Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All,
This is my pair of Acanthosaura capras, I've had the male for about 10 months (he's the light tan one) and the female (the greenish one) for about 6 months. She was very sick when I got her, but now she's doing well. Here she is in her convalescent home, he is in their tank. Enjoy!

Regards, EMWhite

Is your dragons mouth dark inside?

I have a dragon that was as green as yours when younger. The roof of her mouth is dark unlike my other capras with the roof being pink.

Here are pictures of her mouth. A picture when I first got her and now.

-----
BONNIE

Hello Bonnie

Ulrich Manthey and me are organising an expedition where we will travel to Vietnam to collect this new specie, those in my care are still young, yours is the first fully grown I see, can I send these photos to Manthey? Of course they will not be used without your consent.

This photo I just posted represent color variants of this specie, these females are not full grown yet.

Rgds

just to be clear!
they are not the same specie as these even though they look identical, they are more then half the size when adult.

So, what is the defining feature, the color, size, or the black mouth? I have had several with the black mouth over the years and just figured it is a variable within the species. Just curious!
-----
Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

All,
I just checked my two, they both have a dark pigmentation on the roof of their mouth. I think my armata does as well. Does this feature really represent an entirely seperate kind of them? I was wondering, is it possible that the roofs of their mouth turn a dark color when irritated? Perhaps as a more threatning display towards predators etc.? Hmmm... Food for thought I guess. The two lixards in hobi's post look very similiar, but I didn't qutie understand what was said. To me, when I look at the spines on the back of their necks, they look different. There are twice as many on one as on the other. Perhaps another simple varaition within the species?

All,
I'm sorry for the spelling mistakes in my last post, I meant jobi not hobi. Sorry about that

Regards, EMWhite

Yes theirs a lot of variation in nuchal spines, and many sub species can have a blue upper mouth, don’t know how this or if this will be considered as a distinct trait in any specie.

Theirs a lot of work to be don in this complex.

Only one set of horns, variable body scales, black mask in adult, blue palate, smaller size are what is obvious to me with my captives.

However all the animals iv seen where immature, this make valid observation impossible.
However they seem to be less sexually dimorphic then other acanthosaura species, by this I mean that males have almost no bulges and are best sexed by nuchal spines, but as I said mine are not full grown yet, they might grow larger bulges later then other species?.

In comparison my capra like start showing bulges very young.

They also show a more aggressive display, more like armata, coronata and lepidogaster showing open mouth and striking forward when approached.

Other then this they seem to be identical to my capra like, in fact before I got access to a few shipments I truly believed they where young lizards of the same specie.

Bonnie’s female is the largest iv seen yet, she’s about half the size of a typical capra like.
We should measure them and see.

Photo showing the larger nuchal spines in male.

obviously two closly related species!

jobi,
My female doesn't seem to look similar to the others posted in this conversation. What do you think? What kind is she? Capra, no?

Evan

I don’t think she’s capra!
It seems like there are many variants that are entering the pet trade now days.
Saigon have been closed to export sins the Vietnam war, this is why these variants have not been studied. From what I know my capra like are somewhat different then Marcia’s capra like, the sub specie in this thread is also in need of studying. Your female seems to me the same as Bonnie’s female, but to be sure a close up photo showing back legs and body scales would help.
I am not an expert with these lizards, the best I can do for now is guesswork. However once I get back from Vietnam I should be more helpful then.

Rgds

I thought his looked like mine also. That's why I asked about the mouth.

Steve, you can pass any of my photos on that might be of help.

This female is more aggressive than the others but not as much as the armata. I thought that was because she was wild caught and young. She doesn't bite but will display, hiss and run away. The others just let me pick them up.

I got her in March or April and she laid a clutch on September 17th. Of 18 eggs all but 7 molded quickly. She's puffing out again and I did have her in a cage with Monroe for 3 weeks or so.

Best I could measure (she didn't want to be held) she's 5 inches snout to vent and just over 11 inches snout to tail tip.
-----
BONNIE

Wow she’s bigger then I thought, mine is only 6in longer, but as you know that’s a huge difference for a lizard.

18 eggs this too is surprising, most of my capra like don’t lay as many.

I hope you have no problems when she nest again, usually when we mix species we favour small males and larger females, I am not sure but she may have larger eggs next time?

thanks for the photos!

Both of my capra have dark on the top of their mouths. One has a VERY dark top of his mouth.

Here is one of them
4684292

-----
Ryan

Ryan
this is the same specie as my large female!

inner mouth coloration is as variable as external coloration, its mood or temp dependent.

Yeah, I was holding him at the time (while I was reading the above messages) and figured I would try to get a peek in his mouth. All my lizards have tamed down quite considerably since I have got them, so it is kinda hard to get their mouths open. But I saw a glimps of dark on the top of his mouth. The other I saw this mornig with his mouth open on his own.

He doesn't show much color variation. I think this will change after his first shed (in my care); just like Dixie did. But he is usually a very light color with yellow and brown showing, which should change after his first shed ( as I am predicting).
-----
Ryan

I had no idea they were different species at the time I put them together.
The eggs were rather small. But I though that was due to her being young and it's her first clutch. At least I assumed it was her first clutch. She is a wild caught.
Junior also laid 18 eggs. All of hers are still good. She is about the same size as Genie as are her eggs. I hatched her from a gravid wild caught in 2005. Her sister -RED- laid 13 and Marilyn laid 16 but only 7 of hers are left. Marilyn is the one that had surgery for the giant egg. (I didn't put her back in with Monroe after she laid this clutch)
All of the remaining eggs seem to be expanding (getting a bit rounder) so I'm assuming all are fertile. They look it when candled. I'm incubating at 75 degrees. Steve, I know you use higher temps but this is what I'm comfortable with right now. It's a few degrees higher than my last two clutches. If all goes well I'll up it a few more degrees with the next batch. Taking baby steps.
-----
BONNIE