Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So after being snowed in for 2 days I have been pretty bored looking for things to do around the house, so I decided to cut a 36x48 (?) roughly opening out of the side of my enclosure and seal it off with a sheet of plexi so i can keep an eye on the little guys while I am working at my desk in my 'beat laboratory'.
Here is the view from where I sit (still have to put a frame around the outside edge to cover up my [bleep]ty cutting job)

ANYWAY: What I have noticed (and i noticed before, but now that I can watch a lot more I notice a lot more) is that my biggest (said to be female, still not sure) Sav will become almost mechanical when she encounters the smaller sav (said to be male). By mechanical I mean she has robotic like actions to describe it best. She will like jolt her head slowly and all of her actions even with her feet are almost like robotic, or like how a chameleon kind of moves, you know like bobs along sort of...
Has anyone witnessed slash heard of this behavior and does anyone know what it means?
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1.1 Savannah Monitors (Annah & Terrance)
1.1 Nile Monitor (Lyle)
1.0 Blood Python (Kevin)
1.0 Ball Python (Martin)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Bella)
2.0 Bearded Dragons (Peter & Jack)
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake (Hector)
1.1 Kenyan Sand Boas (Wayne & Maude)
1.0 Dwarf Gecko (Little Girl)
1.0 Curly Hair Tarantula (Pube)
1.0 OBT Usumbara Orange Baboon Tarantula (Sin)
1.0 Emperor Scorpion (Ashoka)
2.0 D. auratus (Poison Dart Frogs)

They move in an exagerrated motion that resembles a robot in a cheap movie. There is a bit of quiet hissing that seems to follow the motion, and some standing over the other animal, head bobbing, side to side bobbing, clawing, and mounting.
You are seeing the bigger monitor saying "Im bigger, badder, stronger, and Ill mess you up unless you stay clear". This doesnt always mean stay clear of their path, but sometimes its just about property, the one monitor owns a location and the other isnt allowed to go there.

Weird. My big guy seems to do that a lot though. She can get pretty rough sometimes too, I am having a hard time trying to decide if I should separate them or not. One minute they will be tolerating each other Basking in the same hot spot and the next minute the big one will have the smaller ones leg in her mouth.
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1.1 Savannah Monitors (Annah & Terrance)
1.1 Nile Monitor (Lyle)
1.0 Blood Python (Kevin)
1.0 Ball Python (Martin)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Bella)
2.0 Bearded Dragons (Peter & Jack)
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake (Hector)
1.1 Kenyan Sand Boas (Wayne & Maude)
1.0 Dwarf Gecko (Little Girl)
1.0 Curly Hair Tarantula (Pube)
1.0 OBT Usumbara Orange Baboon Tarantula (Sin)
1.0 Emperor Scorpion (Ashoka)
2.0 D. auratus (Poison Dart Frogs)

The problem is, your trying to figure out something complex. Only your starting at the wrong end. Your taking two animals that are grown and already set in their ways.

kinda like taking warriors from different tribes and hoping they will get along. Not the best thing to hope for. Or two adult chickens from different farms. Heck you do not even know if they are roosters or not. THis analogy shows this problem is basic and widespread amoung animals. If you have two roosters, what the heck do you expect? See what I mean.

If you wanted to try to understand behavior, you should start with "simple" raise babies, not set in their ways and see how they grow and react to eachother. Raise them around animals of their own kind, you know you need to do that with chickens too.

Also, you think or assume their sexes, before you can understand any behaviors, you really have to KNOW the correct sexes. Or your just spitting in the wind.

What your doing is an experiment(varanid social) and with all experiments, you have to have some solid ground to work from, or the experiment is of little value. Get some solid ground, know the sexes, and know some history. If you raised them from babies, you will have some history.

Yes, raising them from babies is the easist way, and often works out very well, but remember, its behavior, so there no sure things. Particularly when we know so little about these animals. Good luck and Cheers