hi i was wondering if i had a 20' by 10' by 6' room for a croc monitor, would i be able to house more then 1 in there or is it better to house them all seperatly? thanks Gerald
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
multiple crocs caging?
geraldsnakes
Dec 06, 2005 01:49 AM
Replies (2)
SocialTatts
Dec 06, 2005 09:04 AM
I know that some people do house them together even when not breeding. I won't do it though due to risk of injury. Some crocs have been known to seriously injure (hospitalize) their cage mate. Those sharp teeth do serious damage to each other. It is good to build a divider wall in between them to let them get somewhat used to being around each other. They can smell each other, see each other, and just be aware of one another with out the risk of injury. When crocs are smaller and younger in age many people keep them together, but as adults that is your choice. I am sure you will get some different opinions on this but, I don't want to take the risk myself. Good luck with them!
FR
Dec 06, 2005 10:12 AM
The question was about introducing a male to a known female.
I said,
Posted by: FR at Sun Dec 4 19:59:34 2005 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]
There is no one answer to this question. I have worked with and successfully bred many types of monitors and they are all about the same. They either get along or not. You can flip a coin, cross your fingers do whatever you want, but none of that will help, all the time. Actually a coin flip is the most consistant.
If you have a choice, raise young ones together, the younger the better. This helps. But doesn't always work. It ups the percentage some. Youneed to socialize your monitors, that is, have them understand what it is to be stuck in a cage with another monitor. This is common with all sorts of animals. Its better to raise them in the company of what you expect them to live with. If you raise them alone, and have only your to relate to, you cannot expect them to be good canidates for a breeding pair or group.
All in all, its trial and error. You just got to give it a go, and react to the results or not. In your post you mentioned you understood its a little about individuals. It really is, and its about individual people as well, some are tolerant of slight interactions and others flip out at the least little thing.
So give it a go, oh one more question, how do you know the sex of your monitor? as this is where the most errors are made. Good luck FR
The point is, its behavior, you must work with your individual monitors behavior. Problems can be overcome, but don't expect smooth sailing, they're in a cage after all.
I did indeed work with and successfully produce baby croc monitors. I started with two small females, then acquired an adult male, all were wild caught. I put them together as soon as acclimated and let them work out their differences. The funny part was, reality is often different then expectations, the male was not the problem, a female was. One female(the successful one) controlled the cage. She allowed the male to breed her and not the other female. She also instigated copulation and instigated fights. Its human behavior to think of big males as problems, but as with humans, its a little girl that actually may be the problem starter. hahahahahahahahahaha
They did not inflict serious injury, but did indeed leave a mark, mainly the small female biting the males back legs. The wounds healed within a few days, with no medication at all.
Also consider prespective, unless you have a cage very very large, croc monitors can and will find the others. Consider, they can move a hundred feet in a very short period of time.
The problem with very large cages is, the ability to control conditions. Often a cage can be large but contain mostly unuseable space. Either thru poor temps or poor humidity. Good luck, FR
