Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been keeping ackies for two years now and have never experienced this before. I had four ackies. All were doing fine. Well fed with no shortage of food, great heat and UV, and plenty of room to move around. All were diong just fine until two days ago. My large female suddenly died for no apperent reason. she did have bite marks with a little blood that I notaced on her legs. I thought that maybe the others might have tried to eat off her after she died? I didn't think that they could have possibly hurt each other. They are always soo sweet and gentle. That is, unless they are eating. But they are so well fed that they shouldn't be tring to eat eachother. Then last night I come home to find that one of my two sub adults is dead now too. I know it had to be the big male. Couldn't have been the other sub adult. It isn't big enough. The little guy was mangled and crushed. And it didn't look as if he tried to eat him. Nothing looked like he tried to swallow him. He was just crushed. I don't know what to do with this guy. I took out the large male and put him in with my beardies. He won't be able to hurt them. If anyone has had experience with these guys and or has any suggestions, please let me know.

They can be aggressive but I dont normally see that happen. Maybe the little one was crushed by a rock in the cage. I wouldnt put a monitor in with bearded dragons either. Best thing to do would be to cage this one seperately.

Most you may never see. They have a social system, its run by whos dominant, and those who follow and are submissive. Usually hatchlings wont kill each other, but subadults, and adults can kill each other at will. They are more than equipped to do so, usually the bigger the species of monitor the worse it can get.
Ive seen a few ackies that as subadults beat submissive cagemates around by harassing them and even dragging the other around, these were examples of dominance between ackies in collections where the owners posted about one being beat up them shortly after were killed. When signs of dominance occur they must be separated, the reasons are many, one may just want more property, more food (even if they are full), more of whatever is there. My adults were very sweet to each other constantly, so far my hatchlings are like twins that do everything together.
You can try a careful reintroduction in a week or 2. Now, do not keep the ackie with beardies, I have an enormous 22 inch beardie that wouldnt stand a chance against an adult ackie, I noticed when introduced in a neutral container the beardies (used to have more than a few) would try to stand their ground, the smaller ackies are alot stronger, faster, and just manhandle the beardie at will just checking the beardie out, imagine what would happen if the ackie decided to attack the beardie.
Take a look at the cage you keep your ackies in, for a a trio even a pair I prefer a 6x3x3ft cage with 2 basking spots at least. There may be a reason that caused the competition with the lack of something they need or want, or it could just be simple dominance, just because he can.

First, you mentions you conditions were good, temps, etc. Yet, you did not mention what they were. How do you know they are good, you lost 2 out of four. That is the facts your presented.

Is it your conditions? we don't know, because we do not know what they are. A pic would be helpful. There is a possibility you have missed something, yes?

More facts, Ackies, particularly longterm captives, and more particularly individuals that have been together for a long period, do not kill eachother(normally) Although, as with all things, abnormal does happen.

Normally, they do bicker, pick on eachother, and randy males, bite the back of the neck or the legs of females to intice breeding(doesn't work) On the otherhand, as soon as an individual is weak or dies, they consider them a future meal. Hmmmmmmmmmm uncivilized beasts. So they chew on them and hopefully get a meal.

If you watch any of the ten thousand CSIallovertheplaces, you will hear the term, lethal wound. That is compared to, unlethal wounds. One kills the other doesn't. With monitors, it takes a really really serious wound to be lethal. Like guts hanging all over the cage, etc. even at that, it takes awhile to die. On the otherhand, desease may not leave a mark.

Your first mistake was assuming your conditions were good, despite evidence to the contrary. Your second mistake is, if your really interested in what happened, you only have one real recourse, that is, take the corpses to the Vet and have them determine cause of deaths.

And lastly, I would like to remind you, keeping living animals always shows the mistakes we all make, always, I don't care how long or how successful you are, in reality, it boils down to one mistake after another. With experience you learn how to best deal with the mistakes you make. Which kinda means, we all make mistakes and because we are human, we always will. So don't take it to hard, but do take it as your fault, so you will learn from it. Good luck in finding the cause, FR