Sexing Ackie monitor?

rdurha1 · July 7, 2020, 4:01am

What is the most accurate way to sex these little dinosaurs?

Do the spikey scales by the vent mean my Ackie is a male?

ashleyraeanne · July 7, 2020, 4:31am

Here is a good video to watch on how you can sex them. I also can’t tell from that picture if those are spikes indicating a male or if those are just part of the tail.

professorherp · July 12, 2020, 7:43pm

Hello!

The video @ashleyraeanne linked is mine. Thanks for sharing!
There is also a part 2 to that video: https://youtu.be/B-AHBzLuEhE

So sexing Ackies is quite difficult compared to a lot of reptiles. Usually, an Ackie cannot be sexed until 6 months (8 months preferred). Some with a keen eye can start to have educated guesses around 4 months.

There are two main ways I like to sex Ackie’s.

How I do in these two videos. This can some times give mixed results if you are not sure what you are looking for. But any method is not 100%.
Visually. With good pics of the head, you can easily tell the sex when knowing what to look for. A bigger head, thicker neck is the strongest indication of a male. Nostril curvature, ridges above the eyes, and mouth/nose tip are different as well. If you can provide a few head pics, I can see if I can determine the sex for you.

I also uploaded a picture of a good male vs. female comparison that is pretty obvious (in the distinctions mentioned above)

Hope this helps!

rdurha1 · July 13, 2020, 5:12am

rdurha1 · July 13, 2020, 5:18am

@professorherp Beautiful Ackie pair! Thank you for your response and welcome to the MM community forums!

dmilton · April 1, 2021, 7:53pm

Hi,

I was wondering if you could help me out with my ackie? He’s 5 months old, I picked the biggest of the 4 most dominant and biggest head and neck.
I’ve tried uliminating his tail there’s small shadows but I can’t confirm it.
He has small spurs, they’re a little rough, but again he’s small, here is some pictures of head, and tail

If you csn shed some light that would be great, thank you

immanuel · July 8, 2021, 2:53pm

Yea , I basically would say the same thing as look at the head size difference. The males will be more broader, while the females will be more narrow.

arzavagno · January 6, 2022, 6:08pm

I used the HMI technique shown in the Professor Herp video on my 4 1/2 month old red ackie as the Danny Brown paper it is based on said juveniles can be sexed this way with SVL > 5 cm which my little one is. I’ve added pictures below. Can anyone interpret them better than I can. When I feel the spurs, my finger catches, but I am having trouble interpreting what I see with the HMI. Thanks!

ghoulishcresties · January 6, 2022, 6:53pm

Too young to tell 100%. Honestly I’d wait til at least a year. But…
Going by that and body/head I’d say female.

I brought an ackie as a male a couple months ago. He’s around 2 1/2 now. Was told male be another breeder too, and in fact recently a lot of breeders have been saying ‘he’ looks like a female, the lighting technique I did also and there was nothing when should’ve been ‘something’. The body and head also makes them think female.

What they have all said is until you’re sure, you’re not sure
Basically we are currently waiting to see if ‘he’ lays any slugs for us.
The bloating, being funny with food may be because he’s actually a she.
It’s not fun waiting I tell ya!

immanuel · January 7, 2022, 11:44pm

Look I truly understand, I have had to turn away a couple of customers cause they think I can give a 100% guarantee I can tell the genders at that young and I just keep tell them they’re is no way you can be 100% sure cause it looks confusing up in there .