After many years of searching, I found exactly what I was looking for. Meet Big Bertha and Chewy. Bertha has a bit of a funny shape when viewed from above. She's around 80 pounds and bigger than my male, Scooter. Chewy was supposedly chewed on by a coyote when she was younger, but she seems fine now. She's around 60 lbs, just slightly larger than Scooter.
They were in a small dirt pen, with one bulb for heat, but I don't know much more than that about their history. Probably somewhere around 15 years old. You can see they weren't raised with sufficient humidity, hydration and moisture... haha.
Despite the pyramiding, they are both healthy, parasite free and settling in very nicely. I gave the three girls (Delores, my other female) all day to hang out and get to know each other and there were zero problems with any of them. They acted like they had known each other for years and promptly shared a big tray of greens, cactus, cactus fruit, and a little Mazuri. I didn't put Scooter back in until after dark and they all slept nicely together in the shed. The next day Scooter did a little pushing and shoving to assert himself (a**hole) and since he encountered no resistance he just moved on and left them alone. Mission accomplished already. He's leaving Delores alone around 75% of the time now. I have not seen him breed either of the new girls yet. They might be too big for him. Bertha is a bit shyer, retreating into her shell when I surprise her by walking up behind her, but she gets better every day. She readily approaches me to investigate if I sit down in the pen where she can see me. Chewy acts like she owns the place and just marches around investigating. She particularly likes the big hill where she can sit and survey the entire ranch. She's also taken to testing the wall and trying to knock her way out, if she finds a weak spot. All the weak spots have now been doubled up with bricks and she seems to be giving up now. Damn sulcatas. Total brutes, even the girls.
I got these girls for pretty pragmatic reasons. I needed to improve my m/f ratio to give poor Delores a break and IF I ever get eggs out of them, I've got six hungry monitor lizards to feed. Despite that, I've really grown to like them in a very short time. Each one has her own charm and personality. I'm very happy to have made them a part of my family. My little girl loves them and hopefully she still will when she's my age.
Big Bertha:
Chewy:
The End:
They were in a small dirt pen, with one bulb for heat, but I don't know much more than that about their history. Probably somewhere around 15 years old. You can see they weren't raised with sufficient humidity, hydration and moisture... haha.
Despite the pyramiding, they are both healthy, parasite free and settling in very nicely. I gave the three girls (Delores, my other female) all day to hang out and get to know each other and there were zero problems with any of them. They acted like they had known each other for years and promptly shared a big tray of greens, cactus, cactus fruit, and a little Mazuri. I didn't put Scooter back in until after dark and they all slept nicely together in the shed. The next day Scooter did a little pushing and shoving to assert himself (a**hole) and since he encountered no resistance he just moved on and left them alone. Mission accomplished already. He's leaving Delores alone around 75% of the time now. I have not seen him breed either of the new girls yet. They might be too big for him. Bertha is a bit shyer, retreating into her shell when I surprise her by walking up behind her, but she gets better every day. She readily approaches me to investigate if I sit down in the pen where she can see me. Chewy acts like she owns the place and just marches around investigating. She particularly likes the big hill where she can sit and survey the entire ranch. She's also taken to testing the wall and trying to knock her way out, if she finds a weak spot. All the weak spots have now been doubled up with bricks and she seems to be giving up now. Damn sulcatas. Total brutes, even the girls.
I got these girls for pretty pragmatic reasons. I needed to improve my m/f ratio to give poor Delores a break and IF I ever get eggs out of them, I've got six hungry monitor lizards to feed. Despite that, I've really grown to like them in a very short time. Each one has her own charm and personality. I'm very happy to have made them a part of my family. My little girl loves them and hopefully she still will when she's my age.
Big Bertha:
Chewy:
The End: