4.
before the male ate it. The victim in
this case was a normal one-metre
female; one of two ordinary Lace
Monitors in the enclosure. The male
which had eaten her was close to
two metres. This was a slightly
different situation and may have
resulted when the female got too
close while the male was in a
feeding frenzy.
Sometimes, when enough food is
provided (like a bucket full of
chooks) the ‘Lacies’ get so excited
that they will forget about the
chickens and just bite another
monitor and hold on. This kind of
situation almost resulted in the end
of one of my famous identical
triplets (the first recorded identical
triplet reptiles ever to come from a
single egg - featured in Reptiles
Australia and Sauria magazine in
2004). The triplets come from a
bloodline which originates from
Proserpine. These are always small
animals, and the female
triplets will produce multi-
ple clutches, but never
more than five eggs in each.
In the same enclosure was a
monster of a male - I don’t
know where his bloodline is
from. The male grabbed one
of the triplets during a feed-
ing frenzy and the much
smaller female was twisting
and turning in an attempt to
get away whilst the male
had it by the neck. That’s
why the wounds were so
severe. It was treated with
betadine, but not stitched,
and recovered quickly.
5.
This type of behaviour is well known
and widespread amongst many
different reptiles. Newborn blue-
tongues eat their first shed and
usually start feeding straightaway.
According to Joe Ball, they are pretty
good until their second slough, but
4.
5.
Bell’s phase Lace Monitors feed-
ing on chicken. The large male
has just killed and eaten a
smaller female (note the tail in
its mouth).
The dead animal had suffered
some severe damage!