Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey every body-first time on this forum--just got my Black trees not to long ago-a month-anyone have any experience wthese guys?as far as breeding goes?-i made them a custom cage-about 5-12 ft long abot 5-12 ft high-2-1]2 ft deep-hide boxes on both top sides-large 40 gallon water basin at bottom-pro mist mister-up the wazoo w silk plants-bottom cage temp runs about 80-85 middle runs about 90-95-basking spots -about115-120-humidity stays between 75-85%-the male was taking mice(ft)right off the bat-but my female was a little shier-took her until yesterday to feed on a mouse-also i feed cricks(majority)and megas-dusted 1-2x weeklyhaven`t tried ground turkey yet(my asian eats that like it`s going outta` style)i`ll have pics soon-any extra info i`m missin` please let me know-also i`m dieng to get a pr of blues and greens-if all goes well wthe blacks-oh yeah they are adults(the dealer wasn`t exactly sure)unfortunately they were wild caught-but they have adjusted really nicely(they look happy,shed well and eat well)so please hit me back-thanks-Mike

Hi Mike,

It's good to hear from another tree monitor keeper/enthusiast. They truly are fascinating animals, and rewarding captives, in my eyes at least... It sounds as if your caging is suitable for beccari, and you've got humidity and temp levels where they should be...

The only think that i recommend to you is, to keep a close eye on each individual animal's feeding behaviors.. Often times(i have been guilty of this), people throw the two animals in together, without ever seeing or knowing if each animal is eating ok.. In most cases, the male will eat all of the food offered to both of them, and the female will not get her share, and wastes away...

In my collection, whenever I get new animals in, despite if i get them as a "bonded pair"which is garbage-a ploy to sell unaclimatized animals, that would not sell otherwise), I immediately set them up in their own individual quarantine enclosure. They remain in here until they have good body weight and have been rehydrated. Once they are 'healthy' in my opinion, they are moved to a larger, more permanent enclosure, where they are looked after until they begin feeding off of tongs. I feel that this is very important, and essential to their success... If they are not feeding off hemostats(where you KNOW they are eating), I would not recommend keeping two together.. as I said, in cases where skittish animals are housed together, one usually eats all the food, leaving nothing for the more skittish animal, usually being the female, or subordinate male.

This is what I have found works best in my collection. There is no reason to rush things, and slap animals together immediately upon recieving them.. After all this is not a species that you are going to breed right off the bat, as you might with Ackies, or other Australian cb animals... Tree monitors take a long time to settle in, and acclimate to life in captivity, where they may feel comfortable and are healthy enough reproduce.. This can sometimes take years to accomplish.. Many people either lose their animals(usually females are the first to die off), or get frustrated, and give up on them... Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to the success of these animals... Time and money are also important, as I've said many times before..
If you don't have the time to put into properly caring for and and maintaining these guys, they should't be kept... But I'm sure you'll do fine with them, if you are patient, and give them all that they need..

As for breeding them, there are only a handful of people who have bred them in the US, with most being sporadic, and non-consistent. I have had two females breed, only to have both of them die while gravid due to some pathogen-I'm thining R.I. I believe that the trick to getting tree monitors to breed in captivity(what I have seen firsthand with my blues and blacks) is making sure the animals, especially the females are well fed(daily/every other day), and an increase in humidity/rain cycle..

I have a paper that I'm currently revising, now that I've had another breeding, and possibly oviposition of V. macraei about my observations of copulation and oviposition of V. macraei in my collection. It has all of my data and observations in regards to behaviors of my animals prior to, during, and after copulation and oviposition. Hopefully, I'll be able to have an N=2 if my female does in fact lay in a month or so.. and publish it then.

There is very little info on tree monitor reproduction in captivity, with much of the data/info from the mid and late 1980's being misrepresented, and incorrect.. If you have a breeding/egg laying/hatching, of any species, I would highly recommend taking note of it, jotting down each occurrence and observation you see, as it would all be appreciated by the herpetological community.. So much valuable information goes to waste, when people who do in fact get eggs/hatchlings, or whitness an interesting behavior(ie. play behavior, etc.), and do not make an effort to share it with the community...

But all in all, what I have seen to be the factor that "kicks" them into breedng mode, would be an increase in rainfall, in both duration and frequency of mistings per day..

Well, my ramblings have took me away from my own husbandry..sheesh.. I hope this helps a bit, or gives you some kind of insight of what's involved, and my personal experiences with the species... There are a few other people here on the forum who have had copulations as well with their beccari, but no eggs. Perhaps they could share some insight as well... I have more info on my setups and husbandry and such on my website, although I am in the process of revising it, as I have made several minor changes to much of my husbandry... it'll give you a good idea how i keep mine, in case you were wondering..Anyways, take care, have a great day! Best of luck to you with your new captives, I think you'll do just fine with them... Cheers,

bob

The Odatriad

That's more like it, very nice post Bob.

--Robert

hey Bob--thanks so much for all the info--the good news is she is eating the crickets like they are going outta` style-and yesterday she ate a mouse-good stuff!-they both eat daily-the male eats alot of crickets-i wanna try hissing roaches too-haven`t done that yet-supposably they were kept together(but who knows)--they have so many hiding places-i guess she`s pretty content--but i gotta say-tree monitors are probably some of the coolest monitors out there!--my asian water is sweet,and a great pet-but these guys really look like the quintisential dragon--i`m gonna try my damndest to do right by them-i also had them de-paratisized when i got them-i think that helped alot too--i`ll keep ya` posted-Mike--ps--i hope the blue trees work out for ya!--i definately want some of those guys after i get the blacks down pat