Pablo Honey for Meg

[Chewbecca]

Here you go, Meg.
Here's Pablo Honey.
He's a little over a year old, and I'd put him at...easily...well over 40 grams, if not 50 grams by now.
He's in a 24" wide x 12" deep x 24" tall enclosure.
I keep Eco Earth as a substrate for him, he has two bamboo sticks, a piece of cork bark, and leafy vines in his enclosure.

Mid shed:

These are old photos, so I need to get updated ones because he's gotten bigger.
I got him from Steve Cemelli at Leapin' Leachies.
He was 5 grams when I got him.

Thing to remember about Chahouas (especially males, I think), they can become VERY, VERY territorial.
We tend to wear gloves to get him out of his enclosure, but once he's out, he's very well behaved.
But his territory is his territory, and he's NOT afraid to let you know that.
They are supreme hunters, too.
Pablo loveslovesloves roaches. And super worms. And other moving bug.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Wow. Great camoufllage on this guy. He looks just like dead wood, especially in his shedding photo. Do they all get that mask and glove look when their skin's transitioning, or are those bits of gauze that you applied? It looks so strange.

 

[Tom]

Being that I'm sort of into roaches, feeders and otherwise, what kind do you feed and do you buy them or grow your own?

Oh yeah, the gecko is beautiful too.

 

[Chewbecca]

Steph, it all depends on where they are in their shed "cycle" as to if you catch them like that or not.
We caught him as the shed was just about to fall off.
And, yes, that's his skin.

Roachman-
We feed Blaptica dubia roaches.
I like that they can barely climb.
Um, we started buying these roaches in March of last year. We had bought, like, 10 breeder sized roaches, and the rest were either nymphs or sub-adults.
We kept the breeder separate from the others to try and start a colony and feed off the other bin.
But that didn't work well because there just simply wasn't enough. We keep a heat emitter over their rubbermaid bin over a big square hole cut with screen over it.
We bought about...I think 1,000 nymphs in...either September or October of this year, and WOW! We have a TON of roaches now.
And that's WITH us feeding NOTHING but roaches to our leopard geckos (they simply won't eat anything else for us right now).

Part of the growth spurt in our colony, I think, is due to getting the 1,000 nymphs, but also in part to what I feed them.
I grind up a SUPER HIGH quality dog food that is grain-free (It's called Orijen Six Fresh Fish), and I mix that in with old and new crested gecko diet food.
My roaches must be spoiled, because they will NOT eat just the dog food. I've tried.
I have to sneak it in their diet by mixing it up with the super awesome crested gecko diet food.
I also will toss strawberries and bananas on top of that and give it to them.
They eat like CHAMPS.
When I feed them, I put the food on a paper plate and it's completely FULL of food.
They can down that, easily, over night.
PIGS.

ETA: I'll also sometimes give them canned real meats that I give my dog. Sometimes they get canned green tripe or canned buffalo.
Whatever it is, they DOWN it.
Also, I don't touch the roaches.
I prepare their food, but I will NOT touch them. My husband puts their food in their enclosure, and he also grabs them to feed them to the geckos.
BLAH.
Sorry, I know you love roaches, but I do not much care for touching anything with an exo-skeleton.

 

[dreadyA]

Love the red on him. And the name too

 

[chadk]

I feed my dubias mostly salad greens. But also a variety of things I have around. Even a little mazuri tort food now and then. I have a few boxes of baby cereal, cat food, dog food, some fruits and veggies. What seemed to have the biggest impact on the growth of the colony was ensuring good temps.

 

[Madortoise]

A stunning creature. thanks for sharing photos. I love how all those Rhacodactylus species wear perpetual smiles on their faces!!

 

[Meg90]

He's gorgeous thanks for posting! He's really changed as he's grown up. Lots of color on that boy! Pastels are my favorite, but I know that the masses prefer red/orange. Do you have any video of getting him out of his cage? I know they are normally so territorial, but I'm hoping the girl I'm getting won't be too bad.

He's just stunning though. Do you ever plan to breed these?

 

[Chewbecca]

No, I do not have any video of him, I'm sorry!

Thanks for the comments.
I didn't really care WHAT he looked like, really, when I bought him.
Because at the time I got him, no one had any chahouas for sale.
Someone referred me to Leapin' Leachies, and he had Pablo. Pablo was just a little bitty baby then.

I'm not sure what advice to give in regards to how to help you prevent your Chewie from becoming territorial because we handled Pablo A LOT.
We hand fed, we held him while he hunted his roaches, I always had him out taking pictures of him.
And it seemed that as soon as his little boy bulges formed, he became a jerk face.
I still love him dearly, though.

And, yes, I do plan to breed him eventually.
Just as I plan to breed my gargoyle geckos (I have a GORGEOUS male gargoyle that everytime I post pics of him, someone always PMs me inquiring about if he's for sale).

But none are of breeding size yet, unfortunately, so I'll have to wait.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Wow those eyes are amazing!

 

[Meg90]

You should meet one Jordan--You'll be hooked! They have a fully prehensile tail that can support their entire body weight and then some. They are really amazing geckos. Their strength is impressive, it feels like they grip with their entire bodies! Be prepared to see a ton of pictures when my girl comes home.

My only problem with this thread is that there are not enough PICTURES! More! More!

 

[Chewbecca]

I'll post pictures of Pablo when he was just a baby.
In a little bit, though.
He was the SWEETEST little baby.
I think everyone should get to experience a baby chahoua.
They're the best EVER.
Well, besides baby tortoises.

 

[ChiKat]

What a gorgeous little guy! And your pictures are amazing- what kind of camera do you use?

 

[chandlerledray]

wow look at those eyes!!!

My brother has two of them named Maggie and Ivan, they sure are fun little guys!