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Mating and agression?

artgeckko May 28, 2004 06:03 PM

After briefly introducing my male and female egyptians about three times, the fourth time resulted in the female really getting aggressive and actually getting locked mouth to mouth with my larger male. This is what I found in the females cage...20 minutes later.
No damge was observed and after a vet visit no damage was noted....
Really scarry.....there was a lot of blood!
It was on the glass the sides the rocks......She is fine thankfully.
Very strange....the previous engagements seemed to involve regular breeding behavior and possibly a copulation, but now I 'm nervous to get them together again.......
Hope all is well with al of yours.
Ed

Replies (8)

artgeckko May 28, 2004 06:04 PM

Here is another view
>>

jeune18 May 28, 2004 10:23 PM

i don't really have any advice for you, but good lord, that is scary looking. she looks fine, where did all the blood come from? my only suggestion is are you sure one is a male and one is a female?
-----
vonnie
***One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. - A. A. Milne***

triad Jul 06, 2004 12:39 PM

OMG! That almost scared me to death. I figured one of them would surely be injured from the look of the blood. Wow. Since you said that in previous encounters they engaged in mating behavior. Maybe they actually mated and she's pregnant. She could just be protecting herself.

Lindsay May 29, 2004 07:43 AM

Ed,
The first time I put my large Egyptians together I thought they were going to break the cage. Luckily the side window was plexiglass, not glass. It sounded like someone hitting it with a hammer when they would swing their tails around and srike it. He started tearing her neck up so much I couldn't stomach it and separated them so all her eggs were infertile that year.
In my observation the Egyptian females seem less prone to roll over on their back when not interested in mating compared to other species. I believe this contributes to the likelihood of violence. Sometimes the female will even jump on the back of the male and grip with her forearms and go for a wild ride to avoid him getting into mating position.
In subsequent years I've let the two big males battle awhile and then they don't seem so rough with the female. Surprisingly, the males have done little damage to each other. They often stand up like sumo wrestlers and grapple with each other face-to-face without biting. (I know some monitors combat like this also.) When one gets overpowered repeatedly or thrown down especially hard it runs away and if it can get far enough away it won't be pursued while the victor does swinging head bobs in front of the female. The males often turn from dark brown to an ashy gray color when fighting.
The aegyptius are really a different beast than other uros in many ways. We have fertile eggs again this year but I've still never observed the actual copulation.
-----
Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx

PHEve May 29, 2004 09:27 AM

I had told someone else awhile bak on here about it.

I have a large female egyptian, she once lived with a male saharan. They were very content, kind of inseperable for about 2 years.

After brumation the 3d year, both were showing some breeding behavior, neck biting, circling, so forth.

Because of the size difference I figured ,nothing would take place, they could remain cage companions.

Well all of a sudden one day the egyptian female CHARGED the saharan, very NASTY ! And began to bite his neck, she literally picked him up in her mouth and lifted her head to the air and shook him like a rag doll.

It was terribly upsetting to watch, as she looked so POWERFUL !

I'm thankful I was in there at the moment, ran over and grabbed the male from her. That was the end of that friendship. He is still afraid of her if he sees her.

I heard, they really are very choosy about their mates, is this true?

Cleo female Egyptian

Image
-----
___

Eve

artgeckko May 29, 2004 09:12 PM

Hello -
Usually they are so complacent that you forget how much power a lizard of this size can demonstrate.
I try to keep in perspective that those jaws seem to have no problem breaking dry seeds and lentils up. Oh, and an occasional nip on my hand when they get enthusiastic about some mealworms also keeps you reminded.

>>I had told someone else awhile bak on here about it.
>>
>>I have a large female egyptian, she once lived with a male saharan. They were very content, kind of inseperable for about 2 years.
>>
>>After brumation the 3d year, both were showing some breeding behavior, neck biting, circling, so forth.
>>
>> Because of the size difference I figured ,nothing would take place, they could remain cage companions.
>>
>>Well all of a sudden one day the egyptian female CHARGED the saharan, very NASTY ! And began to bite his neck, she literally picked him up in her mouth and lifted her head to the air and shook him like a rag doll.
>>
>>It was terribly upsetting to watch, as she looked so POWERFUL !
>>
>>I'm thankful I was in there at the moment, ran over and grabbed the male from her. That was the end of that friendship. He is still afraid of her if he sees her.
>>
>>I heard, they really are very choosy about their mates, is this true?
>>
>>
>>Cleo female Egyptian
>>
>>
>>-----
>>___
>>
>>Eve

PHEve May 30, 2004 11:43 AM

now, LOL They are a wonderful large lizard. My girl has a great diposition as a pet,very tame. I probably prefer this species of uromastyx BEST !

But they are as I said and you most certainly agreed POWERFUL,

I was also nipped, while handing her a superworm, worm curled at the last second and my goodness, that nip, BROUGHT ME BACK to reality, hehehhehe ! She was very sorry , I could tell,

Anyway my Cleo is also about 20 inches or a tad bigger. They are built like TANKS, LOL

Artgecko, I'm very glad that your pair is fine, those pictures looked upsetting. Thank goodness it was not worse!

I wish you luck in your mating attemps with these 2 !

A Sleeping Beauty!
Image
-----
___

Eve

artgeckko May 29, 2004 09:06 PM

Hey Lindsay-
BTW the Female is Oscar who now is close to 20" and still has the mark on her side....
Unfortunately when I named her I was not sure of her identity....she seems not to mind.
I have witnessed the same sparring between two males. No damage incountered at all just the sumo wrestling you described.
It appeared that the males tried to flip the females? but never really succeed, then lay on top of them pinning them and biting them on the back of the neck.
The first time I introduced them I had them on the floor of the room and I had my daughter with me. When they started to go at it, they ran all around the room. Sometimes he would attempt
to mount her sometimes not.
i actually ended up picking up my daughter because they did not seem to care who they ran over in the process....
I just wonder if it is too late to keep introducing them. What do you think?
congrats on the fertile eggs
Keep up the good work and thanks for helping us inexperienced keepers.
Ed

>>Ed,
>>The first time I put my large Egyptians together I thought they were going to break the cage. Luckily the side window was plexiglass, not glass. It sounded like someone hitting it with a hammer when they would swing their tails around and srike it. He started tearing her neck up so much I couldn't stomach it and separated them so all her eggs were infertile that year.
>> In my observation the Egyptian females seem less prone to roll over on their back when not interested in mating compared to other species. I believe this contributes to the likelihood of violence. Sometimes the female will even jump on the back of the male and grip with her forearms and go for a wild ride to avoid him getting into mating position.
>> In subsequent years I've let the two big males battle awhile and then they don't seem so rough with the female. Surprisingly, the males have done little damage to each other. They often stand up like sumo wrestlers and grapple with each other face-to-face without biting. (I know some monitors combat like this also.) When one gets overpowered repeatedly or thrown down especially hard it runs away and if it can get far enough away it won't be pursued while the victor does swinging head bobs in front of the female. The males often turn from dark brown to an ashy gray color when fighting.
>> The aegyptius are really a different beast than other uros in many ways. We have fertile eggs again this year but I've still never observed the actual copulation.
>>-----
>>Lindsay Pike
>> Urotopia Uromastyx
>>

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