question for you chahoua people...

[Sanskrit]

Does juvenile coloration give any clue to adult coloration or is it mostly dependent on the parent animals? I know that often time in cresteds brown or red coloration in a juvie usually signifies orange as an adult...... And do chahoua eyes generally stay the same as they age or does the reticulation become more or less dense? I've looked to the Rhac Book for info but it seems to have very little on the chahoua, especially Mainland types.

[nbemmer]

From what i've seen you can get some determination of adult coloration from juvie animals but not much. Body patterns for the most part hold tru but it takes quite a while for the true adult colors to show, roughly 14-20 months or so. You can normally see the red/orange spots starting to show up at 4-6 months of age with mainlands and they just darken and get deeper with age, but a lot has to do with the parents as well. I'll try and provide some pics of transitions from juvie through adult colors later when I have some time to look through my pic collections, but the wife wants to do errands atm so I'll add more later.
Nate

[Sanskrit]

Thanks Nate! :)

[untytled]

yup like Nate said, you have a better chance of getting an idea of what they're gonna look like when they're juvies. I have babies that start to show color and pattern several weeks on down the road and look nothing like they used too several months thereafter. The crazy thing is that they take almost 2 years to complete their color change and settle into their adult coloration even the pattern changes with time.

I have a neat baby that had a cool band across the shoulder blades (patterwise) that i hoped would stay, but alas that spread apart and changed overtime. Oh well watcha gonna do! that's what's neat about Rhacs!

[nbemmer]

Ok, these aren't the greatest pictures but give you and idea of just how much animals can change. The first 2 pictures are of one of the juvies I have now. One pic is of it the first week it was out of the egg. The other is at approx 2 months old. You can already see how much of the white patterning it has lost and is starting to darken and gain some orange on its sides. The 3rd and 4th pics are of my nicest male. The first when he was about 13 months old, the second from earlier this year at almost 4 now. Here you can see how he started of almost a brownish green with orange and has turned into the green and red man he is now. Let me know if thiers any other questions. Thanks
Nate

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/14077juvie2-med.jpg
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/14077Mainland_Juvie-med.jpg
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/14077m1-med.jpg
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/14077male_mainland-med.jpg

[Sanskrit]

Wow that's quite the change in that male! :shock: Beautiful. :)

[Rhacadank]

This might answer the eye question???
I think it stays the same, just gets
larger in size as they grow. Here are
some pics of a new baby, 1 month old.
I really had to zoom in on her eye. She is
about an inch from head to vent, teeny tiny!!!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/rhacadank/DSC00868.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/rhacadank/DSC00864.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b86/rhacadank/bbyeye.jpg

[Sanskrit]

Wow :shock: . I love chahoua eyes. That one's eye reticulation is especially symmetrical. Thanks for posting that example. I tend to like the fine seperated reticulation not too dense. Is that one a Pine Isle or a Mainland?

[Rhacadank]

Pine Island. I think they are my true addicition.
I have a few in my collection :roll:

[Sanskrit]

I've seen a few of them. I don't think I've ever seen so many colors :) . That white one is a beauty. Is the mortality rate in hatchlings as high as they say it is in the rhac book? It seems like if it were that high then chahoua would be more expensive. :-k

[nbemmer]

In the past 3 years that I've been breeding Chahoua I haven't lost a single baby yet and also have been very lucky in my hatch rates. I've also notcied one discrepency that i've seen with mine from the book, i've yet to have a baby hatch any earlier than 100 days into incubation and usually its closer to 115-120 days for my eggs and this is incubating at 72-75 degrees or so depending on the clutches.
Nate

[Sanskrit]

Hmm. Do you think that might have any effect on your hatch rate? Maybe a longer incubation is the key. :-k

[nbemmer]

Not sure, i've tried changing incubation temps to see if anything happens time wise with how long they take to hatch but nothing. I won't complain tho, i've learned how to wait 4 months for them to hatch and I'm getting nice healthy babies so its all good in my book.
Nate

[Rhacryce]

this little guy hatched at 104 days
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/Rhacryce/Jessica061.jpg

[Sanskrit]

Very nice little white shouldered hatchling :D . Has it kept the white band?

[Rhacryce]

Yeah the white collering seems to hold and only get bigger and more vivid.BOBBY

[Lumpynutz]

rhacadank, how many chahouas do you have in your collection? I can't seem to get enough of them either. I own 1.1 P.I. and 0.0.2 mainland.

[Rhacadank]

Over 2 dozen :lol: :lol: :lol: All Pine Island......

[crazyrhacos]

wow ...thats alot of chewys....how many adults do u have?

[Rhacadank]

7.7.11 :o all unrelated

[gcxbrian]

my goodness.. u guys got beautiful chahahous..

[Sanskrit]

I know right? I'm turning green over here!! :D