I recently obtained these baby BT’s, the left one I called her Rickets she was given to me because she was paralysed back legs and could only move using her front legs (MBD) the middle one is Pepper she’s an average looking speckled female and right you have Quarto the male. I set them up in a 6L-2H-2W feet cage, I started feeding them making sure Rickets gets her share, she started using her back legs within a week of good husbandry, by this I mean good temps and basking with 40-60% humidity gradient, no UVB, UVA Vitamins or any such things, she was fed rat pinkies, hissers, snails.
She became as mobile as the others and then something changed, Quattro and Pepper started chasing Rickets all over and attacking her relentlessly, but Rickets seemed to have a drive for survival coming out at knight to feed on escaped hissers and basking, till then Quattro and Pepper stayed together as sole mates, they basked and slept together with the arm thing while Rickets was left aside, This week the roles have changed, now that Rickets is 100% Quattro hade a change of hart and bonded with her, both are now chasing and biting Pepper. I cant help questioning myself as of why this happened? Its true that Rickets is a much more colourful female then Pepper, but can this have any meaning to a monitor? Perhaps its her will to survive that attracted Quattro? Maybe we will never know, but something is sure! There was socialising going on in that cage, and I see no reason why this would happen only to captive monitors. I keep witnessing such behaviours with all species I keep, to me it seems impossible that they don’t behave this way in nature.
