Breeding
One of the best ways to determine sex is by color. Males have an overall golden tone to them, while females are a significantly duller shade of brown. Head and tail sizes provide further means to tell the sexes apart, with snouts of mature males becoming more bulbous with age. Males also tend to be larger than a female of the same age and will evert their hemipenes fully. If your monitor grows slowly it can take longer in some cases for them to be mature enough to breed. Unfortunately, because sexual maturity in reptiles is usually a measure of their size rather than their age they can be bred before they are physically mature enough. These lizards are particular gluttons for food, so they grow fast and can seemingly mature earlier. But this can be a cause of problems, especially for females. They can suffer from reproductive difficulties and can easily become obese, which will then shorten their lifespan.
Preparation
A spacious and humid enclosure is needed for a pair, with a soil and sand mix being best as the substrate. You will need a nesting box for your female as well. It is very important to make sure you have provided the female with sufficient dietary calcium and that she weighs at least 5.5lb. In terms of conditioning, you can reduce the ambient temperature in their quarters by about 15°F. This method is more commonly used with snakes than lizards, but as a snake breeder first and foremost, I prefer to keep my methods as simple as possible! Some people also say that a reduced photoperiod is needed, down to a maximum of between 5-7 hours. I have never done this though, and the same goes for spraying to increase the humidity in their quarters. These techniques may be worth trying though, if you are having difficulty persuading a pair to breed successfully. After 4-6 weeks, you need to gradually raise the temperature again until it is back to normal, and at this stage, you want to place the male in the female’s enclosure. Introduce the pair carefully, supervising them closely. Courtship may begin straightaway, or can take up to three weeks. After the first lock, I leave them together so multiple locks can take place. Locks can last from 1-6 hours. Once a female is gravid, the male will no longer continue to breed with her so he can be removed.
Egg-laying and incubation
Expect her to lay 15-45 eggs around 4 weeks later. Egg-laying can take up to 50 hours to be completed, so check regularly for more eggs. It is also not uncommon for females to double or even triple-clutch weeks later, confirming that they must be able to store sperm, as they can still produce fertile eggs at this stage without mating again.You want to remove the eggs as soon as they are laid, transferring them into a incubator. When starting out, it is easiest to use vermiculite as the incubation medium, although personally, I prefer to use a fine grain sand and crushed coconut husk mix. The water to medium ratio is quite varied, depending on the breeder. I prefer four parts of water to five parts of the medium.Recommended incubation temperature also vary, which as a result means the incubation times differ too. Some people also believe that increasing the temperature towards the end of the incubation process is necessary, but again, I have been repeatedly successful without doing so. I would simply recommend incubating the eggs at (86°F) for around 5 months. Keep a check on the eggs and do not discard them prematurely.
Rearing
Following the first pipping,you will notice that within 24 hours, all of youngsters will begin to hatch out. They may stay in their eggs for another 36 hours, and if this happens, then I just allow them to come out in their own time. Once they have hatched, I then hydrate them in a bath of Powerade® (an electrolyte drinker favoured by athletes) just to help to get them off to a flying start. They will then shed within two days of hatching, and immediately afterwards, they will begin to start feeding. As soon as they have hatched out, the young monitors are completely independent and can be reared without difficulty. This method of breeding Bosc’s monitors has worked successfully for me for many years
http://www.savannahmonitor.co/breeding/breeding.pdf
Preparation
A spacious and humid enclosure is needed for a pair, with a soil and sand mix being best as the substrate. You will need a nesting box for your female as well. It is very important to make sure you have provided the female with sufficient dietary calcium and that she weighs at least 5.5lb. In terms of conditioning, you can reduce the ambient temperature in their quarters by about 15°F. This method is more commonly used with snakes than lizards, but as a snake breeder first and foremost, I prefer to keep my methods as simple as possible! Some people also say that a reduced photoperiod is needed, down to a maximum of between 5-7 hours. I have never done this though, and the same goes for spraying to increase the humidity in their quarters. These techniques may be worth trying though, if you are having difficulty persuading a pair to breed successfully. After 4-6 weeks, you need to gradually raise the temperature again until it is back to normal, and at this stage, you want to place the male in the female’s enclosure. Introduce the pair carefully, supervising them closely. Courtship may begin straightaway, or can take up to three weeks. After the first lock, I leave them together so multiple locks can take place. Locks can last from 1-6 hours. Once a female is gravid, the male will no longer continue to breed with her so he can be removed.
Egg-laying and incubation
Expect her to lay 15-45 eggs around 4 weeks later. Egg-laying can take up to 50 hours to be completed, so check regularly for more eggs. It is also not uncommon for females to double or even triple-clutch weeks later, confirming that they must be able to store sperm, as they can still produce fertile eggs at this stage without mating again.You want to remove the eggs as soon as they are laid, transferring them into a incubator. When starting out, it is easiest to use vermiculite as the incubation medium, although personally, I prefer to use a fine grain sand and crushed coconut husk mix. The water to medium ratio is quite varied, depending on the breeder. I prefer four parts of water to five parts of the medium.Recommended incubation temperature also vary, which as a result means the incubation times differ too. Some people also believe that increasing the temperature towards the end of the incubation process is necessary, but again, I have been repeatedly successful without doing so. I would simply recommend incubating the eggs at (86°F) for around 5 months. Keep a check on the eggs and do not discard them prematurely.
Rearing
Following the first pipping,you will notice that within 24 hours, all of youngsters will begin to hatch out. They may stay in their eggs for another 36 hours, and if this happens, then I just allow them to come out in their own time. Once they have hatched, I then hydrate them in a bath of Powerade® (an electrolyte drinker favoured by athletes) just to help to get them off to a flying start. They will then shed within two days of hatching, and immediately afterwards, they will begin to start feeding. As soon as they have hatched out, the young monitors are completely independent and can be reared without difficulty. This method of breeding Bosc’s monitors has worked successfully for me for many years
http://www.savannahmonitor.co/breeding/breeding.pdf