Egor

[KTyne]

Got my first Chahoua!

This boy is a bit of a rescue that I got for nearly free from a local breeder that I know. This breeder had given this boy to his previous home, who then gave him to a different Lady, whose Cats apparently caught this Gecko 6 different times when he somehow escaped his tank. So the breeder took him back from this Lady and wanted to find him a good forever home and that is how he came to me.
He has a severe under bite, hence how his name came about (he reminded me of an Egor), but he is a lovely boy.
He has already started to grow his tail back, which he lost to the previous home's Cat.
He is super calm and his colours are gorgeous.





He is a bit skinny in my opinion (doesn't really look it in these photos) but he has a huge appetite! First night home I fed him some Pangea and the next morning his dish was nearly completely clean! What he hadn't eaten he finished off the next night! I have no doubt that he's going to be a chubby happy boy in no time.

 

[Aimless]

good on you. it sounds like he went to the right home.

 

[KTyne]

Thank you! I plan to spoil him and treat him like a king. Looking to switch him to a nice big exo-terra hopefully soon! Right now he is in a quarantine tub.

 

[geckofactory]

Interesting fact that he's got an underbite, I have a male M. chahoua as well with a similar face condition, I got him from a breeder I know because she didn't want people to breed with him. Have more people here on the forums got mossy geckos with underbites? Might be interesting to know if this is a more widespread condition/issue.

 

[KTyne]

I have been having a good discussion on a Chahoua Facebook group about this and apparently it is quite a problem. If the Female Chahoua doesn't get enough calcium while producing eggs then the babies will most likely be calcium deficient and then they usually develop an under bite.
Apparently Chahoua have a much higher need for calcium than other geckos which is why so many end up with under bites. Some are genetic (passed down from too much inbreeding) but a lot are caused by calcium deficiency's. I was told that a lot of Chahoua keepers and breeders will have liquid calcium around just in case they need it and they supplement their Chahoua with liquid calcium about once a week as that's how high of calcium needs they have.
Soooo that's why so many Chahoua end up with under bites is because a lot of people don't realize they need more calcium than what is in CGD and what they dust on the occasional bug.