Pine Island Growth Rates at 1 Year Old

[Michael]

I'd love to get some feedback from folks on how much your average chahoua weighs at 1 year old. There seems to be a huge variance here... some say their geckos are around 15-18g at this age, some say they are 55-60g or even more. I'm also curious if anyone has kept good enough records to show that geckos that grow faster in the first year do or don't get larger over the long term. Something like: grow faster, get bigger... or do they seem to race to the finish line, and then barely get any bigger after the first year?

In my experience, their growth rates are extremely varied. I've had some who can it 40-45g in the first year, but then only ever get another 5-10g larger. Then I've had others who will be ~25g by the first year, ~50g by the second, and then creep into the 60 or 70g area after that.

I would say my average PI chahoua is around 30g at 1 year old - some larger, some smaller. My average adult weight is probably around 62-64g.

 

[CheddarBlocks]

I only have two data points- both female PI. One was 50g at one year and seems to have plateaued at 1.5 years old. The other is 53g at 10 months old- growth has definitely slowed. Both of them were gaining about a gram a week until about 40g and then it slowed down. I can post my excel graph later

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

Of the 14 I have raised up, all have been between 50-65g by a year old and seem to be mostly done growing by 2. It seems like when my girls start laying eggs young, they take longer to finish growing but I only have two that have done that so not a substantial sample size.

 

[Vao]

Sorry for my late reply but i only joined today,
I cannot give the details of my chahouas at home, because for the moment I am abroad.
The data I have with me are data from 2013 when I stayed at Pine Iland. I found 2 chahoua eggs, but unfortunately one was damaged.
The remaining egg hatched the fifth of May 2013, the juvenile weighed 2.27 grams and was 9 cm long.
Less than 10 months later on March the first 2014, it weighed 57.7 grams and was 24 cm long.

 

[Andrea IGA]

Sorry for my late reply but i only joined today,
I cannot give the details of my chahouas at home, because for the moment I am abroad.
The data I have with me are data from 2013 when I stayed at Pine Iland. I found 2 chahoua eggs, but unfortunately one was damaged.
The remaining egg hatched the fifth of May 2013, the juvenile weighed 2.27 grams and was 9 cm long.
Less than 10 months later on March the first 2014, it weighed 57.7 grams and was 24 cm long.

wait.. I understood well ? : You collected an egg from Pine Island and took it home? you live in NC or another country??

 

[Michael]

Sorry for my late reply but i only joined today,
I cannot give the details of my chahouas at home, because for the moment I am abroad.
The data I have with me are data from 2013 when I stayed at Pine Iland. I found 2 chahoua eggs, but unfortunately one was damaged.
The remaining egg hatched the fifth of May 2013, the juvenile weighed 2.27 grams and was 9 cm long.
Less than 10 months later on March the first 2014, it weighed 57.7 grams and was 24 cm long.

wait.. I understood well ? : You collected an egg from Pine Island and took it home? you live in NC or another country??

Agree with Andrea... I'd love more details on this. Any photos?

 

[Canvas_geckos]

I'd love to get some feedback from folks on how much your average chahoua weighs at 1 year old. There seems to be a huge variance here... some say their geckos are around 15-18g at this age, some say they are 55-60g or even more. I'm also curious if anyone has kept good enough records to show that geckos that grow faster in the first year do or don't get larger over the long term. Something like: grow faster, get bigger... or do they seem to race to the finish line, and then barely get any bigger after the first year?

In my experience, their growth rates are extremely varied. I've had some who can it 40-45g in the first year, but then only ever get another 5-10g larger. Then I've had others who will be ~25g by the first year, ~50g by the second, and then creep into the 60 or 70g area after that.

I would say my average PI chahoua is around 30g at 1 year old - some larger, some smaller. My average adult weight is probably around 62-64g.

Is this thread only for PI growth rates?

 

[Michael]

Is this thread only for PI growth rates?

Would love some info for GTs as well!!

 

[Sarah_RainyDay]

I would love to resurrect this topic of discussion, or perhaps will start a new thread. Either way, this is something I'm curious about as well.

As somebody who raises both boas and geckos, I have found the approaches to growth by the respective communities to be vastly different. For boa breeders, low and slow and long is the favored approach. "Power feeding" or fast growing animals to breeding size is generally a frowned-upon practice. However with chahoua, it seems the slow and steady approach is the approach that is frowned upon. Do geckos grow in a different manner than snakes that would suggest the healthy approach is as fast as you can get them to grow? Are either of these approaches incorrect? Is one correct for snakes and the other correct for lizards?

 

[Vao]

I interrupted my participation about a year ago, in the discussion regarding "the Pine Island Growth Rates at 1 Year Old" because in the first reactions after my post, immediately conclusions were made like: “wait.. I understood well ? : You collected an egg from Pine Island and took it home?” I felt accused. No I did NOT take it home.
Here my story, although I don't think I should be accountable to anyone
I was staying on Pine island in February and the first weeks of March 2013. In 2007 I spent several weeks in New Caledonia most of the time on Pine Island. During this period I met a Frenchman who worked in the bar of the hotel where I was staying and he was interested in why I was on Pine Island.
It was a pleasant reunion when I returned in 2013 when we met again.
We had a nice chat and one day he invited me to his home. He lived on the west coast of the island. When he heard about the eggs I found; and knowing my interests he suggested to keep the egg until it hatches. Back home I sent him the necessary material such as a scale, a caliper and a big screen terrarium.
He already received the material 10 days later. We kept in touch for more than a year and he regularly sent me information. He fed the animal local insects he caught and fruit. After a year he returned to France and we lost contact.
The last observations he sent me was from March the 30th, when its weight was 61,54 g, When hatched the 5th of May 2013 its weight was 2,77 g.
By coincidence two of my eggs at home hatched the same day: 5/5/2013 so captive bred.
Their weight when hatched was 1,82 g and 2,13 g.. On March 29th 39,49 g and 42,20 g.