Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A ways down, I asked if anyone could post about behaviors they thought would be social. What was posted was opinions, about if they thought they were or were not. One person, posted a picture of a male sav with its arm around another male. This is exactly what I was looking for.

I have seen this "arm over the other" behavior many many times, with many species. This can occur with sexual pairs or any sex or any size, from hatchling on up.

Another person posted about monitors choosing to be with other individuals and repelling other individuals. You know, expressing a social choice. That was good too.

Here is a pic of a pair of Lacies kissing,not a good pic, I sorta broke it up, with the flash and all. I have seen this with many monitor species, from the small to the large. They repeatedly lightly touch noses and lips. They do this in a very non-aggressive way. When they are done, they normally just sit there and bask. Its never assoiated with any feeding or aggressive behaviors, sorta of a greeding behavior. It seems to only occur in sexual pairs.

This type of behaviors are what I am looking for.

The point to this is simple, there are lots of behaviors, and not all are about walls(being in cages) some such as these two, seem to be very voluntary, as they simply do not have to do these behaviors. They could simply hiss and chase the other off.

There are many voluntary behaviors, lets see how many we can show. Thanks FR

And please, lets not make it about opinions whether they are social or not. Just about behaviors. Thanks FR

i will post these again. The two male savs have never had any confrontations. But there was another male sav in there equal size that did not get along we neither of these two males. These are always together. I even have picture of one sav digging a borrow, but the other one is the one that uses it. I will find those.

The black throats are male and female which show this type of behavior towards each all the time, day in day out.

So what i have here is two similar behaviors with both male male and male/female and also two different species.

i keep two juvie albigs together, tehy are about 36" my male is really tame and handleable, he was out today by his self, i opened the cage to do water, and the female came out, i went to move her and he charged me, adn stood his ground in front of her being very defensive, definately not his normal behaviour, defensive behaviour over his "bonded" mate???
thanks
scott
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"cant we all just get along?" rodney king.

Nice pic anyway Frank. I have seen my female sav do this to the little bully sav when she wants to share his favorite basking spot or rock creavace. When she does, he will just close his eyes and let her be. If she just climbs up he sometimes will run her off. It's a;most like she is asking permission.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

I have a pair of argus that were separated for a couple of months. When they were separated they lived in two sides of an enclosure that had a large removable parition in the center (split in two halves, top and bottom). When I removed the top partition, both monitors put their front legs on the ledge of the separator, and touched noses, tongue flicked for several minutes, before the female hopped over to the male's side. The female will usually bask alone when she first emerges, but after she has warmed up a bit, she will often go over and bask with the male (two hot spots). The male is alot bigger than her, yet she is often beside him, doing the arm thing. (What I find fascinating is the arm thing could be called a domination thing, yet it's often the female (smaller in most my cases), that is doing it.

I had a pair of jobiensis that were very close to each other, and even would act very civilized (with each other) if I offered mice on a plate. Strangely they were very Jekyl and Hyde, sometimes they would always be together, other times it was like cats and dogs. I've had other pairs together that were pretty distant (avoided each other), and one pair that is incredibly tolerant, and have never caused even a slight injury on another (knock on wood).

I have yet to see much of a difference in response whether the cage is the females, males or neutral. For what I've seen the neutral cage puts both monitors on edge.

Not much direction, just some things I have seen. I see that they form bonds & relationships (good and bad), that are very specific to the monitors, change one of the monitors and everything changes, I haven't seen the physical side have a dramatic effect (with the same monitors), unless it is taken to an extreme. And they do remember/know each other.

--Robert

Are those bats in the first pic?

Hey Frank,

Didn't someone in the original posts try to argue that monitors are not social? Would go digging around to find out myself but I am being very lazy.

My two sub-adult timors are very social, they sleep together, bask together, hunt through the substrate together. My adult sav. is also social with not only me but with my female rottweiler. I let him run around the apartment all day long. He even became aroused while trying to socialize with a magazine lying on the floor, the cover pictured a half naked chick. Sure it was just a coincidence but I found it to be hillarious and just thought I would share the story.

Great pics of the monitors everybody....Damn I need a digital camera.

...

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pale reason hides the infinite from us

What a delightful photo! Almost want to say 'romantic.'. Do they sleep like that all the time?

Leslie

Hi Leslie,
They are a very 'romantic' couple, they tear nearly every roach in half and share it. They don't always sleep like that, only sometimes. It seems to be the female that chooses to squeeze in with the male.
Thanks,
Neal

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pale reason hides the infinite from us