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This reproductive sequence started on 11-27-05 with the first observed breeding, they bred for several days. There is no chasing, no biting, and no harassment of any kind. This is normal.

The female fed up until the last day, and as often occurs, regurgs on the last day(possible hormonal change). This can happen on the day a female cycles, as well. Starting approx. 8 days after first copulation, the female began constructing a nesting burrow. She would dig by day and cover the entrance at night and shelter somewhere else.(even thought the lites were on 24/7). The last night she did not come out and cover the entrance, so I knew she was going to lay that night. The pic shows her removing excess dirt from the burrow. Also notice the second(gravid) female watching the events. This is common. They normally do not interfere.

By mid-mourning the next day, 12-11-05(my birthday) she deposited 11 eggs(on the 11th) and completely concealed the entrance.

Heres the female basking immediately after concealing her burrow. Females will often seek lots of heat after nesting. Also notice another female basking with her. There is no fighting or violence or territorial aggression. There appears to be welcoming gestures.
Of interest, the night the female lays, the cagements appear to be aware of the coming event and act very different then normal.

Heres the eggs, there are 11 perfect eggs. You can see they were deposited close to the starting of the entrance of the burrow. But the tunnels traveled all around before stopping here. This may have something to do with how they select spots by conditions. They seen to know what the conditions are down in the dirt, from the surface.

Here are the eggs, the white ones in the front, the box contains eggs for various species and clutches from the last week or so.

I hope this helps the newbies out there. I know how frustrating in can be when you do not know what to expect. Good luck, FR

those monitor's and eggs look great! nice job how old is this pair and how many time she lay eggs for you?
thanks and enjoy

Very nice descriptions and pictures. Is there anyway you can provide a full shot of the entire enclosure? Full bottom shot and a shot of the lid with lighting.
Thx,
James

These are old pics, I do not use those bulbs anymore, I use incandesents now. But the cages are the same.

Today the other female bred, so theres more for me to keep an eyeball on.

I do not think its wise to look at how I set up cages. I think its better to learn what the monitors are actually doing, then you would understand, you can set them up in a thousand different ways with a thousand different type cages.

As it is, I use all kinds of cages, from fish tanks to cattle tanks to plastic home made tanks, to outside fiberglass circles. It really doesn't matter what they are in, it matters what they are allow to do. Thanks FR

Yes, I did see these pictures, but I was interested in a full bottom shot. I noticed to wood stack (only partially in the picture) in the container. I was wodering if this is mainly buried, on top, or 50/50. I've seen this "Retes stack before", but wasn't sure the best placement for it. I will be collecting different soil types and testing them, but was just looking for any additional help. I will adjust to the monitors once in place, but I figured I should do as much as possible to get a good start.
Thx,
James

Thats the point of my comments, as I have no set way to stack them I stack them to fit whatever cage their in. Such things like how far the lite is up, where the lite is, middle, one side or the other, how deep the dirt is, etc etc. There is no right way or wrong way thats predictable. The right way is the way it works best for the monitors.

Again, if I have any method at all, its to just simply respond to the monitors. Its so very easy to do and its so much fun. They don't argue or whine or compare themselves to literature.

If it works good, try something that may seem better, if that allows favorable behavior, then leave it, if it doesn't, go back to what you had.

No offense, but monitors are really really simple and easy. Its not like they are going to fall over dead in ten minutes or something. Cheers FR

I really enjoyed that Frank. Thanks for sharing your successes with us newbies. I loved the pictures that really told the story. Now we can't wait to see all the little hatchlings from those eggs. Happy holidays.

Pam
-----
2.3 varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Dorado, Oro, Dora, Freckles & Amarillo)
1.1 varanus acanthurus acanthurus (Tabasco & Sprite)
1.1 u. macfadyeni (Amani & Abeba) RIP Ayana
1.2 u. ornata (Husani, Zari, & Bintu)
1.1 u. ocellata (Zuhri & Ashai)
0.1.2 u. a. aegypticus (Zahra Urbi, Halima & Sagira)
1.1 hyla chrysoscelis (Pudge & Squirt)

I hope you realize that there are "newbies" on here that appreciate you volenteering your pictures and information. I hope that most people understood right away that telling someone exactly how to set their wood will do nothing because that setup wont work in their enclosure.(outside temps different, different lights...ect) and that responding to what the monitor does and the tempss you measured is much more important that stacking the wood the same as you. Thanks again FR and I hope these people attacking you will not deter you from posting your information in the future.

