Ackie aggression

[grimbeny]

I came into my room today to see one of my ackies bitting the neck of the smallest of the three which i have until the smaller one tried to retaliate (I then pulled the larger one of). I have no idea how long this has been going on for as i have only just noticed it. I feel this may explain why the victim is a bit smaller than the others. The majority of people i have heard from in the past have said that agresion between ackies is rare. Have these issues resolved themselves before or will it be necessary for me to seperate them? Their seems to be a little bit of wounding on the neck which i have rubbed with diluted betadine.

[grimbeny]

They hatched early febuary this year so are still abit young although apparently it is possible in their irst season. I havnt noticed any sexual activity before and was under the impresion that males whernt agressive ie bitting etc to prospective mates.

thanks
Oli

[richardsc]

males bite the necks of females to mate,thats how they rrestrain them from running away,also they have been bred at 6 months of age,mind u they have been power fed to get sizable enough to do that,also ridgeys and all monitors can always get aggressive,it could be 2 males u have,and if they arent kept at optimalal conditions with regards to feeding ect they can see any others as competition rather than living peacefully together,and when they are imature its still common for them to try mating,even with the same sex,eg male on male,female on male ect ect,could be alot of different reasons,sounds like mating though,what size are they

[grimbeny]

Smaller one is 38cm total and larger is 45. Im thinking based on head shape the larger of the 2 is a male, still unsure about the smallest. I have been keeping an eye on them all day and havnt seen it happen again.

[Clairebear]

My Storr's have been violent lately too! They've only hatched this year though. I always assumed they were both male (too young to tell) and it's sibling rivalry. They're always lieing on each other... then occasionally one will grab onto the other ones tail and it's like a game! Then the other will bite it's neck... so bizarre. They have heaps of room and heaps of hides but i think they use it to pass the time! My partner reckons he's seen them mating, but they always lie on each other and i think that's just what he saw!

[richardsc]

clairebear,storrs can get quite aggressive,from experience and what i have read,they are renowned as an aggressive species,but when raised from young together are supposed to be alot better,like anything though there are exceptions,and females can be as aggressive or more aggressive than males,its not sex based at all,my original storrs were very aggressive at times,and i unfortunatly eventually lost the smaller one due i believe to the bigger one,the current pr i have are the oppasite,no aggression towards each other at all,also grimbeny,your ridgeys are big enough to be breeding size wise so its quite possible thats what they were doing,this is the time of year for it,whats the little one eat like,do u have any pics of them

[Clairebear]

Thanks Richardsc! I know now that one is definitley a male (i saw his privates.... oh my god so big and scary... i thought his intestines had come out....). At the moment they're both picking on each other so i don't think one is more dominant. Funny little things to watch!

I hope your ackies are 'doing the deed' grimbeny, then you'll have lots of smiling little darlings to raise! I want an ackie...

[grimbeny]

I hope thats what it is lol. Generally the little one eats about as much maybe a little less than the others. The funny thing is that the largest one (46.5cm, not involved in todays debackle) seems to eat less than the other two i can only assume its finding all the roaches which escape during feeding time. I havnt taken any picies lately. I should probably get arround to taking some new ones.

[richardsc]

hmmmmm,so the big one isnt the aggressor,still sounds like mating behaviour,if the little ones are eating a fair wack compared to the bigger one,they dont sound stressed to me,i find when my girls are around the breeding stage they are little pigs,leave the bigger males behind in there enthusiasm to eat,as there putting condition on as the eggs develop,when temps,food availability ect are good thats giving them the conditions to want to reproduce

[richardsc]

well claire,if they are both doing it to each other thats not so bad,its when one decides to hide and is the one copping all the aggression when u have probs,if they are both actively messing around with each other i guess thats ok,lol,monitors are always doing crazy stuff,never get sick of them,they always teach u something new

[Inkslinger]

Ackies can be very aggressive during mating I had a male that managed to kill 3 females before he came to me as a pet. He was sold on with the warning not to try to breed with him unless you were prepared to risk losing your female.
It is also not unusual with the monitors to see them trying to mate even with the same sex.

[grimbeny]

The bigger one is the aggresor (There is just an even bigger one in the enclosure aswell) well i really hope he doesnt turn out as bad as your guy ink. It seems like a strange evolutionary thing to make the males violent towards the hopeful mother of their children.

[Inkslinger]

Originally Posted by grimbeny

The bigger one is the aggresor (There is just an even bigger one in the enclosure aswell) well i really hope he doesnt turn out as bad as your guy ink. It seems like a strange evolutionary thing to make the males violent towards the hopeful mother of their children.

In all other respects he was great, and didn,t do it on purpose I don't think, Broke one neck, suffocated the other two.

[richardsc]

u will find females can be overly aggressive in some species as well,especially where size between sexes isnt large,eg storrs females,as ink has said it can happen,and with any species,best to keep a close eye on them,if there been together for a fair while it shouldnt be a prob though,but i havnt seen what u have witnessed,mating can be rough,especially when the male wants to and the female doesnt,your little one is eating and doesnt seem to be hiding constantly so should be ok,but best thing to do is keep an eye on them,id love to see a pic of them

[grimbeny]

Im a terrible photographer but took some photos of them none the less lol. First one is the smallest, middle three is the culprit of the acts of violence lol. And the last is big mamma the largest of the three.