Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
I have a large adult male cuban/lewisi cross that is about as mellow as a fat Golden retriever on xanax, even with my other pets such as a dog and tortoises, except when it comes to females. He almost killed one a few years ago and i have another female coming in next week as i would like to try and breed him again. How do you breeders keep the males from killing the females? He has free roam of the house and goes outside thru the doggy door every morning. I plan on keeping the female in a 10'x 6'x'6' enclosed dog kennel with bricks buried into the ground on the edges so she can't dig out and run into the "the Rock" unsupervised. Any advice would be great! Thanks

Sounds like your doing the right thing by keeping her separate. Lots of visual barriers are helpful. By allowing the rock to see her through the screen, they will gradually get acquainted, and until she becomes totally familiar with her new cage, probably best not to let the rock anywhere near her. Lewisi crosses are often very agressive towards other nubila. Sometimes the best way to keep them is separate all the time except for mating.
good luck.

My pair live together all of the time and get along fine. The male is typically not terribly aggressive when he's trying to breed but the female can be quite aggressive if she's not interested. Even so, the worst injuries I've seen are just some superficial skin abrasions. My Rhinos and Cubans also live together so when the time comes I hope they are gentle lovers also.

AHHHHH!!! I love Pornographic reptile pictures.....LOL.
I'll post some in the next couple of days.

Manny

Easy does it.

I would like to see more like yours. I know of 2 different incidents of lewisi cross females lossing partial use of one of their legs. Mark M, can you keep your lewisi pair together year round ?

I keep my Lewisis together all year round. I have a shelf in the middle of the cage where subordinate females and females fleeing from the male can find refuge. The only time I have a problem is when the females lay eggs they become aggressive and defend the nest site. I have to pull that female out and put her in another cage for about two to three weeks so she looses the territorial attitude.