# Monitors



## nova (Aug 9, 2004)

Yes I know Monitor lizards have been talk about alot here but I was wondering If anyone has had success with letting one have free reign of the house? Would this be possible cuz I was wondering if they would sh*t everywhere or tear up the house? Plus what are you past experiences with owning monitors? Are they really mean like some people say or docile, I have read alot about different types of Monitors and they all seem kinda 'mean'.


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

Monitors can be extremely destructive, giving one the run of the house would be dangerous, both for you and the lizard.

Temperment varies from animal to animal, with different species having a majority of tame or agressive animals.

My personal experience is somewhat limited, I've worked with _V.rudicollis_ for some time and I've worked with various other species that have come through my store.

I can't give you more specific information unless you tell us what you want, and more importantly, what your limits are (space, money, time, pain threshold).

-PK


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## WolfFish (Jun 30, 2004)

If you frequently handle your monitor from quite young it should become docile and never be aggressive towards you. You will deffinately need a large enclosure, and don't let it out of your site when its out, especially smaller ones, i let mine run around the room, i looked away for a second and it was gone, and hour later i found i wedged behind the tank, but it could have easily escaped forever.


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

:laugh: and dont forget about the food bill
or haveing lots of hissing roaches breeding


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

a friend of mine had a asian water v. salvator that was basically the family pet whenever my friend was home the monitor just walked around the house but when he went out it would live in a very very large custom dog crate

but keep in mind as already said these animals can be destructive while out of the house one day my friends monitor decided it looked like a nice day out so he proceeded to bend the bar on the dog crate dig a hole thru the drywall knock out some bricks and make his way to his outdoor enclosure where we found him sunning himself when we got back


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## nova (Aug 9, 2004)

Thanks for the replys you guys are very helpful. Now I have a question about feeding, do they need to be fed insect like crickets and stuff or I also read they can be fed high quality cat food. Is that true? Is there anything other then crickets you can feed them that is healthy and not expensive as I dont like the idea of having crickets chirping all night.


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

nova said:


> Thanks for the replys you guys are very helpful. Now I have a question about feeding, do they need to be fed insect like crickets and stuff or I also read they can be fed high quality cat food. Is that true? Is there anything other then crickets you can feed them that is healthy and not expensive as I dont like the idea of having crickets chirping all night.


 What kind of monitor were you thinking of getting? They can vary quite a bit, diet-wise.

Cat and dog food is generally too high in fat to be a good diet. There are several recipies for mixes made from ground turkey than can work quite well. Rodents are also good for some species.

-PK


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## nova (Aug 9, 2004)

After all the info I'v collected Im kinda leaning twards eather a Savannah Monitor Or a Water Monitor. Size is not much of A problem since It will baisicaly have a whole room to itself. also, if you have any more knowledge of the overall perssonality of Savannah or water monitors it will be greatly appreciated.


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

Both of those are fairly docile and good pets if you have the room and the money. You'll have a better shot at getting a nice one if you get a smaller one and grow it out.

Big tame waters are great. We had one at my shop, years ago that became our mascot (its face is on our logo). You could gently (*very* gently) grab its tongue when it stuck it out to taste the air. That said, remember that it can be a very dangerous animal when it wants to be, and that it has no sense of loyalty or attachent like a mammal would.

I'll try to find some information on waters later tonight for you. Do you need any specifics (environmental conditions, feeding, etc.)?

-PK


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## nova (Aug 9, 2004)

BoomerSub said:


> Both of those are fairly docile and good pets if you have the room and the money. You'll have a better shot at getting a nice one if you get a smaller one and grow it out.
> 
> Big tame waters are great. We had one at my shop, years ago that became our mascot (its face is on our logo). You could gently (*very* gently) grab its tongue when it stuck it out to taste the air. That said, remember that it can be a very dangerous animal when it wants to be, and that it has no sense of loyalty or attachent like a mammal would.
> 
> ...


 Thank you for all your help. Any info you find would be appreciated. Also, this may sound stupid but if I was keeping it in a room would a basking spot be enough to keep him at a good temp? Or would the whole room need to be warm?


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

You'd need to heat the entire room to 82-90F and heat a smaller portion of it to around 100F or so. I'd be wary of putting a space heater in the same room with a big monitor, I'm not sure what the best way to do that would be. PM/email the member*CrocKeeper*, he has far more experience with big varanids than I do, he should be able to give you a better answer. The hot spot can be done with heat lights situated up and out of the lizard's reach.

Lastly, there are no stupid questions. OK, there are, but you're not asking them.

-PK


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

imho large savannah monitors dont make the greatest of pets they tend to be overly docile in a captive situation and can build up alot of health problems where as water monitors on the other hand even when large will tand to stay a little active always looking for food the one that i spoke of in my earlier post was 7ft and was alwasy on the go and unlike a lot of large monitors i see in captivity wasn't what u would call fat he was huge but when he wated to move hecould really get going where i have seen huge savannahs that would jsut sit in the same spot for days


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## nova (Aug 9, 2004)

I noticed that there looks like theres several diferent kinds of water monitors, like Asian, Darwin... is there any difference between them or are they all basically the same?


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

nova said:


> I noticed that there looks like theres several diferent kinds of water monitors, like Asian, Darwin... is there any difference between them or are they all basically the same?


