Lizard fighting?

[Stumptastic]

Hey guys,

I'm new here but I've been keeping snakes and lizards a while now. About two years ago I bought a python in a suburb west of Melbourne. It was being cared for after a rescue from a neglectful owner. The new owner had a couple of other reptiles in the house as well, including some very sick looking lizards. One had all the toes chewed off its feet and was constantly sloughing.

He said these lizards had been kept in fighting pits where they weren't fed and were encouraged to eat/fight each other while people watched.

Has anyone heard of this happening? Is this true?

 

[Smittiferous]

No, but it wouldn't surprise me. No different from cocks/dogs/whatever people use for blood sports. It's pretty sickening tbh, and makes me speculate on how legal those reptiles may be...

 

[Wally]

Casting aspersions towards those from the suburbs West of Melbourne Stumptastic?

 

[Stumptastic]

Casting aspersions towards those from the suburbs West of Melbourne Stumptastic?

Haha no. I think it's an area with a high number of reptile keepers though. And being from there, I haven't felt the urge to set my lizards on each other recently. So it was more to see if anyone from that area (where I got the info) has heard anything.

 

[Wally]

I've lived out here a long time and have never heard it mentioned. Not to say it doesn't happen though. No shortage of depraved individuals in society.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Not a nice thought .... never heard of it happening .

There are definitely some cesspit dregs and low lifes out there who don't deserve the oxygen they steal from the rest of us to survive. So it wouldn't surprise me if it was proven to be happening .

 

[pinefamily]

Could it be limited to certain ethnic circles? And no, I'm not trying to sound like Pauline Hanson here, lol.
I know here in Adelaide there was a problem with cockfighting in a certain ethnic community.

 

[RoryBreaker]

I have a different hypothesis.

Could it be a case if chinese whispers? I doubt any one tooth whiskey tango houso types would spend the coin on any expensive lizards. So that leaves the humble blue tongue as the most probable of lizards available to these people in this story. To the untrained dummies, just a pair of blue tongues partaking in their completely normal rape like breeding behaviours could be easily be misunderstood as fighting.

Unless you were actually there and witnessed the said story, I'm calling it as BS.

As the post count of the OP on this forum is so low, I'm a little more inclined to be suspicious of the OP as having other motives. Maybe a mouth piece for the likes of PETA or Animals australia more like it.

Hmmmmmmm........too harsh?

 

[kingofnobbys]

I have a different hypothesis.

Could it be a case if chinese whispers? I doubt any one tooth whiskey tango houso types would spend the coin on any expensive lizards. So that leaves the humble blue tongue as the most probable of lizards available to these people in this story. To the untrained dummies, just a pair of blue tongues partaking in their completely normal rape like breeding behaviours could be easily be misunderstood as fighting.

Unless you were actually there and witnessed the said story, I'm calling it as BS.

As the post count of the OP on this forum is so low, I'm a little more inclined to be suspicious of the OP as having other motives. Maybe a mouth piece for the likes of PETA or Animals australia more like it.

or an attention seeker ?

Hmmmmmmm........too harsh?

Not at all.

Well .... that was my second thought when I read the OP's post about it too .... my BS-o-metre was in FSD !!! .... it's now got a bent needle ... But since he's (?) a NOOB I chose to be more tactful.

I doubt if this is ACTUALLY happening, unlikely the lizards will be have been bought , more likely stolen from legit hobbyists and breeders or taken from the wild (all too easy if you have time and can find them).

 

[Wally]

or an attention seeker ?

Not at all.

Well .... that was my second thought when I read the OP's post about it too .... my BS-o-metre was in FSD !!! .... it's now got a bent needle ... But since he's (?) a NOOB I chose to be more tactful.

I doubt if this is ACTUALLY happening, unlikely the lizards will be have been bought , more likely stolen from legit hobbyists and breeders or taken from the wild (all too easy if you have time and can find them).

I'd hate to see your attempts at tactlessness.

 

[Bluetongue1]

I'd hate to see your attempts at tactlessness.

I very much doubt they would rival yours Wally. It would help if you actually read what he said in his original post, to which he was referring, rather than make an unjustified and unwarranted comment.

The reality is that lizards fight in nature in order to establish dominance or maintain their territory. Even spectacular looking displays, such a two Lace Monitors wrestling, seldom involve injury. Even the huff and puff display between some of the larger dragons, will only occasionally result in biting each other’s mouth. Whereas the loss of digits comes about in the limited space of captivity where there is nowhere to retreat during a dominance interaction.

If you put several lizards together in a fighting pit, the last thing they would be concerned with is trying to establish a pecking order. They would only be looking for a way out of there or somewhere to hide, especially with lots of people around. As for not feeding them, all that would achieve is to weaken them. Big lizards eat little lizards. They do not eat lizards of a size capable of fighting with them. You could probably get a Bearded Dragon to munch on a garden skink, but nothing much bigger.

To answer your last question... No, it is not true.

 

[Wally]

Mike

I read it as kingofnobbys calling the op a bull***** artist.

And I wasn't the one claiming to be tactful.

 

[Bluetongue1]

It seems that it is his second post that needed re-reading then.
[MENTION=42547]Stumptastic[/MENTION]. What lizard species had its toes chewed off and what was the species of the one was continuosly sloughing?

 

[Ramsayi]

I very much doubt they would rival yours Wally. It would help if you actually read what he said in his original post, to which he was referring, rather than make an unjustified and unwarranted comment.

Congrats on your moderator status Bluetongue1 .......................Oh wait,never mind.

 

[Bluetongue1]

Given your previously clearly displayed attitude to myself, I will gladly take your advice on this occassion. Consider it forgotten already!

 

[pinefamily]

So, back on topic, there is absolutely no chance of this happening? What about two male beardies put together in mating season?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Given the OP has not returned to post anything else , I think my assessment is on the money.

 

[Wally]

After being called a bull***** artist, why would they want to?