"He now as severe nerve damage in his hand. This happened in 99 and he still says it feals like his arm is on fire when ever he bumps something wrong. My point is feed in the cage off tongs at least 18" long. Have a good one. Ian"


THIS is the reality of keeping monitors; people need to open their god-damn eyes.

These things are PREDATORS, not PETS.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TAME MONITOR! Anything with a mouth can (and likely WILL in time) BITE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!

There is a healthy amount of fear that good monitor keepers have for their animals- its called self preservation. If you arent a total moron, you realize the dangers of dealing with an animal designed to tear open rotting carcasses and incapcitate small/medium animals.

LIONS dont mess with Niles; wtf makes humans think they can?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2777041413271399512&q=lions+nile&total=27&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1


"My monitor has started acknowledging me and looking for me. I usually interact at feeding time or cleaning. the only thing is I started having to wear a leather glove because my Sav started nipping at my hand when im doing stuff in its cage. its not an agressive nip...its like he's hungry and wont understabd im not food. Today he crawled on my glove and started "digging" at my wrist.

any advice to curb this? "

First off, WHY do you think you should 'curb' the natural behavior of an animal? To make YOUR life better?

You are keeping a captive, the LEAST you can do is be understanding of ITS instinctual feelings- if it does something, let it do it! Dont try to find some way to change the natural behavior of your animal- its disrespectful.

Second, get it straight- your animal is VERY unlikely to be 'looking/acknowledging' YOU. Its a feeding response- youve trained this animal to see you as its food source.

DUH! I mean, COME ON people! Can you anthropomorphize these animals any further? THEY ARE LIZARDS! NOT HUMANS!

You should ALWAYS wear a glove when dealing with your monitors on a personal basis- if you dont, youre a friggin idiot and will, in time, most likely incurr a bite.

And that bite? Oh, it could be a 'friendly' little nip.... OR it could cause severe nerve damage and pain for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! GET THAT INTO YOUR HEADS!

THESE ANIMALS CAN HURT YOU! BADLY NO LESS!

*sigh*

And for the record, Im not directing this at you Hissenia- you are smart, you use tongs.... but Id quit that whole 'holding the egg carton' deal- put the carton in the cage and let the animal do its deal.

Im just so damn tired of dealing/hearing people talk about their monitors like its a dog, cat or hampster....


Dont you realize that using food to connect to your monitor COMPLETELY negates any chance of becoming close to them on a social level- they see you as the food source, THATS why they like you.


Personally, I long ago started just giving my animal its feeders on a paper towel and returning in about an hour to remove the empty towel. My animal dosnt seem to equate me with food in the least, and actually seems confused when I try to offer it food.

When it comes to me, theres nothing about food in its mind- I know its me its coming to interact with; because I havent given it food in God knows how long yet it continues to attempt interaction.

I may be looking highly upon myself here; but in my eyes, THATS the kind of interaction you want- theres no bribes, no BS; just you and the animal.

Youd be surprised just how intelligent these creatures are; which makes me all the sadder that we subjugate them to death by the thousands for our personal 'amusement'.

Its sickening, and it should stop- if that means no more monitors for us, OH WELL!

BELIEVE ME, we WILL get over it.

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