 Care-wise, all the ones I'm aware of are pretty similar. Be prepared to pay a lot more for the more exotic subspecies/morphs, one of these will cost you many thousands of dollars, if you can find one at all.

*00nothing*, the main reason you see so many obese savannas is because people keep them in too small of a cage and feed them a rodent-heavy or all-rodent diet. Little to no excercise and a huge amount of incoming calories will turn anything into a huge fat f*ck eventually. There was a book published a few years back (can't remember title or author's name, I'll get them tomorrow after work) where the author went to Africa and pumped the stomachs of wild savs and found that very few (something like one or two out of thousands of specimens) contained mammal flesh, most had lots of insects and a fair amount of snails (that's why they have the boxy tyrannosaur-style head, to support more powerful jaw muscles for crushing hard-shelled prey). In conclusion, keep it in a large cage and give it lots of bugs (I suggest hissing roaches when they outgrow crickets) and it'll be fine.

Any pictures of your seven-footer?

-PK


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

BoomerSub said:


> Any pictures of your seven-footer?
> 
> -PK


unfortunately the 7 footer was put had to be put down many yrs ago it wasn't mine though it was friends but one of his neighbors dogs decided to jump into the yard while the monitor was outside basking one day and the monitor made short work of the yappy little mutt but alas in a township of ignorant people they made it sound like my friend was housing a monster and the fact that this dog had jumped into the yard and bitten the monitor had little to no bearing on its rights and my friend was forced to have it euthanized

one of the sad parts to this is the monitor had been around dogs its whole life and had never ever showed any aggression towards one prior to this incident if ever there was an exception to how a massive predator should act this guy was it he was more like a scaly lapdog


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

Damn shame, I bet they wouldn't have done that if it was another dog. The lizard was probably smarter than the yappy little thing anyway, damn hicks.

Did it eat the dog or merely kill it?

-PK


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

just killed it apperently when my friend came out of the house the monitor dropped it immediately but the damage had been done the monitor took one really good chunk out of its throat area


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

good information and some that borders on dangerous.....

As Boomersub has pointed out several times, knowing what species you are wanting to actually keep allows clear answers for diet, housing, etc...There are far too many species, and though many have similiar temperature requirements but dietary requiremnets can very incredibly as can spacial requirements.

Letting any animal run of a house is a bit unresponsible. You can not adequately heat a house, nor can you adequately sterilize and clean up after the animal. Does that mean you can't get it out and let it wonder around the bedroom, heck no...but make sure you have proper housing!

Anthrapormorphism is a dangerous thing people, asigning human emotions and traits to organisms that lack it......for you begin to view the animal as something it is not, and then BAD things can happen. While things like water monitors and burmese pythons are seriously docile by nature they are by no means "tame". While the saurian definately out ranks the serpent in the realm of Inteligent Quotient, they are neither intelligent creatures on the playing field of mammals or birds. Never forget that the animal is an animal, and one that is capable of inflicting serious damage and bodily harm. In the case of salvator...this is a HUGE lizard gang, and one capable of a bite that will literally STRIP the flesh from your body...they are second only to komodensis in size, and 3rd in the danger zone in my opinion they come after komodensis, saladorii in potential harm factor to humans....anyway I have harped on too long already......

Continue to research the lizard you seem to like, then continue questioning people like you are. You will eventually find a size and type you can afford to house and feed, and MOST IMPORTANTLY ENJOY!!!


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## Roger (Nov 14, 2004)

I got a savannah monitor cool pet for me, very tamed. Had it since it was real small about 3 years now. I can pick it up and carry it and he wont struggle or anything, also i noticed he liked water alot, he would submerge him self in the water and chill there for some time or just have his whole body in there and his head sticking out, what i didn't like was he also used his little chill spot as a toilet. BUt overall cool pet


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## syd (Nov 6, 2004)

the coolest types are the asian water and nile monitor they really look like dinosaurs but they get like 9-11 feet i belive wtf is that lol


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## rbp75 (May 2, 2004)

> After all the info I'v collected Im kinda leaning twards eather a Savannah Monitor Or a Water Monitor. Size is not much of A problem since It will baisicaly have a whole room to itself. also, if you have any more knowledge of the overall perssonality of Savannah or water monitors it will be greatly appreciated.


With keeping a monitor size is always a problem even though you have a room to devote to it. Answer these questions.

1-How old are you? Are you old enough to accept the responsability of a carniverous lizard that can potentually weigh half of your weight?(even an execptionally docile water monitor can accidentally injure you severily)

2-If you are under 18 and live with your parents do you plan on going to school after graduating from highschool?(who would take care of it?)

3-Do you own and plan on living in your house for the next 10-15 years?

4-Do you make enough money to support the cost of maintaing and feeding a large lizard? (Believe me it will be very expencive to feed a large water monitor).

5-If your present lifestyle changes ie: you lose your job, you move out of your house into a house you cant devote a room, You lose the excitment factor of having a large lizard, Do you have a plan on getting rid of a lizard that most people would never take(after all would you take an 8 foot lizard you didnt raise from a baby yourself).?

6-Do you have experience with keeping other smaller monitor or simiar lizards?(a water monitor should never be a first lizard)

7-Do you have any other pets such as cats or dogs?(To a full grown water monitor these would be seen as a food source).

As cool as it would seem to have a large lizard eventually it will lose that cool factor and it will become an unwanted liability.


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