I wonder why they are so hard to keep alive in captivity. They probably need a really tall cage like the way they live in tall trees to feel secure and safe; otherwise they get really stressed out--and I mean stressed out in record level. The way I see it the Butan is the most weary of all monitors. Before they come down, they check the surrounding for predators and even stop eating if they think they are being watched. That easily get stressed out and spooked. I guess if you want to keep them you can't even look at them because they become so stress out and have to keep them in a very large tall cage since that's where they feel the safest. I've seen one that was captured by Daniel Benett on that show, and that thing just literally froze in fear--if I didn't know any better I thought it was dead. That's how much of a stress they can get and would easily probably died of stress related illnesses in captivity.

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