FR,
Thanks for the pictorial sequence. Very nice. I would consider myself a newbie, and I am working on my first breeding project (which happens to be red ackies). I purchased a pair about two months back; they are still very young (3 months old). I was wondering how you induced the breeding behavior, or if it just happens naturally. Did you need to reintroduce the male or simulate seasonal lighting and/or temperature changes? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. I am still working on getting more breeding information; I have some time before they will be old enough to breed.

Thanks,
~Cassie~

do you live in san diego?

Your welcome. And I simply set them up with lots of choices as to temps and they do the rest.

Monitors, at least the twenty or so species I have bred, have not required any type of additional input to trigger breeding. In fact, its very much the opposite. Once they start, its much harder to stop them. I believe I first mentioned that, in the Viv articule many years ago.

Red ackies have bred successfully for me, from the age of 7 months of age and a lenght of 13 inches. In fact, I recieved a clutch of 6 eggs today from a 14 inch female.

Cheers FR

The pictures shown in Franks post can answer a lot of commonly asked questions. Take time to look at more than just the monitors.

Picture #1 shows what a pair of healhy ackies look like prior to breeding. You can clearly see that the female was fat prior to breeding and not after breeding, this is a common mistake new keepers make.

Picture #2 shows shows a very good representation of the type of soil you should use with ackies. You can see that the material holds a nice burrow, but isn't too wet which allows for great nesting options.

Picture #3 shows how difficult it is to find eggs when they are properly nested. If your monitor eggs are easy to find then they probably weren't nested very well. Low hatch rates can be contributed to poor nesting.

Picture #4 shows that a well cared for female shouldn't look like death after laying eggs. You can see that this female will rebound quickly after a couple of meals and should be able to cycle again. This can also be attributed to proper nesting.

Picture #5 shows a beautiful nest of ackie eggs that most people will never get to see.

Picture #6 shows how to incubate eggs, you can see the substrate, you can see that it is not too damp and you can see what good eggs look like.

In addition to all these things you can see the "retes" stacks are not uniform, the material they are made of, how the spacers are attached, etc.

you said there is no chasing biting, ect. Is biting then a sign of dominance??

I ask because I have two yellow ackies, who seem "to get along" meaning they both eat bask hide and do not seemed bothered by each other. Last night the younger one(i think is a male) was on top of the bigger one(think is female) and biting the back of the neck. The female was not running or resisting so I am wondering what kind of behavoir this is if biting is abnormal. Neither of them was hurt and the one being biten is quite a bit larger than the one doing the biting. Thanks for your time.

adam

Hi Adam. Again, biting is not part of normal copulation.

If you have sexed your monitors correctly, biting or irratating of the neck is something that happens when the male is triggered to copulate but the female is not ready. And yes I have seen this. Of the times I have seen this, very very few resulted in eggs and even fewer resulted in babies.

As a comparison, I have seen several thousand copulations of various species and only a handful that included biting of any kind.

Indeed there are many species of lizards where neck or arm or even leg biting and holding on, is normal. Just not with the varanids I have worked with, and that is a lot of them. FR

thank you for the quick response and info. I was not expecting this to result in eggs...yet. I am mainly worried if this is normal in a sense of not dangerous. LOL if i have properly sexed them right....hmmmm not even close. Ive tried lookin for the "spurs" with no luck. You have looked at the one I think is female and you guessed female. I guess i should get some new pics of them side by side to compare and get some more vent pics. Anyways thanks for the help.

One last thing. They have been living together for a couple months now. Both are over a year the "female" is about 6 months older(maybe) since they have lived together is it safe to assume that they are at least both females??? meaning that they definately are not both males?? thanks again

adam