Any experienced Ackie breeders/owners?

[Soterios]

I have had a Red Ackie for about 2 years now. I had someone give another one too me. (a female, mine is unsexed)

The female is quite a bit larger than ours, and when we introduced them, the new female chased him around a bit, and eventually bit ours, so I reached in and separated them.

There seems to be little known about them. Anyone here breed them?

[Skiploder]

I have had a Red Ackie for about 2 years now. I had someone give another one too me. (a female, mine is unsexed)

The female is quite a bit larger than ours, and when we introduced them, the new female chased him around a bit, and eventually bit ours, so I reached in and separated them.

There seems to be little known about them. Anyone here breed them?

I have two trios. I have bred them in past years...actually let me correct that = they have bred on their own. It has never been my intent or goal to be an ackie breeder.

Putting unsexed adult ackies together is not a good idea. In fact, putting sexed adult ackies in the same enclosure who have not been raised together is a bad idea. Introduced adult males and females will most often than not - fight.

They are notoriously hard to sex - are you sure that the new one is a female? The everted sexual organs of the males and females look very much alike.

There is a lot known about them. Pro Exotics has a comprehensive care sheet and a search on this and other forums such as Varanus.nl will yield even more information.

My personal and very biased opinion is that if you plan on keeping the new adult ackie, keep it in it's own enclosure. The odds of those two ever getting along or accepting each other is slim, while the odds of them fighting, hurting or stressing each other out is very, very high.

[Soterios]

I have two trios. I have bred them in past years...actually let me correct that = they have bred on their own. It has never been my intent or goal to be an ackie breeder.

Putting unsexed adult ackies together is not a good idea. In fact, putting sexed adult ackies in the same enclosure who have not been raised together is a bad idea. Introduced adult males and females will most often than not - fight.

They are notoriously hard to sex - are you sure that the new one is a female? The everted sexual organs of the males and females look very much alike.

There is a lot known about them. Pro Exotics has a comprehensive care sheet and a search on this and other forums such as Varanus.nl will yield even more information.

My personal and very biased opinion is that if you plan on keeping the new adult ackie, keep it in it's own enclosure. The odds of those two ever getting along or accepting each other is slim, while the odds of them fighting, hurting or stressing each other out is very, very high.

That's pretty well what I thought. The only real reason for taking the new one is the first place was to assure a good home for an unwanted animal. It seems as though I'll be giving him back today. It is unfortunate.

[suzuki4life]

here are my ackies...

smallest one is a male...

he was added to the trio...no issues.

what size is your cage?

[Soterios]

here are my ackies...

smallest one is a male...

he was added to the trio...no issues.

what size is your cage?

4 x 2 x 2

[suzuki4life]

4 x 2 x 2

mine is a bit bigger but yours should be fine...

I disagree with them not getting along...


ackies are pretty social.

but with any animal some or hit and miss...

personally I would continue to introduce them under supervised conditions...

they might grow accustomed to one another.

[Gregg Madden]

Putting unsexed adult ackies together is not a good idea. In fact, putting sexed adult ackies in the same enclosure who have not been raised together is a bad idea. Introduced adult males and females will most often than not - fight.

They are notoriously hard to sex - are you sure that the new one is a female? The everted sexual organs of the males and females look very much alike.

Not sure where you are getting your info from. Ackies will rarely fight. When you introduce new individuals there will sometimes be a bit of a squable with nothing worse that superficial wounds for dominance but rarely ever a full out battle resulting in any serious injury... They certainly do not need to be raised with eachother in order for them to co-exist in a housing unit. I constantly bring new blood into my breeding groups without any serious altercation.

They are also quite easy to sex. Their heads and tail bases are differend and like most Australian dwarf varanids, they have raised scalation on either side of the vent. The scales are different between males and females.

[Skiploder]

Not sure where you are getting your info from. Ackies will rarely fight. When you introduce new individuals there will sometimes be a bit of a squable with nothing worse that superficial wounds for dominance but rarely ever a full out battle resulting in any serious injury... They certainly do not need to be raised with eachother in order for them to co-exist in a housing unit. I constantly bring new blood into my breeding groups without any serious altercation.

They are also quite easy to sex. Their heads and tail bases are differend and like most Australian dwarf varanids, they have raised scalation on either side of the vent. The scales are different between males and females.

Gregg:

I've had two bad experiences introducing independent adults into trios. I had a female in the first trio that absolutely would not stop attacking another female introduced into the group.

I made sure that there were plenty of basking and hiding spots and that there were several obstacles to break up the lines of the site. Didn't matter, she was actively hunting her down and attacking her.

The second experience involved a different female and the resident male attacking an introduced male. Same kind of deal - relentless.

Admittedly, I am not a breeder and my experiences could be the exception to the norm.........

As for sexing them - when they are young - I'm lost.... and I've talked to some people who claim they are able to do it and some who are not. This leads to some confusion in the market place. I've seen more missexed ackies - especially now that they are gaining in popularity.

So if someone is new to ackies, I still think it''s in their best interests to either start with a young group or buy adults or subadults from a very well established and trustworthy breeder who can sex them as you described - a lot of people try doing by everting - which often leads to the mix up..

[Soterios]

Thanks guys, but I ended up refusing the adoption.

[suzuki4life]

Thanks guys, but I ended up refusing the adoption.

send her my way...always room here.