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I had what I thought to be a trio of tristis turns out it was a reverse trio so I removed the sub male. The next morning (yesterday) I found the female dead of a broken neck. The cage is huge the female has places she can hide to get away so it just blows my mind. Anyone have any ideas. It almost has to be related to removing the other male. Prior to her death all I had ever seen was normal breeding behavior I even got a clutch out of her the a couple of weeks prior. This just sucks.

Thats the cage before it was finished no idea how it was attached to that post.

Wow, sorry to hear that Ian. I don't really know how removing a monitor male can cause the event to happen though. I yank males all the time if they are bothering a gravid female. If anything, that can be a good thing or a neutral, not a negative.

-Krusty

Exactly... I just dont get it. I dont know what else could have triggered it. Nothing else changed but that male being removed. The cage sits in my living room so watch them like most people watch television and ive never seen the male be overly agresive. Her neck was trashed looked like she was mating with a croc. Ill send you some pics of her.

I am far less experienced with Australian dwarfs but I know a bit about Indo species. We generally see aggression from some females towards cage mates and males once they become gravid. They will attack other cage mates too drive them out of their territory. I have also seen a female get aggressive with a male when she was not receptive. Possibly, he was courting her and she was not receptive and she tried to fight back. I have actually had a female kill and eat part of her cage mate ( a male) because she was not in a breedable state.

I have seen it all and monitors can break your heart, out of the blue they suddenly throw you for a loop.

SUCKS - -KEvin

>>Exactly... I just dont get it. I dont know what else could have triggered it. Nothing else changed but that male being removed. The cage sits in my living room so watch them like most people watch television and ive never seen the male be overly agresive. Her neck was trashed looked like she was mating with a croc. Ill send you some pics of her.
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I would not think the male killed her. I am not sure they will or could break another adults neck.

In my early years of breeding odatria, I often mentioned all manner of accidents. Monitors are curious and often get caught in odd situations and off themselves. Once dead, the others chew them up.

Taking a male out, could cause a female to seek him out and try to find ways to get to him. (seperation anxiety)

The understanding of pairs with reptiles is totally odd. People are the goofy ones. With reptiles, pairs stay around eachother, around means, within 5 to 30 meters, depending on size of the species. To understand it, at times they are within close proximity 5 to 30 meters, at other times they attend eachother. Consider a monitor can move 30 meters in a few minutes or less. I imagine they can smell eachother at that distance.

The above causes lots of problems for keepers, they are under the impression that to be a pair, they must be glued at the hip and stay within inches for their entire lifes.

In your case, she may have had a need to be in attendance with her chosen male. This caused her to do something not normal. Or caused her to simply expire. In this case, I am sure she was already compromised and the added stress was more then she could handle. Good luck

Im glad your sure about this case Frank. She wasn't in your care so she had to be compromised. Its a good thing we have you to keep us in check frank. Thanks Ian

Wow, your welcome!

First I said, I have no idea what your problem IS, I can only offer you what it sounds like FROM WHAT YOU SAID. If that is of no value to you, FINE.

I have to ask, why are you so offensive to folks trying to offer you some "possible" insight. Then I have to think, no one here knows what you actually did because we are not there, SO WHY DID YOU ASK???? This is a real meaningful point. You should take what is said here, in perspective. WE CAN ONLY GUESS.

The point is simple, the female IS DEAD. The only benefit that can come from that is to figure out why. That you are so sensitive will hinder you in this area.

I fully understand and accept responsibility for any and all deaths that occur with my animals. Sir, if they are in my care, its my fault, PERIOD. That makes it easy for me to learn. Cheers

Sorry to hear about this incident but sometimes things just happen that are completely baffeling in our eyes. We do know she produced a [good clutch of eggs?] with that said she had to be bred by one of the males. Perhaps after removing one of the males
[maybe the one she bred with?] the other male smelled the removed males scent all over her and knew he could over power her thinking it was another male? I didnt see the females condition after she laid [sometimes they can look like a raisin]nor know how long is was after she laid her eggs that this happened? Did you or are you going to do a necropsy? Maybe she has an egg stuck in her from the first clutch that could have killed her? Good luck with your pursuit.
Bob