grr, SEPARATE!

jhinton6932 · 10-30-12, 07:53 AM

so over the last 3 days one of the females is taking little to no food at all, whilst the male is beginning to hand feed. i figure i give it one more day and if she does not eat, ill separate her, put her into a much smaller enclosure and keep an eye on her. the only feeder option i havent tried is a live fuzzy.

heres a pic of the male 4 weeks ago or so. very bright coloring on him

AjaMichelle · 10-30-12, 01:29 PM

How can you tell she's not eating? Are you leaving food in the enclosure?

rmfsnakes32 · 10-30-12, 02:48 PM

Im not an expert on lizards by any means but if in doubt at least seperate for feedings to make sure she is getting her fair share

jhinton6932 · 10-30-12, 04:52 PM

yes i leave f/t mice in there and have caught the other 2 eating and i usualy put 6 fuzzies in there and 1-2 are being left at the end of every day. there havent been issues since ive had the little ones but now it seems some are becoming more dominant.

Quote:

if in doubt at least seperate for feedings

these guys get so easily flustered so i try and do as little handling as possible. its easier to stick the one not eating in a separate enclosure for a week or so get it eating right then reintroduce and keep an eye on it.

jhinton6932 · 10-31-12, 10:45 AM

well after attempting to do some cage upkeep today, and observe the behavior, the male has gone completely insane. he managed to get me twice so i separated all 3 of them keeping the male in the large enclosure. hopefully its a passing phase but i guess time will tell. im thinking this new aggression towards females and myself is the cause of the decrease in food consumption amongst the group. anyone else experience this?

this is turning into a ton of work keeping them satisfied haha

Gatorhunter1231 · 10-31-12, 12:42 PM

Male indo monitors are known for getting crazy. Never heard of melinus doing it but yuwonoi is known for it I have heard of blue tails doing it.

jhinton6932 · 10-31-12, 12:48 PM

ill record a video later. he actually lunged out of the enclosure mouth open and darted across the floor scared me a little bit. i didnt want to have to chase a little monitor around the house. they are all currently separated, the one female ate, the other two have not yet.
i think what im going to do is split the 3ftx3ft enclosure diagonally females on one side male on the other until they are large enough to move into the adult enclosure. i might just add on another foot or so horizontally to the 3x3

jhinton6932 · 11-01-12, 04:32 PM

so everyone is separated form everyone, all 3 are eating and acting their normal selves again after 2 days. going to keep separate for another week reintroduce and see if anything changes hopefully but building in a divider for the enclosure this weekend male on his side females on theirs.