Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I've been keeping a pair of Blue Tails for quite some time now. not 100% sure that they are male and female, but about 99.9%. here lately the female seems really fat and i know that my male eats more of the food than the female so im thinking she's carrying eggs. Does anyone have some good egg laying advice for monitors? A real quick note- I keep these in a tall setup rather than a short one. I am going to increase the cage size real soon, but they seem to enjoy climbing all over the cage(not too ground dwelling) thanks for any advice

Possiibly removing the male would be a good idea so that he doesn't complicate things or even eat the eggs.

You should allow deep sandy soil type of bedding in the cage or even a big tub filled with it. I'd also apply elevated burrows and nest boxes to give her more options to lay in. Your soil dept should be easily 1 ft deep, and atleast mid 80's deep down at the bottom. So directing heat to your nesting sites would help with that.

If your female is gravid, I hope you've done your research on recent upgraded monitor husbandry skills. Their cages need to provide proper conditions and hot surface temps. She also should've been eating and packing on tons of food after they 'mated'. Many keepers also notice some agressions with nesting female monitors.

It's really good to hear/read that people are attempting to keep and breed these beautiful animals. I don't mean to burst your bubble, but the last few people I've heard of having 'gravid' females lost their females due to egg complications. Weither its dieng after a cycle, or in the middle of another egg cycle. This I guess would be the 'hard part' of keeping&breeding indicus types.

If you haven't already, I could direct you to some sites where a few of these keepers hang out.

good luck

im not going to let anyone burst my bubble. thanks for your suggestions. i've heard before about males eating eggs..i guess when i build the new cage i'll split them for a while..besides i know he likes to dig anyhow..

on the note of an egg box..has anyone had better luck with small opening in the top or side, or a completely open top? i was going to go with a big rubbermaid tub..thats the easiest way to get a large box...

to my knowledge only a couple people may have bred this species so research is so limited on this species..thanks again

First off, you have a varanid, and all varanids nest the same, well sort of.

Varanids are much easier to understand if you think of them as birds. Like birds, they want(read, require) a nest before they cycle. And a particular kind of nest.

The use of nest boxes does not apply, well again sort of. You see, monitors make burrows and nest in them. To BE a burrow, the hole needs to be longer then the monitor. In most cases, many times longer then the monitor. So a little box in a little cage is by far the most limiting factor in captive varanid reproduction.

The most common death with varanids is REPRODUCTIVE FAILURE. Thats why theres lots of males running around. The females die from poor nesting.

And no, males do not eat the eggs if they are good. And if the eggs are not nested well, the eggs are dead anyway, so they eat them.

Normally the males will guard the nest, not eat the eggs.

My suggestion is to fill the entire bottom of your cage with sand mixed with leaf litter, with a layer of leaf litter on the top. The deeper the better. Even tiny monitors will nest down to two feet.

If she is gravid already, you have already hindered your chances of success. The longer you wait, your percentage of success goes down.

Show some pics if you can, and good good good luck. Cheers

Here is a video of a lace monitor laying eggs. Don't know whos lizard this is though. I know your is not a lace monitor but....

I will have my fingers crossed for you. I have a pair as well, but my female is still young. I will be learning from you. Please let us know how it goes and share your experiences! My experience with doreanus has been great! I hope to see other keepers with the same success!

Good Luck!

been keeping doreanus a very long time now, kept them in all type of cages. when you give them what they really need a deep dirt-sand-leaflitter mix, doreanus simply disapear rarely to be seen if ever, however in this set up with proper temps they prosper. decads ago doreanus was my favorites but this hiding behavior that even captive raised and very tame doreanus do simply drew me away from them, and trust me I have kept many typs doreanus. I think they are the most secretive asian monitors and least fun to keep.
but thats just my opinion.

they are a blast to raise from babies to adult, my raising cages offer no hides. monitors raised in them become very friendly and inquisitive, these behaviors all go away when the lizards ar switched to adults cages.

Jobi, i have two baby Doreanus which i am raising with plenty of hides-what results did you have when raising them this way?
I always look forward to your posts-i find the indo monitors fascinating,especially the indicus complex.Does Yuwonoi share the same behavior as Doreanus? Moe

I keep a few yowonoi at present, they where hatched from a gravid WC last year. these ar quit diferent from doreanus, they dig extensive tunels in sandy dirt and live much like grund hogs, always near the entrance ready to dive in at the slaitest mouvement, they color morphology trouly shows they nature (halfway in the hole)

as for doreanus they get poppy tame when kept individualy in bare naked cages. the nature of this specie is bizzar, they ar confliting in nature have large teeths but fragil skin. most fragil species avoid confrontation, doreanus actively chas anf fight intruders of any scecies. there are reports of all indo monitors being fund sharing the same hidding, salvadorii sharing with jobiensis, prasinus, jobiensis sharing with argus (posible integration Port Moresby) all but doreanus.

in nature they are sedentary and live truout life at the same location, families of 10 to 20 individuals dominated by one male witch kills all rivals. females grow a larger head faster then males to protect themselfs from intruding males, they will only acept the alfa male when breeding. thats why not many ar produced as captives (unles raised together) and even then she must acecpt him or terible wonds will lead to death. thats what happens with large teeths and fragile skin.

if you trouly what to work this specie, start with 10-15 hatchelings and raise them in a room size enclosure with a deep dirt-leaflitter substrata, severald baskings and a night drop 65f, thats for PNG doreanus as there need are similar to liasis alberts or they dont cycle regularly and if they do eggs arent very strong.
you take this advise and be sucesfull or disregard it like other fools on this forum and wast my time and your lizards.
best wishes.

ps. captive lizards ar victime of stupid keepers, agamid experts over the world very much like varanid experts have all kinds of rules, they said dont keep them this way, they need that enviernement, oh you cant feed em that. however when working with lizards you realise its the keepers that fail not the lizards. this past year iv produced 100s of hipsilurus and coronatas that acording to experts should be dead alredy.

one last word from me ( iv always been against the keeping of varanids, thats why iv never promoted them, like you I enjoy keeping them beyond reason, hopfully they will stop exporting them soon) like FR I dont bother digging eggs anymore!

thanks Jobi, i appreciate your advise-i did not realize you had to have such a large group start together.I wanted 4,but so far could only find two.realistically i can't support a group that size the only thing i can commit to is everything else,and 0ne or two more bluetails(still looking).
i know in my heart that they should not be imported-but i have at the moment two bluetails that i am going to raise to the best of my abilities with your advise, FR, and others.Thks Moe

you start with 15 and up with a good pair or 2. ulike humanse they have a natural selection, they kill each other for lots of reasons, mainly suport or lack of, then subordination, space, heat anything worth something to a monitor.

this specie more then others, why they are so skittish.

do like I do keep em for fun.
cheers

so i know its been a while since i originally posted this topic. thanks to all who replied. i had a huge misfortune shortly after my last post. i dont want to go into detail but my monitor cage got destroyed and when i moved them to a temporary cage they dug out and were gone. i know one was captured and euthanized(the female). i've saw the pictures. from what i've heard the other was probably caught and euthanized as well. but johnny law labeled them as a different species.

ANYHOW, i was lucky enough to get back to a new start. i purchased a possible female recently that is in good shape and should be breeding size next year. now i just have to save up some money, buy another(i should be lucky enough to end up getting a male then as you all know with wc monitors)
and find out with they will be compatible.

my new one is being kept inside for now and when i do build a new outdoor cage i will be keeping it in a much safer location. keep up the work everyone i want to know when someone gets eggs! i want all of the details.

has anyone seen baby blue tails? they are freaking beautiful!