Here's$.02 from my expeience and reading...

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Posted by Phnoxx on October 13, 2002 at 11:11:48:

In Reply to: Any Ctenosaura owners over here? I have a few questions... posted by Annaka on October 12, 2002 at 21:28:12:

Hi,

I don't drop in here often, but I saw your post on the cten. forum and then here as well, so I want to give you my input. I don't claim that my info is in exact agreement with all other Cten keepers'.

There is not much solid info on the Ctens. But enough is known that we can keep them happy and healthy.

They have much more horsepower per ounce than green igs, and they are more hissy and jumpy. When they are stressed or untamed, they are very persistent in fending off humans. But the same taming techniques used on green igs work with the C. similis. Many, if not most, can become dog-tame with persistent taming by knowledgeable handlers. John Styner, over at the Cten forum, has a similis who is actually socialized and obeys voice commands. John is an experienced lizard person, and captured his similis as a short-term post-hatched from a feral population on an island just off southern FL.

I adopted my female similis as an insane adult, lost a fair amount of blood and skin, and now she is feisty but tame. It took a full year. Now she hisses and bluff-bites, but she loves to travel around on my shoulder, and loves to explore the house.

However, a C. similis would make a fine display animal.

As far as I know, there are no growth charts. 2.5 to 4 feet and about 2 - 4 pounds is about right.

They probably do best on one of the recommended green ig diets (the MK or IgDen diets), though when very young may do better with about 10% insects. Many of us give a few crickets, zoophobas, or a hopper per week but no more than that. It is very hard to change a cten's eating habits, so pay close attention to avoid letting your similis manipulate you about prefering bugs-only. As far as I kow that's all that can be said with authority.

Their climate and habitat requirements are similar to green igs, except that Ctens like higher basking temps; up to 110 F. They love to get hot. In my experience, they are better able to manage their thermoregulation in captivity than are green igs.

My similis accepts green igs with tolerance, treating them like pieces of furniture. She established territorial equity with my big male Green (several years ago when they shared a habitat), by nose-butting him in his chest several times to quell his objections. She's 1/5th his weight, but size does not seem to matter even with such a disparity. I think they are not much of a threat to each other because they don't have the same-species visual (body-look) triggers. They do display to each other, a little, from time to time. This cten had the same experience with long-term cohabitation with a stunted female ggi. They all ate from the same food dishes, but I wouldn't make the generalization that it's ok to set it up like that.

Not that I wouldn't advise lots of caution about cohabitation, though.

There is an importer in FL who offers Cten similis (there are probably more), but I don't recall who. They are probably all field-hatched overseas. You'll have to look through the herp advertisers on Kingsnake.com, and do a Google search. I've seen them offered. Make sure you get a hatchling, have him shipped out, and get him treated for parasites at a vet's.

Good luck, and please let me know how it works out. I'm very curious :-)

Roger

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