As I said in another post, lace monitors nesting in termite mounds is a known thing in Australia. Although I have found many lace monitor nests, from very fresh to fairly old, I admit that I haven't yet been lucky enough to catch a female in the act of digging a nest and laying. It only happens for a few hours on one day of the year and the timing can vary by a few weeks, depending on the climate that season. I have photographed a heath monitor, Varanus rosenbergi, digging into a nest, though and others I know have managed to chance upon lace monitors nesting. Here's one set of photographs showing the behaviour:





Here's an interesting sequence that was published in a magazine, showing a lace monitor nesting in an arboreal mound. This is less well known than ground mound nesting. I have photographed holes in arboreal mounds in the past but rarely consider them as definitive proof of a lace monitor nest because 1. I can't get close enough to see the tell-tale scratches and 2. Kookaburras are also known to nest in these arboreal mounds, so a hole on the side of an arboreal mound at certain times of the year is more likely to be one of those.




A year ago a very good friend stumbled upon a female in the
process of digging into a termite mound. He didn't have a camera on him, so he contacted a mate of his that lived nearby, who was able to photograph the entire sequence. He and I had a good long chat about it and what blew me away when I looked at his photographs was how similar the behaviours were between the wild female and my captive. One of the interesting things I learned from this was just how much of a stupor the female goes into while laying. I was well aware of this behaviour with turtles and crocodilians and suspected it was the case with my female (she'd just barely react to me photographing her), but was never game enough to open the enclosure while she was nesting. After seeing Brad's photographs and talking to him, this past breeding season I had no qualms about opening the enclosure and getting right in there with my video camera. I'll put some videos on youtube later in the year, when I have more time. In the meantime, Brad's photographs of a wild lacie nesting in comparison to my captive female using her nest box.

Wild female


My captive (five different reproductive events - I've watched her nest many times and usually video tape it, but sometimes I photograph it)






Wild female leaving the nest, turning around and then going back in to pack them in


My captive, doing the same


Wild female packing the eggs in.


My captive, doing the same (four different reproductive events)

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