Quote Originally Posted by Gregg Madden View Post
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..