Varanids have been kept for a very long time. But like other reptiles, they have been kept very poorly. Reptiles are surviors, they can exsist in very poor conditions(hard to kill)

Captive husbandry that included life events was applied with most all other types of reptiles by the mid eighties. But rarely for varanids. When I started, there were some very successful keepers in Europe, they could breed most any species. But they applied controlled husbandry to varanids. That is, they controlled everything. They did not keep them together, only placing males in with females long enough to copulate, then remove them.

They did indeed produce offspring, but in my opinion, then, as well as now, they did very poorly. But understand, great in a human view, but poorly compared to the monitors design and abilities(potential). The only thing I attempted to do and did is, allow monitors to reach their potential.

Again in my opinion, monitors are so hard to keep and breed, because they are so easy to keep. They are by far the easist reptile to keep and breed, I ever kept. I mentioned this in magazine articules in the mid ninties.

While their requirements are so easy, their behavior is very complicated and misunderstood. It seems people/keepers, like to follow instructions to accomplish a goal(caresheet mentality) This is not so good with varanids. They require day to day decisions to be made. I am thinking people hate to do that. It puts pressure and responsibility on their shoulders.

So, varanids were the last of the major reptile types to be conquered. But because they are not caresheet reptiles, many are still having problems. Cheers

p.s. Why they are the easist, if allowed to make choices, they make them very well. You as a keeper do not have to do anything, just offer the right choices.

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• Varanid Husbandry Information - drzrider, Wed Jun 14 11:45:18 2006
• RE: Not new at all - FR, Thu Jun 15 09:59:59 2006