Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hy,

I recently got a male Varanus acanthurus (last Tuesday to be exactly). The male is about 1/3 foot longer and more massive than the female. This afternoon the male started biting the female. No injuries so far but I am a bit afraid. He hasn't done this the days before.

Should I seperate them or is this just normal at the beginning?

Thanks alot for your answers.
I have never put together a male and a female until today (only raised them in pairs.)

Greetings,

Nakor

I just added 2 more ackies to my other 2's enclosure. they are all the same age and length and one chases the others and nips them but doesnt injure them at all. I have heard of this behavior being normal since i dont know the sexes yet i am thinking that yours is either the male or becoming the dominent ackie. In my case i guess i am looking at a 1.3 group since i only have the one chasing the three around sometimes it looks like he is trying to mate but they are so young.

he also lowers is head and starks to poke at there underarms pushing them

Hy Zaf,

thanks for your answer. That is exactly what mine is doing. Good to hear that this is the normal behavier. I have my girlfriend siting next to the cage and calling me everytime the male is moving towards "her" litte female. I feel like running a marathon.

Do your 3 chased ackies get along well with this or was there any need to interact.

Greetings,

Nakor

The behavior you speak of is dominance behavior nothing to do with sex of the animals. Males will do that to males or females, females will do the same. They will also do what appears to be copulating but they arent, the same here males will do that with males or females, and visa versa. Its about whos territory it is, whos hiding place, food, basking spot, water dish, and burrows are whos, its like you dug a burrow and I like it so Im gonna beat you up then take it. You may have 1.3,2.2,3.1,4.0, that behavior has no determination of sex. If you want to know wait until the males show spurs, a bigger wider head, or the best way to tell is females lay eggs.

let me see, what was the main quote...ummm, oh yeah - "Rape is not a sex crime. Its an act of dominance and power".
A bit off subject, I know, but Im sure it doesnt hurt to say every now and again.

Not to get into too big of a discussion of this topic on a monitor forum, but...

Rape is a sex crime. While it is true that dominance and power are prominent factors in the commission of rape, they are not always the primary motivations behind an act of rape. There is often, if not always, a sexual factor/motivator present in the act, and the sexual aspect is frequently as important if not more important than the power and domination aspects. The strength of each component as a factor in the act varies from offender to offender, but all three (and more) are almost always involved.

Rape is not a sexual act in the sense that it is not representative of the intimate relationship shared among consenting, developmentally mature or developmentally equivalent individuals. In that sense, the victim of the assault was powerless against the act and dominated by the perpetrator. The crime is not a sexual relationship, but the violation of the victim's being.

Back to varanids...

In my training as a crisis counselor I learned a great deal on this subject. Sexual desire is NOT, may I repeat, NOT a factor in the act of rape. It has been proven time and time again that an offender does not simply prey apon individuals that he lusts, or has desire for, but individuals that he can dominate and exhibit control over. Its usual a person that they are already close to in fact. Rape by a stranger is very rare compared to acquaintance rape.

If you wish to discuss this more, feel free to e-mail me.

Sincerely,
Michelle

In my years of daily interaction and intensive work with sexual predators, I can tell you that for most perpetrators sexual desire is a major component in the act of their sexual offenses. It has been supported in the literature and in my daily experience that sexual desire is a critical contributor in many, if not most, offenses. Power and control are also major factors in many offenses, but one cannot discount, or fail to address, sexual desires as a motivator for the sexual offender in the planning and commission of the acts.

This is a monitor forum, therefore descriptions are directed to how it is related to monitors, not people.

The context is direct and straitforward. Why don't you keep it that way? F

Echoing your own advice on more than one occasion... If you do not like it, you can choose to click BACK and read something else. You saw it went on an unrelated tangent, so click back and read something monitor related. Better yet, post what happened to your cumingi eggs and why they are not hatching with my salvator eggs. That would make for a nice monitor related conversation.

There are a total of 4 non-monitor related posts here (2 from me, 2 from Christine), hardly worth noting, particularly since you are not referenced, mentioned, or targeted in the brief (and via email now) discussion we pursued.

Relax and follow your own advice.

Happy Herping

I am sorry those eggs went bad right off. Also, I cannot seem to get into that group of monitors, they do not blow my shorts up. But really I am glad you like them and I am very happy your doing so well with your female.

But If you want to make a success verses failure, out of that, I will indeed bury you with hundreds of photos of hundreds of successes with many species of monitors. But that is besides the point.

While I love the way you write, the words you use. It still all boils down to one thing, experience, producing babies from one female and one baby from another is still only so much experience. I do congratulate you for that. But, please, lets not over emphasize the importance of those experiences, as still, there are so many people here and on other forums that have far more experience than you and do not boast half the knowledge you feel you have.

Since, you like to bring up bones, I asked below, if you learned anything from your recent experiences, you know compared to when you hatched one nile or the first group of waters. Why did't you answer that? You must understand I only hold one thing against you, and thats you answering peoples questions about niles or waters, as a nile breeder or water breeder. Hatching one nile is not a breeder, its simply hatching one nile. That was the same for waters, one clutch is not a breeder. Even one female continually producing is not a breeder. The bar is much higher then that. Many people have bred monitors thru many generations, thats the current level of breeding. For you to mislead people into thinking your one of them is, well misleading.

What you have to learn thru experience is, the next female water or male, may or may ont, act or react, the same as the ones you have now, They may require something different. After you have success with ten females, then you will look back and understand, how little experience one was. After twenty females, then look back at ten, etc, etc. At least I hope you would understand that.

If you would like to talk about why I do not care for Salvators, I am not sure, I simply like other species more. I tried to like them. I got some to see if I would like them. Just didn't. I actually have kept several types of them. I believe thats my right to do, its also your right to have what you like. My favorite water monitors are mertens and I keep and breed those. No I am not a mertens breeder, but I have bred them, several times. Maybe someday if I keep at it, I will be. Do you understand that last sentence, by saying what I did, other people now understand what level of experience I have. Yes I have hatched them, no, I do not have lots of experience with them. You see, theres nothing right or wrong about that. I guess the question was, why did you want to mislead people? I do think, you are smart enough to understand what you were doing.F

Watch for one being injured and/or not eating etc. They can and sometimes will kill the less domunant animal. Watch who answers your questions as many respond but do not know much about the animals themselves.

I never interact but they say that with ackies with every group there si never a male heavy gropu there is either more females or equal males and females never more males then females

But a set of 2 females a male at 12 days old were for sale. I asked how did this guy know which were which at that age and size. He showed me physical differences that are not easy to explain between them one at a time. These were 2-2.5 inches long total.