Reptile & Amphibian Forums

and some random ackie stuff,

Here are some pics of this type of ackie that occurs arcross the topend of oz. They occur from the gulf of carpenderia to the eastern kimberlys. This also includes what was described as whites monitors, V.baridji(sp)

I bred a pair a long time ago, then lost interest in them for four or five years. I did keep two babies. Recently I returned to messin with ackies because of a good friend, Robert Bushner.

So I broke out the few ackies I have hangin around here and started working with them. I have really enjoyed this as I am now learning far more then I had before. Getting rest from them was a very good thing. Now I can spend much more time, as I have far less monitors then I use to have. Anyway, heres some pics,

This one just hatched,

This one is six months old,

Heres a pic of old dad,

There are some pattern differences compared to Yellow ackies, V.a.brachyurus, but are similar in may ways. It appears they are closer to those then to Red ackies. What is interesting to me is, reproductively, those three are different. Red ackies have huge eggs in comparison to the others. Yellow ackies have much smaller eggs. Both of those have eggs that incubate with the standard odatria incubation period, normally, 90 to 120 days. The topenders can be very different, they have a incubation from 120 to 270 days. Their eggs are similar in size to yellow ackies, maybe a tad smaller on average. Sometimes their eggs stick together much like kingsnake eggs. I have not seen this with other varanids.

These topenders seem to get large for an ackie, as you can see, dad is a good sized ackie, but I have seen them in nature much larger, over three feet in lenght.

I have thought egg size may be related to overall size, but that has not been seen(by me) As I have not seen any giant Red ackies, only topenders,V.s.sp, and Yellows, V.a.brachyurus. Both those two over three feet. The largest red ackie I have seen is around 30 inches.

wow, that 6 month old topender is blowing me away... hmm, but im new to ackies, in the wild (AUS), think they come by suburban neighborhoods? or they just out in the bush/rural?
obviously not the "anoles of AUS", but there was a horned toad lizard in my front lawn (suburbs n. houston)... heh, 10 years ago, hah oh well 15 years, maybe in queensland? im rambling..

I am from the U.S., arizona to be more specific. Ackies to live around houses and are very common on the edge of towns. Lashtail lizards are the "anole" of northern Oz.

I am glad you enjoyed the pics, Cheers

How large is your biggest topender that you have FR?

I am guessing hes 27 or so inches. But heres a pic of a wild one over three feet. Cheers

Too bad theere are none that get that big in captivity.

cheers