Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

shay_ · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:58 am Post subject:

lol, now that i go back and look at pictures of my old cumingi it makes me wonder if mine was the darker version i had mentioned. for one, it has a lot more black on its back. you could say that his back is solid black with yellow spots. another thing is his size. compared to the individuals pictured in this thread, mine is shorter and much slimmer. about 4.5 - 5 feet and 12 LBs. i have no idea of its age, but the company i bought from suggested it was between 3 and 5 years old.

Sean · CaptiveBred Addict! Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 602

There is another possibility that maybe could explain size and other differences as that the Frankfurt animals derived from only a few specimens I wonder if its to do with the genetics from the founder stock which look different to the unrelated wild caughts so therefore these traits are passed on through the line giving us the impression that they are totally different. I have seen this with panoptes panoptes you can tell that all panoptes panoptes in Europe are related because they carry very similar charactoristics therefore the original animals must have derived from a certain locality, when you see panoptes horni some look similar but there are lots of differences as well in size, colour and pattern this could be explained that the animals have derived from many imports from different areas of their range.

Also does captive conditions change the physical look of an c.b. animal? One observation I have noticed is that some species and not only in varanids appear to have slighly different shaped heads for example wild lacies seem to have longer snouts, maybe I am way off the mark with this one or maybe again its just down to genetic traits from a certain locality.

lophius · Key Member Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 210

Here are two 'wild type' animals that are in my possession.

You can clearly see the difference between these animals and the CB ones.

The first animal is approximately 90cm

lophius · Key Member Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 210

This next animal is approximately 120cm

The one in the picture above is female, this one male.

lophius · Key Member Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 210

Compare these two to a 122cm CB Frankfurt line female - the water bowl gives a good indication of stature.

Also you can see the complete difference in colouration.

Carl

Mike · Contributing Member Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 139

this is becoming a most intresting thread. cool to se the diffrence between them. If this is gene related they have found a nice gene to follow up with, these cumingis are stunnig!
Mike

shay_ · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:55 pm Post subject:

here's a shot of mine that shows coloration. looks similar to the wild specimens pictured above. unfortunately the previous owner kept the lamps to close to him and several thermal burns resulted. still a beauty regardless.

cheers
shay

lophius · Key Member Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 210

That's a lovely animal shay - did you actually reproduce them?

Your animal definitely exhibits the wild characteristics. What size was it?

Looks to have a very long neck when compared to the 'frankfurt' animals and also, even though obviously well fed, a slimmer profile.

Carl

shay_ · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:14 pm Post subject:

thanks Carl. no, unfortunately i never reproduced them. i never found a mate for this guy. this male(i think) is just under 5 feet, and tips the scale at 12 LBs

as wild as this guy looks, his personality was twice that. his stress level was alway high, no matter how much i leave him alone. after feeding him, i learned to stay out of sight for the next several hours or he'd lose his lunch. as beautiful as this guy is, he wasn't very much fun to keep. in the next year or so, ill be moving to a large property. i plan to build much larger enclosures for species like this, and i'll be sure to get CBB next time for a better opportunity to breed.
cheers
shay

lophius · Key Member Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 210

Interesting Shay - The wild animals that I have are also very nervous. The one in the second picture has only just started to feed - and then only very small amounts and in the middle of the night usually. I have also found them to be very easily spooked and have seen first hand that they regurgitate frequently if disturbed --- The CB animals on the other hand, you'd have to tie to a tree and beat with a big stick to get them to give back any dinner.

My largest male that's about 4.5 ft long probably already weighs about 15lb, and when fed may weigh a bit more.

sean and I reckon that his male must weigh almost 15 kg, and it's not overfed either - that animal is 175cm - so a bit bigger !!

Carl