Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings all.

I have two CWDs Neptune and Mystikal. They live in a large (7 high, 8 wide and 4 deep ) enclosure with a 40 gallon pond and waterfall in it. It is well lighted and the dragons have been doing rather well until just recently.

What has been occuring is that Neptune chases down Mystikal and gets busy with her. Those of you who have seen this know that the male typically bites the female on the cone, pins her, and then does this strange twisty thing with his body in order to mate.

What has been happening over the last two years is that Neptune hass wore the scales completely off of poor Misty's cone. He is constantly on her. This last time he actually has abraded the skin off of her cone exposing pink flesh.

I have two issues - the first is the immediate issue of her health. I have neopsporin on it right now and we are booked for a
9AM at the vet. I think we have a handle on this as long as we can avoid infection.

The second and short term issue is how to avoid this in the future. I am assuming that either this happens to everyone or Neptune is unusually agrresive. Either way, separating them is almnst out of the question. I will do this if I have to, but I do not want to. I am wondering if:

1 - this has happened to any of you before and if so, what did you do?
2 - should I have a hiding area for Mystikal where she can escape to and he cannot get in?
3 - I have seen herps at zoos with medical tape on their cones for protection. I will discuss this with the vet but has anyone tried this?

I am extremely concerned that Mystikal will get infected, septic, and then dead. Any response would be appreciated!

thanks

Wow, you seem to have covered all of the suggestions I had. Most of the people with this problem either separate the two or purchase another female to take the pressure off the other. I, also read about Zoos putting adhesive tape on the crest. Rick mentioned using liquid skin on a broken tail, but I think it would sting quite a bit on bare flesh. I guess a little sting is better than a bacterial infection, though. My male is not aggressive (yet) and I have 2 females. Good luck.
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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago

Thanks.

I hate to separate them because the enclosure is really really cool. I hadn't thought of another femaale although I would think that it would only be a matter of time until she was getting the same way. The hiding spot idea is intriguing but I do not want the female to end up living in a tiny box simply because she is getting scared of the non-stop sexathon. I am thinking that the adhesive idea sounds the best but I really need to talk to the doc about it.

Thanks though - I'll update with my solution in case there is any interest from someone with a similar problem.

I agree, separate, or get more females, generally you have at least two female to a male. the cone is design to take some abuse and injuries there heal faster and rarely get infected.

Thanks.

Would you suggest two more females? If so, would it be your opinion that they do not need to be separated? The reason I ask is that the enclosure is quite nice and quite large. If separated, one lizard would be slumming it. They ssem to love the current enclosure so I would like them all to be able to live in it but I will do whatever it takes to keep them healthy.

Thnaks again.

I have 2 females with my male, but they are just reaching age 2 and have exhibited no signs of sexual maturity. My first female laid her first clutch of eggs last week. She was almost exactly 2 years old. The other male and female are about 6 months younger. In a viv as large as yours I would think you have plenty of room for 2 more females, but they would have to be grown and where would you quarantine them for 30-60 days so you don't risk your healthy pair? Sorry, I always seen to have more questions than answers.
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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago

Those are excellent questions. I was trying to sort this out last night and I cannot see how I can add more females this late in the game. They would have to be fairly mature or they would be hurt when the 'tune came after them. I was told that adding mature/grown females sometimes causes teritorial problems although this is not very common. In that case I could end up with three female dragons with nowhere to live (or one male with nowhere to live).

I really do not want to permanantly separate them but I may resort to keeping them apart during the mating season.

Our vet did not recommend putting some sort of adhesive/tape over the cone. He said that it raised the possobility of the male biting and choking on the tape.

So, at the end of the day I have topical antibiotic for Mystikal and a mandate to keep them apart at least until she heals (and probably most of the time). What a drag.

Is no one else having this problem?

This is kind of a common problems in reptiles that are housed in a 1:1 ratio. The problem is there is only one female for the male to mate with and so she is always the subject of his "affections." Along with the risk of physical harm you have to consider the mental and physical stress this will exhert on your females. The biggest concern would be she would get too stressed and stop eating. To avoid this many people keep their reptiles 1:2, so the male has two females to split his attention over and each female always gets a break when he is chasing the other one. In your situation it will be tough to add more females, although not impossible. Like you already stated you will have to buy already mature females, and as stated by someone above, you will have to quarentine the newbies for at least 60days in a seperate enclosure.

If you donot want to go through that trouble then you are probably right in just seperating them during breeding season. Hopefully there are no problems re-introducing them and things shuld be all hunky-dory!

Good luck!
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