Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recieved these two niles from a fella who said they were from Ghana.
They seem to be much less defensive and bitey than my others were when they were young.
I remember you posting a while back about some young niles you had that were mild tempered.
Do these look like the same local as the ones you have?


Thank you

Roger

yes theas are from western africa, you can tell by the black tail.

as for temper, thers no real diference between ssp, I feel its all about how you interact with them.

first unlike many I do not provide hides or places they feel secure inn, the cage is where they feel secure and this is why we should respect this space, I dont reach inn for them when they are in the cage, very soon they start to trust you will not try to touch them, soon they realise you will only change the water or offer food, thats when they start to interact with you, they start to smell your hand or take food from it, then they climb on your arm but if you move away they jump inn the cage where they feel secure, in no time you can walk the house with them on your shouler, with food you can make them follow you from cage to cage or bathtub.

when I was working with Tigers the same caging principles appliyed, give them hide and your in trouble.

Thank you Jobi! Actually, you are the third person that has describbed this sort of thing to me, the bare cages no handling. I believe I'll give it a try.
I've raised these two from babies. It took over a year for them to trust me. Many times I did not see them for weeks as they remained hidden. Now they eagerly seek me out for food and will allow me to touch them without becoming defensive.

animals in exelent condition in the hands of a caring keeper, BRAVO!

pleas post a few photos showing there evolution if you can

rgds

Here are a few pics of them. I don't have many photos of them between hatchling and adult since I did not have a camera for much of the time. Here are a few.
The first is a picture of a picture of the larger one a few weeks after I brought him home. I believe this is a male.

Here he is at about a year old.

The first set of photos were taken about three months ago.
I don't have anything but recent photos of the smaller one since she has only begun to tolerate my prescence for the last six months or so. I got them both as small babies about a month apart.




I'm not certain that they are an actual pair. I see a lot of dominance behavior but no real copulation.

Thank you for your compliments Jobi.

Roger

Roger

my first impresion was both males, however I may be wrong?

if you post a few full body shoots of both animals together in the same photo, I can shurly sex them corectly for you.

lateral and above views will show whats needed to sex them properlly.

what I look for is the tail base thikness and form, also the anterior part of tail in males is much higher then in females, and last the body between forarms and back legs is shorter in females, these may seem undistinguishable to the untrained eye, but I asure you they surve me right in 100% cases.

look at this photo carfully and you will see exactly what I am saying.

Thank You Jobi!
I can tell you now that the smaller of the two adults, the one with more yellow, has a shorter body, inproportion to the res of her than the larger of the two. Not sure about the keel of the tails. These are both around two years of age. I would have thought that if one was indeed a female she would have become gravid by now. I'll try and get some good pics of the two for comparison in the next few days and see what you think.

Thanks again for the input.

Roger