pygmy mulga monitor question

[cris]

I have noticed one(or more) of my little v.gilleni has been chasing and biting one(or both) of the others. I first thought they were trying to root but it(i think a male) seem to be trying to bite around the middle of the back :?
Are they known for attacking each other or is it more likely they are trying to mate?

 

[Tristis]

monitors arnt aggresive when mating, theres no biteing only rubbing.
just let them sort out there problem they will be over it in a few days. make sure you put lots and lots of hides so they can get away from each other.

 

[hornet]

couldbe sorting out a pecking order?

 

[Sdaji]

It sounds quite unusual. Without seeing it happen I can't be sure, but I've never had any of them bite while fighting, I've only ever seen males fighting with each other (I've never seen a fight involve a female) and when they fight, it is a ritualised combat where each male holds the other and they lift themselves up on their noses and tails (very cool to watch!). The loser is the one which tires first, there is no attempt to cause phyical damage. The only times I've seen them bite each other have involved either missing a food item which was on or near a cage mate, or when food was smeared on one and another mistook it for food. It sounds particularly strange that they are attempting to bite the middle of the back.

How long has this been going on for?

 

[cris]

they have been chasing for a while, im fairlysure its only one doing the chasing. The other one usually just hides as soon as it is being chased. It has never happened when food is around and the are often out together and not chasing or biting. I have only seen it bite(didnt really latch on) once, but have seen them chasing a fair few times.

They are only a few months old too(dunno if that makes nay differance)
I think i will just keep an eye on them and seperate them if it looks like it might be a problem.

 

[Sdaji]

Sounds to me like you have a pair and that the biting was just an unusual thing. Having said that, when I was raising my first group my two females used to chase each other around for hours when they were about half grown. They didn't really seem to know what to do when one caught the other, but they had countless hours of fun playing together!

 

[cris]

They didn't really seem to know what to do when one caught the other, but they had countless hours of fun playing together!

That sounds like what is happening, it seem like he managed to catch up and wasnt sure what to do for half a second and then bite the other one. They seem to get on pretty well(normally sharing hides, sitting on each other etc.) i guess they are just playing.

I actually have 3 too, they appear to be 2females and 1male

 

[cris]

Just thought i would update this thread, the aggresive one has been seperated as it is getting bigger than the others and was constantly chasing and savegely biting the others. Although it didnt cause any damage i wasnt going to wait until it did.