I mostly work with Water Monitors which the reputation of being one the more "tameable" species and lots of people have examples of these and other species that are relatively "tame" I have had some that have had pleasant dispositions. That said... most of 14 I now own will take your hand off (or fingers with some my newer ones) if you gave them the chance.I had a nile for almost 15yrs that was a little snappy as most niles are and I have one 4ft female right now that is light years beynd him in nastiness. She will definitely take your hand off if you let her. My school of thought is that you should let them be monitors and learn to accept them whether they are agressive or not. It is much more rewarding to just let them be monitors. I have three dogs and they make excellent animals to interact with you can't beat them for animals you can interact with. I hear cats are great too. Btw the worst 2 bites I ever got came from the two freindliest waters I ever owned and were the result of my letting gaurd down. The second bite I got was on my thumb and went down to the bone(the 1st went straight through the tip of my thumb...all the way) it required stitches and left a really cool scar. I will still say to this day that a more aggressive monitor would have not got the chance to bite me as my gaurd wouldn't have been down. Familiarity breeds contempt and might just feed your monitor as well.

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• Some hope and guidance.... - grimly, Wed Oct 17 22:22:03 2007
• RE: Some hope and guidance.... - newstorm, Thu Oct 18 05:05:47 2007
• RE: Some hope and guidance.... - Roger Van Couwen, Thu Oct 18 09:11:50 2007
• RE: Some hope and guidance.... - MadAxeMan, Thu Oct 18 09:37:01 2007
• RE: Its not the monitors - FR, Thu Oct 18 09:46:29 2007
• RE: Its not the monitors - croc 2-3, Thu Oct 18 13:23:04 2007
• RE: Some hope and guidance.... - nile_keepr, Thu Oct 18 12:37:31 2007