Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello everyone,Ive had some monkey skinks since the spring,bought as a pair,the problem is the male is SUPER aggressive.The female wont get anywhere near him.Theyve been in the same cage now for about 1.5months and nothing has changed(i kept them seprately before this because he was too aggressive)They seem to tolerate being in the same cage,and have many hiding places,but if they are both out and about he chases her and grabs her tail and shakes his head-not the behavior for trying to mate i think!She now has lost 2 toes from one meeting when i first tried them together and her tail looks rough now.
I bought 2 that are females and the orignal "female" chases the new ones around like a male would(i have them in neutral territory for introductions,and keep the 2 new ones seprately for now)So ive looked through the last month or so of posts and didnt find any posts on how to tell males from females other than some pics and someones opinions.I dont feel comfortable trying to pop the hemipenes.
Also one of the new females i noticed is looking really fat in the last week,but is definately deficating well!!
ive tried to get some pics if someone wants to try to guess from those,but my photography skills are not that good,and usually they are a bit fuzzy.
thanks for any opinions

-Pat

Common sense dictates that if one of your animals is being excessively aggressive, it needs to be housed separately. Compatible PTS can be housed together (usually a single male with 1 or more females, or family groups composed of male/female(s) and immature offspring). If your male is hurting a specific female- maybe a different female might be more compatible, but some individuals in captivity end up housed singly permanently due to extreme aggression. If your female is losing toes- get one of them out of there- even if he stops maiming her, she will likely be under chronic stress from being harassed and will become physically ill eventually.

Same thing with the newcomer chasing the others around. This chronic stress will cause problems eventually. If the group is not compatible, you have to set up multiple enclosures for your multiple animals. Your aggressive 'female' might be a male, or it might be a aggressive female.

How to tell males apart from females? There ARE many posts in this forum on that topic- and as you have gathered, there is no 100% sure way. No-one I know would advocate popping an adult PTS- you are more likely to traumatize the male's reproductive organs than get any useful information. You can make a good guess in an adult animal by looking at the head shape and width and abdomen shape as well as behavior. Males tend to have broader, more triangular heads and tubular abdomens. Females tend to have more tapered heads and pear shaped abdomens. Males like to follow females and sniff/taste their tails, back legs and shoulders. In juveniles PTS, I know of no way to tell the sexes apart (from the outside). Hunt for Brian's posts on head to abdomen ratio, and try measuring your PTS youself and doing the math- or post decent photos from above for him to see.
Cheers, Jess b

thanks,
One thing i didnt make to clear i guess-the one chasing the newcomers is my old "female"it acts more like a male,and is now much bigger than my aggressive male.Even though they were the same size when i bought them.
I have only introduced the new ones to the old ones once and individually,and the old females acted more like a male.
Your probably right about the aggressive male-its been 2 months now and hes lightened up a bit but is still aggressive when i see him interact with any other skink,and isnt too fond of me either.I was hoping he would calm down if he was around other skinks.He looks like hes had a tough life-small,looks like a chunk of his tail has fallen off(from a bad shed i assume)and his nose has an old scar that looks like he wore the scales off and lost color there.He has a few toes missing too.
Wondered if his aggressiveness was related to a bad "childhood"and hes learned to be grumpy to be left alone.