One of my new critters....

[Gene]

What can I say? I am addicted to monitor lizards, have been for over three years now. A buddy of mine works for a local vet / petstore/ rescue organization close by & is not going to be attending college in state sssooooooo.........

He asked me if I wanted a couple of his monitors. How could I say no to this little face?

This ended up being one of 4 I brought home in addition to the two adults I already have. My wife is going to hang me by the more delicate parts of my anatomy and slowly peel chunks of flesh off me in exact one inch squares all the while dabbing with alcohol or something. She is real sweet like that.

I just couldn't resest sharing this pic. He was the only one out at the time but two of them are Sumatran and the other two are speckled.

 

[Deliverme314]

he's beautiful!

Congrats

 

[Gene]

Thanks, have you figured out what kind you like most? I have seen you on the KS monitor forums a couple of time I think.

 

[Deliverme314]

I asked about dwarf monitors over there.

I mean, ackies seem to be the best bet. I would like something bigger but space really is a factor. I have done a bit of research and they seem to be the most reasonable to my situation. So any other discussion is me dreaming.

The only thing I am worried about is that I want a pair but I also want to get them at maybe two months old and they are impossible to sex. My understanding is that males of this species will show aggression to each other. So I am a little worried about getting a young pair and them turning out to be male.

 

[Gene]

The great thing about ackies are that if purchased from a good reputable person they have been raised from hatchlings in groups of two's or three's since birth and it's been very debated as to how it happens but if raised from birth that way you almost never (no one ever has) end up with a male heavy group. It is thought that they are born with out a definate sex and they mature into male or female as needed by the group.

I can personally vouch for this in my experience with monitors. I have a pair of ackies that I purchased from Pro Exotics that were only a few weeks old. They have matured into what I believe is a pair. Least ways there is no fighting or squabbling between them even to this day and it's been a couple of years they have lived together.

Same deal with water monitors..... I bought 3 very young one's from PE and raised them together and noticed one of the three being more dominate & growing faster and that one ended up male for sure. The other two were female. I still have one of them that is now close to 5 feet in length. She unfortunately killed the other female because she was (I believe) ready to breed and didn't want the other female around. That is less likely to happen with ackies becaue they are more social animals & found in closer contact with each other than water if I understand correctly. Not to mention that it's a lot easier to give ackies room in a cage than it is waters. Pound for pound the waters were too crowded anyway where as the ackies have always had plenty of room.

Another great point on ackies are that they are every bit as aggressive / intelligent / curious / and captivating as their larger cousins but they just do it all in a smaller more easily handled package.

What makes Ackies so great? click it and find out!

 

[Deliverme314]

So if siblings are purchased and they turn out to be M/F... dont you run the risk of inbreeding? Should the eggs be destroyed immediatley if breeding occurs?

And good grief! How much space do you have devoted to monitors?

Can you tell me about your collection?

I had actually read that over at Proexotics and their care sheet as well. Seems like a good site with people that really care.

When the time comes for me to get my ackies (which I am 90% sure will be the monitor for me) I hope they have some avail.

Thanks

 

[Gene]

Well here is the deal with inbreeding...........

You're going to get a lot of mixed opinions on inbreeding but if you think about how & where ackies come from (in the USA) they all pretty well originated from a few pairs that got over here from OZ before the ban on exporting. I would encourage you to do some searching on that subject but I don't believe that inbreeding (especially reptiles) is always a bad thing. In fact I think it probably occurs natrually a lot more often than people realize.

I don't know much about the different who's and where's but I know that Frank Retes is sort of the monitor godfather. A lot of the captive born aussie monitors started with that man. And for the record he is one hell of a nice guy even though his presentation (especially on the net) is very rough. I had the pleasure of meeting him and playing with some of his lace & meretins monitors in Daytona a couple of years ago. I still keep in touch with him & buy all my frozen mice from him. He is a wealth of information & he truely loves the animals.

About my collection, well that's a long story. I currently have 6 water monitors, 2 yellow ackies, 4 corn snakes, 1 rat snake, and 2 crested geckos. That's all for the reptiles not including other species that live with me.

In the past I have kept 2 black rough neck monitors, 3 flavi / argus crosses, 2 argus monitors, savannah monitors, snakes of all sorts, turtles & torts, leopard geckos, fat tail geckos, bearded dragons, water dragons, iguanas, some unidentified geckos I stumbled across (we just called them mutants) I did know the real scientific name but forgot that a while back.

I have a couple of rooms dedicated to my animals & will be expanding some attic space as needed for the others. I am in the process of building a 16 x 8 foot cage for my large waters. The other waters are still very small & I will either accomidate them as needed or find them good homes.

To answer your question more specifically the ackies are in a 40 breeder right now & the large waters in a 8 x 4.

 

[Washout]

So if siblings are purchased and they turn out to be M/F... dont you run the risk of inbreeding? Should the eggs be destroyed immediatley if breeding occurs?

Line breeding (mother and son or father and daughters) is done very frequently by snake breeders and is used constantly. It's also used by dog breeders.

Even among humans they have proven that cousins can have offspring with no additional chance of genetic deformity. So with something a lot simpler genetically like a snake or lizard there is not a lot of risk.

Also all of the Lasiodora parahybana tarantulas in the states came from two egg sacs and have been repeatedly interbred.