Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I own a pair of yellow ackies, they're roughly 8 months old and 15 inches each. They've both appeared to be probable females, with tiny spurs and slim heads, but starting about 3 weeks ago they've been attempting to mate with each other several times a day, in fact pretty much everytime I walk by their cage they're trying to copulate. I've read that this is common behavior for ackies to engage in, but what I'd read was that the alpha female would try to mount the submissive one. What I've witnessed has been both trying to mount each other, one day ackie A will be on top, the next it will be ackie B. And besides that, I'd always assumed that at their age and size they were too tiny to breed anyway? When they've attempted to mate I've never seen any hemipenes or genitalia visible, rather, they're just rubbing the bases of their tails together. Is one of my girls actually a male? How large do they need to be to breed? Is this normal behavior? Help!!!

**I tried to upload pictures but my dial-up connection is too slow for it, can email.

First, the thought of Alpha this or that is not really applicable here or with monitors. Dominance seems to be short lived and temporary. So if one is alpha, its for a moment. Which makes the labelling of an Alpha, rather incorrect, as an hour or day or week later, its a beta or worse.

For instance, we are pairs of larger monitors, the male is without question Alpha, the poop wackers. That is, until the little old female decides to beat the beans out of the male. Then the alpha thing goes flying out the window, along with lots of skin and his alpha pride.

Its better to think about this as a sign needs are not being met. And there are many many needs that result in this particular behavior.

Mounting is practiced from the day they hatch on. It "seems" to be about possessions, in most cases. In most cases, Its like yelling at the other, get out of my spot/cage/hole, etc or its my food, go find your own. Its just short of fighting. A sort of humiliation. It can be followed by biting, part removal and lastly death. Death can be physical or stress induced.

Also, it occurs when a female has cycled and the male is not doing his job. Which is very possible in your case, as you stated you do not have a male.

Yellow ackies have bred at 11 inches total lenght(my record) but 13 to 15 inches is absolutely normal. Which fits the bill in your case.

And no, mounting is not a normal behavior, its just common in captivity(small boxes). For instance, I have kept and bred ackies for 15 years, I keep them outdoors and indoors both. I have seen mounting commonly indoors, but not once outdoors. Consider, outdoors has larger cages. Also outdoors, harems or colonies work far better and with larger numbers, then indoors.

Indoors we tend to cram them into too small of cages and wonder why we see abnormal behaviors.

So I don't believe its about being lesbians or homosexual, its more about theres only one cookie and its mine. Good luck with your group, cheers

At the moment I have five hide places around the cage, but there are two that they mostly prefer to use, two burrows that they've dug underneath rocks/basking spots. How many hide places should I give them? I don't think any food shortage could possibly be the problem, I usually give them 30-40 large crickets a day, basically until they stop eating. I'm going to do my best to find a male that is about their size at the next reptile expo at the beginning of July, and I'm going to buy a new tank for the three of them. What cage size do you recommend for a trio of ackies? Would a 75 gallon breeder be the right size for them? I've read articles(interviews) with you in Reptiles magazine for years(the best was an interview about 7 years ago I think in the same one with a mulga monitor article), and have great respect for you, so your suggestions mean a lot to me. Do you happen to sell male ackies that are around that size? Thank you for your time,

Evelyn

First, there can be no solution until you know the problem. The most likely problem is a lack of male. One or both females are cycling, so the other takes the place of the male. This is common with many other types of reptiles as well.

The fact(if it is one) these two have been together for some time(I am assuming this from what you said) and they did not do this means up until now, they had no reason too. So this leads back to not having a male.

With these types of problems(behavior) there can be many reasons or combinations of reasons that cause this. Which means, there is rarely a single solution but more often a combinations of solutions.

So start with the simplest thing first, get a male, hahahahahahahaha.

About hiding areas and food. It does not have to mean there is not enough choices or enough food. Its more like, THAT food or THAT hiding/basking place is mine. Kinda like little kids or big kids fighting over one toy in giant toy box full of toys. Cheers

Gosh, I guess I can chalk this up as another fascinating thing about these lizards. Thank you so much for your help, now I must invest in a male!

Evelyn