We all have a lot to learn. Even Frank does. But to imply I am clueless is just rediculous. I have a lot more experience keeping varanids than most people on this site. Frank only started keeping them a year before me. Never had an interest in breeding them until recently. I never bred varanids because I never kept them in pairs or groups. I have had females lay tons of eggs though. All in nest boxes by the way.



I never said they run purely on instinct. I know they can "learn" basic things that help with their survival. Most animals are capable of basic learning through repetition. However, they are not capable of complex thought, reasoning, or emotional bonding. Look at their brains. They lack certain areas of the brain responsible for those things. Just peel away the entire wrinkled mass of our brains and that is what a varanids brain looks like.



It is clear that they are not emotional animals. When they get injured, there is no emotional responce like you see in mammals.



A lot of behaviors you see in captivity are nothing like what you would see in the wild. We are keeping these lizards in boxes. We are forcing them into situation they would normally not partake in in a wild situation. Someone had mentioned that you can not change a reptiles behavior by keeping them in captivity. This is mostly true. What happens though is that behaviors are often misread. Like when you see a few animals in the same area of the cage. Is it because they want to hang with their buddies or is it because they are going for the same optimal part of the cage? When you find numerous snakes under the same board in the wild it is because it is the only board in that particular area. It is not because they want eachothers company or because they are social.



In the early spring and late fall I find dozens and dozens of timber rattlesnakes in the same area. During the summer, they are only found by themselves. Just like captivity, certain things force these animals together in the wild. It has nothing to do with being social.

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