The number of people speaking about a species out of sheer ignorance and fear mongering is silly and beyond comprehension.
I have kept nearly every species of monitor available to the pet trade with the exception of crocodile monitors, and tree monitors. Tree monitors because they simply don't interest me, and croc monitors because they are simply too massive for me to care for right now.
I consider the nile monitor my specialty- as I've raised this species to adult size a few times now, successfully housed, rehabbed, and calmed down this species on multiple occasions.
The idea that "the damage potential is too high" "it's for advanced keepers" is stupid. There's a high damage potential with owning a car, but I bet you own one, there's a high damage potential with a firearm, but you can learn how to use it properly. The same is true of a monitor, if you randomly walked into the cage with some of the rehab animals I worked with last year, you'd get bit, whipped, scratched, and defecated on. In terms of advance keepers only... I've found people with ZERO reptile experience are generally more ready to keep a monitor- because of the fact all conventional reptile husbandry does not even apply or come close to applying to a monitor, and it's a lot easier to convince a new keeper to go through proper protocol if they aren't trying to apply other reptile husbandry to a monitor.
Now, as for the niloticus as a species. One must remember- these are flighty animals by nature. They hatch out, make their way into trees, and hide until they achieve decent size, as adults, they have to scavenge in Africa, eat small game, and steal croc eggs. None of which are laid back easy tasks. You must also remember, a monitor is not a bearded dragon, these are smart animals, they recognize individuals and scenarios, they remember traumatic events, and they hold grudges.
Here's the mistake most people make- they buy a new nile monitor, put it in a fish tank on bark, then they proceed to pick it up over and over every day like they would to tame down another reptile. Nile monitor either dies from horrible husbandry, or gets a decent size and turns mean- because it realizes the fact that it can do some damage. A nile monitor is just built instinctual different than say- a black throat.
None of my niloticus have been mean, in fact, if worked with properly, they make tremendously interesting, exciting, and rewarding captives. I own 40 acres of land, during warm summer days I could open his cage door, the front door, and he'd go outside, dig in the dirt, and wander around, when it started getting dark, he'd wander back to the house, right back into his cage, and under his heat lamp, he would sit outside and lay next to my 22lb flemish giant rabbit, and my puppy, and never gave them issues either.
First step: You need a cage, and a big one, you need it sealed all around, you want high humidity, deep dirt, and basking temperatures of 130-140 as a surface temp. You do NOT under any circumstances want to use a fish tank, fish tanks breed stress, bad temps, poor humidity, and are meant for fish, not monitor care.
Second step: Realize- you will spend a fortune on care. My monitor will eat more food in 1 year than a pair of BPs will eat in 10 years. My 1 monitor will cost more in electricity than a rack of corns. My maintenance on a monitor will take more time than a collection of most snake species.
Third step: If it's a baby, LEAVE IT ALONE. Don't force handle it, feed it, let it be, let it be a monitor, do not pick it up. It will hold a grudge. Once he starts feeding well in front of you, you can start offering food on tongs, then use the tongs to introduce your arm, I lure mine up my arms/legs/etc and tong feed them there, so they realize I'm no threat to them, baby steps, eventually your monitor will be larger (within a couple years) should come around. There are 3 things to remember:
Be careful during feeding, a growing monitor is voracious, do not mistake a high prey drive for aggression of you get tagged.
If you corner the animal, it will fight back.
Some monitors NEVER come around to human contact, this is true of all species, bosc, blackthroat, niloticus, indicus, croc, etc etc etc. If you can't handle the possibility that you'll own a large animal that you may not see often, that eats hundreds of dollars of months in food, costs you a ton in electricity, and has a cage that takes up a ton of room- a monitor is not for you.
