Mind Blown. Please Advise

[devine*]

Hey everyone!!

Some of you may know me from youtube.com/tenacious tee, my famous little tegu "Teeju"

I've had my big girl Teeju going on 4 years now. She is active, healthy, all the above.

As some of you also may know I have a smaller female tegu named "Ninja" whom I've had for just over a year now. I used to keep them both pretty much free roam at my old apartment but I have moved to the interior over winter, they are now in a temporary enclosure that is too small for the two to be honest.


SO ANYWAYS. The tegs have been slowly coming out of brumation, they just had there first f/t mouse, roaches, fruits, etc. Lighting is back in full effect etc etc. Things are going great, tegs look awesome.

WELL TODAY. Teeju, my large female has begun pursuing Ninja around the enclosure, mounting her and biting her neck. Like I looked up youtube videos and that is EXACTLY what they are doing. They've been at it for hours now, only thing is... I see no hemi-penes, nor any kind of "connection" between the two. Yet she is on top of ninja, moving her vent to be right along Ninja's and kicking her leg over top like a mad-lizard. Gah.

They are pretty much lizard scissoring. My mind is blown.

What is going on!!! I feel like a mother who has just been told her daughter is actually a little boy...

BUT STILL. I even took Teeju out, checked for the "buttons" males are known to have, I feel absolutely nothing!

Inputs anyone? I feel terribly lost and can't find any information on the internet of my-case scenarios.

Is the space making Teeju feel she has to dominate Ninja by mating her? Are there cases of male tegu buttons not being so noticable?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvNBDR9pAI8

Here is a vid of Teeju just before going into burmation last year. She pretty much looks the same. I've had comments saying her jowls indicate she could be male, but I thought they would be MUCH bigger in males, not to mention the overall size?

Any help is appreciated! Thanks all <3

- Tanya (aka. tenacioustee)

 

[Toby_H]

Just looking at the jowls and overall build, I would suspect female, but that is not a relyable way to sex them... But if I had a Tegu that looked like that and did not have the knots at the base of the tail, I would surely believe it to be female...

As for the behavior, it would surprise me to see such behavior between two females who just 'woke up' and are in a small enclosure. Although I've never seen it or heard of it in reptiles, humping is a very common way for many mammals to show dominance.

 

[Max713]

There's a Tegu in that video!?!?

 

[Rhetoric]

I think it looks female, at that age I'd think you would have seen male jowels and/or spurs if it were really a male. It could just be a dominant female, my girl dog sometimes tries to mount our male dog (I know they're not reptiles lol), shes just the more dominant one.

 

[nicklotz]

i agree with @toby h, i would think thats a female by first glance, its not the only way to check tho, do you have any videos of ninja?

 

[laurarfl]

Is the large one "chorting" or giving little huffs in the pursuit? By this time (4 yrs), you would have seen sperm plugs in the stool and hemipenes. Plus the males have a sort of foot dance they do while marking territory where they sort of wash their hind feet with discharge from their vent...it's lovely. It seems that you would have seen some of that behavior as well.

I would separate them before your little one gets stressed.

 

[devine*]

Yes. She was huffing at her. Not in an aggressive manner, but like in a display-type of way. Just like in the videos I researched. The biting is quite soft as well, like she is trying to be gentle, yet affirmative. The behavior is identical to the breeding videos I've seen online.

I guess I'll see what happens today. It's early, they're both sleeping side by side.

Also I wanted to note Ninja is not much smaller than Teeju by any means, just a bit smaller. They are both adults between 3-4 feet.