Blue Tongues fighting

[Danielle-S]

I have three blue tongues, 2 are about 3 years old, and one is about 18months old. The two three year olds are siblings, and one used to always fight with the other, often resulting in superficaial wounds. Nothing too serious. I was assured by the breeder,that it would be ok for them to live together. As they grew, the fighting continued so I housed them seperately.

We aquired half a water tank, aprox 1.8m across. I picked a nice sunny spot in the yard, filled the enclosure with gravel for drainaige, bark chips, and planted it up with bromiliads and other assorted plants. I secured two security screen doors and some iron on top for a lid, and moved them all in. As mentioned before,I again was told that this would be fine, as long as there were aduquate hides. At the time, I was more concerned with them breeding, as I didnt want them too, but again I was told that this would most likely not happen.

Well, the fighting has continued, to an extent that I cant leave them all in together any longer. I went on the Blue Tongue web site, and discovered to my horror, that it is recommended NEVER to house them together. So , tomorrow I endevour to seperate the enclosure into 3 seperate areas. I've bought some aviary wire,, and am fairly sure I know how Im going to go about it.

I have already made one division, segregating 'the bully' from the other two. The wire goes from under the gravel to the top, where it meets the lid. This afternoon, one of the Blueys had climbed the wire, and was basking on top of the lid! For dumb lizzards, they sure are smart! (maybe Im the stupid one)

So, what I am asking now, is if anyone has any failsafe ideas on how I can outsmart these little guys. How is your outdoor enclosure constructed, (if you have one) Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ambah]

They can live quite happily together if they're in a large space. Are they just fighting during breeding seasons or all year round?
If using chicken wire, you can bend part of the top of the mesh over on itself, creating a ledge which sometimes stops them. Colourbond fencing also makes a good pit fence.

 

[richardsc]

some species can be rather aggressive to one another,northern blueys in particular,my easterns seem to get on well,i male and 3 females,but ive had easterns before that can be aggressive to others,they can easily climb wire to

 

[Danielle-S]

After hours of back breaking bending, and millions of wire cuts,heres what Ive come up with. Hopefully this should keep them housed and happy.

 

[lemonz]

i think they'd be able to climb up,
mine can climb up a bunny cage.

 

[-Peter]

What Richard says. The bluetongue site is in the main concerned with differnt tropical species of Tiliqua all of which appear to be solitary ans quite agressive to other bluetongues. T.s. intermedia often share this trait but not always. I would place many more hides and make several feeding and watering spots but you may end up having to rehouse one.

 

[tezzajw]

Hi, Danielle. The size of your enclosure is fine for three Blue Tongues. However, like Peter typed, you need some more hollow logs in there. When they stare each other in the face all of the time, it might bait them to fight. Take your interior mesh out, open the enclosure up again and go looking for hollow logs or make two large rock piles with lots of gaps that they can hide away from each other. I'd put up with the fighting in the short term if they're working out who's number one. They should settle once the pecking order is established. When you feed them, put food in a couple of different places, so they're not tempted to fight over the same pile.

 

[Renagade]

After hours of back breaking bending, and millions of wire cuts,heres what Ive come up with. Hopefully this should keep them housed and happy.

what were you using to cut the wire? looks like it would take 10 mins.

 

[Danielle-S]

Thanks for your imput. It used to be an open enclosure, re without the wire. I had about 7 rock piles in there, but the largest one wanted to have them all. I also fed them on 3 seperate plates in different places. The largest is definitely the dominant one, and the others put up with random superficial fighting, but one of the smaller ones became so badly injured that his jaw is now crooked, one eye is miss-shapen, and he has only a few scales left on his head. I had to do something drastic.It all seems to be working out for now.
I used wire cutters to cut the wire, but the time wasa taken be removing all the substrate, drilling the holes in the sides, waiting for the drill battery to recharge, fighting with a nest of tree ants that had set up home down the outside of the enclosure where I was tying off the wire, being continually harrassed by twin 4 year olds, and getting it all back in. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems for me.
Alos took the largest one to a reptile guy I know to ask if 'she' might be pregnant. Seemed to be growing a lot fatter lately, even developed jowles under its head. But he said no, just a pig I suppose. Also reckoned it was too late in the season. Have noticed that others on this site are still welcoming new babies though:shock:

 

[ambah]

Some of those injuries sound pretty serious.. I probably wouldn't housing them together again, maybe even re-homing of the 'bully' if you can't seperate them. She/he's most likely fattening up for the colder months, i think its too late in the season to be pregnant. Is the smaller one doing alright now?

 

[coz666]

definately not to late in the season.
maybe you should get some more girls to chuck in.
get rid of the male who is getting hammered and things will settle down.
who was this reptile guy, did he have eyelids?

 

[Danielle-S]

The smaller one is doing pretty well. All his/her wounds are healing up, and look clean. He/she is eating well and is active, so Im not so concerned much anymore.

get rid of the male who is getting hammered and things will settle down.

Do you mean the bully or the injured one? Apart from territory issues, are there any other reason why one would pick on another so much? The attacks dont seem to be seasonal, just pretty much constant.

who was this reptile guy, did he have eyelids?

I thought he was a well knowledged person, he seems to be. But he was the one who told me it was ok to house them together, yet the Blue Tongue site says not to. I guess all animals temperments are different, just like people. I guess I just got a nasty one

 

[tezzajw]

As a general rule, you shouldn't mix them when their sizes are too different. The bigger ones will snap at the smaller ones. They seem to grow out of it as adults, it's more prevalent when they are less than a few years old.

Adults will still eat babies so I never mix adults with anything less than a couple of years old.

One of my Eastern females had babies three days ago. She was Feb 6, 2008 with babies and now Feb 4, 2009 with more of them. Consistent!