Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone I was wondering if anyone has any info on using a monitors DNA to determine its gender. I recently found out this can be done with birds for as little as 25 dollars and also its done through the mail no vet or trips invovled. I'm thinking about contacting one of these companies but thought I should ask here and do more research first. Thanks

Small update I spoke with a gentleman from Avianbiotech he said there is a company that has been succesful with iguanas, He also said U.C. Davis in CA has the largest species samples and they are leading the way. He also said a monitors sex may be determined by hormonal changes can anyone here elaborate on this? Thanks again

We have bred monitors for 15 years(my time flys) and doing so on a regular basis means, we raise up babies by the lots. We have had no problem when raising them in small groups. We always get both sexes. This includes groups of two. We have done this as regular practice and in many many events.

Of course, this means you have to start this at a very young age. As they start to show signs of what sex they are as early as a month of age, up to and over a year has occurred. The older they are when you start, the less reliable this method is. Remember my post above, older monitors are not normally a problem.

But please let me make this clear. I practice this method, in lue of other methods(with hatchlings) As far as whether its hormonal or whatever, I do not know, nor do I care. Which means, how it works, don't know, don't care, it works fine for me.

Of course I have no problem if a lab they can prove DNA testing works. It would be great, that takes the buren of sexing out of my hands and into the labs. Of course the cost will be passed on, but not the responsibility. How cool would that be? The buyer pays for the lab work, and lab is responsible for being right, nice. I doubt very much that will come to pass.

The big problem with labs are, they only look for and identify a marker. They do not raise monitors up to test if these markers are accurate. The problem is, in order to prove this, you must be able to first breed monitors on a high level(produce numbers) and labs and schools have failed on a massive scale to do this(even on a small scale).

I do not think monitors are hard to breed or complicated to breed, and pair, food, normal temps and a place to put the eggs is all thats needed. But it is lots of work and it does take time. Which I believe academics(schools and such) are not willing to give. Their projects seem to have a short string. Cheers

So far, there is no practical way that DNA is used. That is, so far, it either doesn't work, or has not shown to work in a practical sense.

Which means, there is no history of keepers sending DNA off to have it analized and then raising up baby monitors to have them 100% or even close, to being what they were DNA sexed at. Until there is a history, then it does not work, in a practical sense.

Consider, its only the very very young monitors that are a problem. Somewhere after half grown, its very apparent what sexes monitors are. Of course there are a few exceptions(he/shes). And its those few exceptions that really mess up things. If we were breeding chickens or rabbits and such, we would just cull those exceptions and move on. I know if I have a male mouse that does not work, or one that appears inbetween(and they do occur) It quickly becomes snake or monitor food.

But our approach(hobbyist) forces us to keep all individuals.

Also, I believe somebody said, there was a lab willing to give monitors a try. Not sure about that.

Also, price is based on volume, and monitors simply(not yet anyway) will not have the volume that birds have. That is, not all that many people care about what sex their monitors are. In fact, only a very very few. So I imagine the price of having it done will be far higher then buying a handful of monitors and working it out.

So, go for it, and keep us up to date on the progress. Cheers

Thanks alot for the information FR. I've read what you said about the pairings in some of your previous posts and that info makes these animals even that more amazing mother nature or whatever anybody believes in has truly taken care of itself when it comes to monitors. I have to admit I got a bit excited and carried away when I learned about the bird DNA testing. It makes perfect sense especialy and correct me if I'm wrong that the animals do get along better when raised together and thats the way to go for anyone who wants to breed them, no need for the testing at all. Thanks again and I agree breeding by the scientific community hasn't been impressive at all. I'm glad you don't keep all the knowledge under lock and key. I'll be out of this FEMA trailor and starting over with the knowledge on this forum will be a big help.

Are you in New Orleans? I hope it works out for you, I can't imagine. Ok, I can, I lived and worked in New Orleans. I worked at the zoo(three times), and worked on the aquarium as well. I truly enjoyed herping there. Our little old gilas don't hold a candle to gators. And as much as I would like to say, some of the most impressive rattlesnakes were canebrakes, from just over the bridge. I guess lots of those creatures will be moving back.

Anyway, good luck Frank

I'm from lakeview - lived on Catina St. 1 block off West End Blvd lost our house, business, retirement (rent houses) everything.

Keep the faith
Mark

I was in the lower 9th ward on Jackson Barracks, one of the lucky ones only lost clothes and place to live luckily I'm in the LA Gaurd so I was just sent to another base. FR the zoo is alright and I think the only death there was a racoon.