthew Colella]

I'll look for a bigger enclosure soon

 

[Matthew Colella]

I fed my Columbian fuzzy mice, how long can I feed the Chacoan fuzzy mice?

 

[AssassinExotics]

That enclosure isn't going to cost a 1000 dollars I only spent 95 on the actual wood and another 30 or 40 on the plexiglass and the waterproofing was like 10 bucks. Haha did you build yours out of gold bars lol

 

[RickyNo]

Your crazy dood I have 400 in wood alone if not more. Sure If you want to build a cheap box that wont last have fun with that. you want to build an enclosure that he can burrow in as well.

 

[AssassinExotics]

What did you build it out of mine is birch and it was 45 a sheet and I only used two!

 

[Matthew Colella]

any blueprints I could use to build a appropriate size enclosure?

 

[RickyNo]

[="AssassinExotics, post: 143452, member: 4768"]What dids birch and it was 45 a sheet and I only used two![/quote]
There's no way you built a 4x8 with 2 sheets bro

You also have to include price for lighting, heat emitter and thermostat. This is all of course your doing this the right way.

 

[AssassinExotics]

That's not how I built mine it's just a 8x2x2 and I used 2 sheets of 8x4. The wood was 90 total the substrate was 10 and the lights I already had but they were probably 70 or 80 bucks in lighting the door slides were another 10 and I didn't pay for the plexiglass but it's probably 30-50 bucks maybe more so that's like a total of 250 total

 

[RickyNo]

2 feet wide? Thats bad dood. So an 2x8x2 gives your tegu no burrow room. Chocoans need 4x8 minimum.

 

[AssassinExotics]

I don't have a Chacoan and theres plenty of room to burrow also that's all I could fit through my door anyways

 

[RickyNo]

I have mine in 2 sections so it can fit through the door sideways. If it was just one whole unit moving it would be next to impossible

 

[AssassinExotics]

Yeah mine barely fit as is but I'm getting a baby blue so I won't need my cage for a while and the blues stay smaller so he or she will be good

 

[Matthew Colella]

I have a question, do you guys recommend Tegu Terra

 

[RickyNo]

well they are a site sponsor so I can't say it wouldn't be a bad idea