Sexing Orientalis

[sobrien]

Hey goanna guys,
I need some help with an educated guess on the sex of these little fella's. I'm pretty sure the one on top is a male, but the other one has me confused. I apologise about the pics, they were the best I could get.

Thanks in advance,
Sim

[Simon_Archibald]

They look like hatchlings...I wouldn't bother getting yourself worked up about their sex yet Simon. It's unlikely to be reliable.

Simon Archibald

[indicus]

As Simon said... it can be hard to be positive...however with two, you should be able to get a fairly good idea....compare the size of the cluster of spines (showen in the photo)....the male's will be most notably larger, and stand out more...the females, also round in shape, wont protrude out near as much....one of the most awesome of the small monitors....lucky bugger

[ether]

Can't you get them x-rayed, if so where would you get this done, the vet?

[sobrien]

Yea I new that it was pretty unreliable, just thought someone might know something that I didn't. Anyway, thanks guys.

Simon

How do u tell the difference in sex?

[boa]

As has been said sexing small monitors reliably is fraught with danger and frustration. I have just got a lone male orientalis male and will be on the lookout for a female soon so I hope someone can sex them reliably
As you have 2 it should be possible to pick differences IF you have 2 of different sex. Good luck.

[sobrien]

Thanks Indicus, they are awsome but bloody scary I tell ya! They seem to be on a mission to hurt themselves and scare the hell outta me. I recently lost my female to a freak accident and I am now paranoid. I came in to check on them today and one managed to wedge his head in the sliding glass rails. Luckily they're so tiny so he came out with a bit of a tickle, but boy, they are so difficult to keep if you don't have a nice little enclosure with hardly anything in it. They also tried to kill each other about a week ago!! They keep me on my toes, I'm scared to leave them alone incase they do something else stupid.

[Simon_Archibald]

That's one of the reasons you shouldn't keep them in front opening enclosures, particularly enclosures with sliding glass doors. I'd be surprised if they don't soon try to scratch the door open and cut themselves open in the process.

Top-opening all the way...plastic tubs are great for small monitors.

Simon Archibald

[boa]

My tristis are fine until you put your hand in and try to catch them and then the female goes a bit mad, the male is fairly quiet but is too big to worry I think.
What about an adult orientalis, what size tub would be suitable for one of those Simon ?

Checked the sex of a few orientals,was YAHOO BABY!! INSANELY WICKED YEH !! till i married one, then flied lice and kids,

[indicus]

Sorry Simon, but just my opinion....i find top opening cages for monitors a pain, its there natural reaction to be supicious with a hand or human comming from above...with your front opening cages your on their level, they tend, i find to be less wary, and readily accept you... nearly all my smaller monitors feed from forceps/hand and display well....one main draw back for me, with the sliding glass doors is i've left a few ajar at times, and payed the price....never has any hurt themselves or been able to open them of their own accord....i guess whatever works for you.

[Simon_Archibald]

That's it Tremain...whatever works. The reason I prefer top-openers is because I rarely handled my monitors and they subsequently were very nervous around people (which wasn't a problem because I used to admire from a distance and they were great to watch). With front opening enclosures, it was common for them to run straight past me when the doors were open and this was a pain. I found they still happily accepted food from tongs in the top-openers.

Simon Archibald

[sobrien]

The problem is that 'whatever works' is sometimes found out the hard way.

I had them in tubs however I found that they were constantly displaying escape behaviour and trying to climb the walls.This was lead to them bending their tails at the base, almost to the extent of the tails breaking. In the larger, front oppening enclosures, the walls have less grip and they seem to be less inclinded to try and climb the walls. I have been constantly monitoring them (no pun intended) and everything seems to be ok now. If only they weren't so tiny.

[geckodan]

I combined the two options. Front opening but the door starts half way up the front. If they run for it they have the bottom wall to stop them.