True Red Ackies - Varanus acanthurus acanthurus

The term Red Ackie has been inaccurately applied to reddish examples of the common yellow ackie (Varanus acanthurus brachyurus) for a long time. It confuses buyers and is often used as an attempt to boost the price. 

This post is designed to help anyone considering an ackie to distinguish between Varanus acanthurus acanthurus and Varanus acanthurus brachyurus. Perhaps that is the first point for anyone who is unaware - there are three ackie subspecies. One is common, one is rare and one is not available in the UK (or indeed the rest of Europe). V.a.a comes from western Australia and V.a.b is from the north of that country. V.a.insulanicus is a darker subspecies that only inhabits Groote Island and others in the Wessel group. 

Differences between the available subspecies are generally obvious:

• The first thing to look for is price. If someone is advertising red ackies and asking less than £350 each, you know they are not true acanthurus acanthurus. It doesn't matter what they say. Noone in their right mind would sell a true red so cheaply.

• True Red Ackies have a clear contrast between their head/neck markings and body. The facial colouration is darker than V.a.brachyurus and usually the iris is too. This gives the face a sharper, meaner look than V.a.brachyurus. 

Red Ackie male (owned by myself):

Below a yellow Ackie, as found in many pet shops. Note the different facial expressions and contrast.

• The body is, as you might expect, an obvious red colour. And I don't mean a rusty/brown colour or the odd bit of scattered red. There should be an even spread. Now it must be emphasised that adults are redder than juveniles, so this is one monitor which grows more beautiful with age. That is in stark contrast to species like V.dumerili and most others. But even though the red is not necessarily striking on young animals (and especially hatchlings) there is an unmistakeable glow across the whole area from nape of the neck to base of the tail. Also the markings tend to be more ornate. Even where the background colour is not red you will find the ocelli are ringed with red markings and the contrast is higher. 

The pic below is of two 2015 muller line red ackies around three months old. Even at this age, and mid-shed, there is a massive difference vs typical V.a.brachyurus youngsters. 

Below is a picture of a typical Varanus acanthurus brachyurus that will often be misleadingly sold as a red ackie. Does it have a slight rusty brown/red colour? Yes it does, but notice how there is no distinction between head/neck and body colouration. Some sellers will claim they are only branding animals based on general appearance but dealers know that there are two subspecies (or they should!) and although red and yellow are not ideal labels, the industry has come to understand V.a.acanthurus as red and V.a.brachyurus as yellow. So 9/10 times if someone calls the below animal red then they are doing so in an attempt to boost the saleability and price. 

Compare the above animal with the true red further up. There is no comparison, you just could not get them confused. 

• Varanus acanthurus brachyurus (as sold in most UK pet shops for £100 each) tend to have fairly plain, washed out markings and a general brownish colouration to the head, tail and body. There is no clear distinction between head and body colouration. You do get some attractive examples with sharper yellow spots on the back but they lack the other characteristics I have listed.

• True red ackie tails tend to be a bit longer that V.a.brachyurus but this is not always the case. What you will notice, however, is that pure examples have straighter tail spines that are normally yellow tipped - especially on the sides. V.a.brachyurus has spines that curve backwards to a greater degree. 

Compare the tail shot of a typical V.a.brachyurus below:

with the tail of a true V.a.acanthurus:

Here is a picture of a 2015 Muller line red ackie aged around three months of age. I have cut it with a shot of some typical yellow UK 2015 hatchlings, of a similar age, that I found on the web. A picture speaks a thousand words!

So the next time you are looking for an ackie and see someone offering red ackies for £100 - 150, you will know that they are certainly not true V.acanthurus acanthurus.