• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Monitor lizards.

M

Millinex

New member
I only work with corns here and there, my main staple and passion are monitors:

Charmander, my just over 1 year old nile monitor. She's even bigger than in that picture. She's somewhere over 4 foot now.
DSC00439.jpg


Buddy: my rescued savannah. He looks like crap, when I got him he was extremely dehydrated, and had really really bad mouth rot. He's making a turn around. Slowly but surely. I've had so many other animals rebound faster, this one must have had years of bad care.
DSC00441.jpg


Kung-pow, my 5ft asian water monitor: Scarring, missing toes, lost a lot of tail, but he's fun to work with, yay for another pity buy because of poor previous owners.
DSC00468.jpg


Fluffy- my 3.5 foot or so mangrove monitor. This guy is an absolute riot.
DSC00593.jpg


The new un-named ornate monitor. Just got him the other day, already working on calming him down. Considering he wouldn't let me touch him at all saturday night I think he's coming along pretty fast ;)
lizard.jpg


-Mike
 
I love monitors, but don't own any. I've heard that they're aggressive by nature. Can you confirm or debunk that? Just wondering, 'cause I LOVE the looks of Fluffy and Charmander :).
 
Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z) said:
I love monitors, but don't own any. I've heard that they're aggressive by nature. Can you confirm or debunk that? Just wondering, 'cause I LOVE the looks of Fluffy and Charmander :).
Click to expand...

Very few monitors are aggressive. Most are very defensive. You cram them into a small enclosure and they will stand their ground, but all of mine- in larger enclosures, will flee if they don't want interaction.

For the most part, monitors are a very hands off pet, but with proper attention and lots of hard work, they can become trusting and handle-able, most can even be kept on display and tong fed and be "fine" and never be handled at all.
 
Got to love that picture of Fluffy! I met a monitor at the Expo, but couldn't pet him because of my oh-so-good guinea pig perfume from Hippo. I didn't want to initiate a feeding response and I didn't know how easily cavy scent would do that.
 
pridecity said:
Got to love that picture of Fluffy! I met a monitor at the Expo, but couldn't pet him because of my oh-so-good guinea pig perfume from Hippo. I didn't want to initiate a feeding response and I didn't know how easily cavy scent would do that.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the guy walking around with the mangrove monitor on a leash? I was wondering how he got in, because I thought you weren't allowed to bring outside herps into the show. Nevertheless, it was a really cool looking monitor.
 
pridecity said:
Got to love that picture of Fluffy! I met a monitor at the Expo, but couldn't pet him because of my oh-so-good guinea pig perfume from Hippo. I didn't want to initiate a feeding response and I didn't know how easily cavy scent would do that.
Click to expand...
Haha, that was Max, he wouldn't bite you ;)

CarlyEliz said:
that savannah looks better than one that i rescued. is there any tricks to putting weight on them?
Click to expand...
If you're providing proper husbandry, they will eat every insect you throw at them.

reptile65 said:
Are you talking about the guy walking around with the mangrove monitor on a leash? I was wondering how he got in, because I thought you weren't allowed to bring outside herps into the show. Nevertheless, it was a really cool looking monitor.
Click to expand...
Jay gets in every time, he gets permission and his Mangrove (Max) is extremely popular at the show. I believe he worked something out and Lynn never has a problem with him.

Jay is also the guy I'm working closely with on my indicus project. He has a female named trixy who's not as outgoing and sociable as Max is, but he has seen some breeding behavior out of both animals, and eggs from Trixy. We might end up trying to pair his girl with my male here pretty soon as well.

-Mike
 
It was Jay and Max. I think Max was awfully interested in the box the turtles and Hippo was in. I don't know much about monitors except that I can't have one until I stop getting rodents. I'd hate to make a mistake and lose rodents. I'd be upset with the monitor forever even if it was my fault. They sure are pretty though.
 
pridecity said:
It was Jay and Max. I think Max was awfully interested in the box the turtles and Hippo was in. I don't know much about monitors except that I can't have one until I stop getting rodents. I'd hate to make a mistake and lose rodents. I'd be upset with the monitor forever even if it was my fault. They sure are pretty though.
Click to expand...

Max is super curious, I know he's crawled straight up my leg on a couple occasions. I have no doubt he was interested in the box- he eats like a pig haha!
 
Millinex said:
Jay gets in every time, he gets permission and his Mangrove (Max) is extremely popular at the show. I believe he worked something out and Lynn never has a problem with him.

Jay is also the guy I'm working closely with on my indicus project. He has a female named trixy who's not as outgoing and sociable as Max is, but he has seen some breeding behavior out of both animals, and eggs from Trixy. We might end up trying to pair his girl with my male here pretty soon as well.

-Mike
Click to expand...

Interesting. This was the first time I've seen him, and I go to most of the shows. I remember him talking about how mangroves are supposed to be one of the hardest monitors to breed in captivity. Good luck with your breeding project! Sounds like you're making some decent progress.
 
reptile65 said:
Interesting. This was the first time I've seen him, and I go to most of the shows. I remember him talking about how mangroves are supposed to be one of the hardest monitors to breed in captivity. Good luck with your breeding project! Sounds like you're making some decent progress.
Click to expand...

He was there last time I believe, and the time before that for sure. The entire indicus complex is rarely worked with and difficult to breed. From what I've gathered there has only been 1 successful breeding in captivity in a zoo facility some years ago.
 
At least from my experince with Savannahs, they do best on a very varied diet. I feed the ones at work, crickets, mealworms, superworms, waxworms, ground turkey, dog food (as a treat), rodents, and sometimes as a treat some dubia roaches(they really love those guys)!
 
Dog food is just about the worst thing you can ever feed to a bosc monitor, and it should not happen under any circumstances. They don't need "treats". Feed rodents extremely sparingly, with the staple being dubias.
 
Millinex said:
Dog food is just about the worst thing you can ever feed to a bosc monitor, and it should not happen under any circumstances. They don't need "treats". Feed rodents extremely sparingly, with the staple being dubias.
Click to expand...

I never knew that, and will take it to heart! I've always heard, feeding low fat dog food very very sparingly (less than once a month), is OK for Savs, and as long as it is not a staple diet is fine.
 
Carinata said:
I never knew that, and will take it to heart! I've always heard, feeding low fat dog food very very sparingly (less than once a month), is OK for Savs, and as long as it is not a staple diet is fine.
Click to expand...

Staple diet for savs is insects, every now and then a whole prey item such as a rodent will be "fine".
 
sometimes not often at all i feed him mice. ground turkey and hard boiled eggs are the main things i feed him
 
The last reptile place I worked in, the savs ate bugs, bugs, and more bugs. Once in a blue moon we'd offer a rodent or a quail egg, but mostly BUGS! :)

Your monitors are gorgeous! I'm jealous!
 
CarlyEliz said:
well he is a bit big for insects i would think... he is about 3 feet long
Click to expand...

I would imagine in Florida big insects for a big lizard wouldn't be hard to come by. ;)

Gorgeous lizards!! I love savs. It makes me sad when I see them (and water monitors, usually) on sale at shows for $40 as babies... how many of them ever even make it to adult size? How many are cared for appropriately? :nope:

The monitors, along with giant snakes and giant fish, are one of those animal groups that we could stand to see less indiscriminate breeding and "flipping" of.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top