I so respect your statement Robyn! I trouly do, but dont forget that all the fine pepoles you mentioned has learned from these first steps in herpetoculture, especialy the bad experience, these are the ones we most profit from, its like combat! we learn from defeat more then otherwise.


for all the new keepers to be.


Some personal observation with the big guys!

Ornatus; I was fortunate enough to receive several warning bites from full grown adults of this specie, I say fortunate because without these exchanges theirs no way id have the understanding I have today, monitors especially Africans communicate by body language, olfactory, clawing, whipping and biting. I really connected with ornatus the day an adult female grabbed hold of my hand, I could see the expression in her eyes saying do you get the message? Leave me alone!
Inn all instance I suffered no damage.

Salvadorii; these are peculiar as they read you and anticipate your moves, they will strike without warning, in fact this specie has evolved a specialised hunting technique, they sleep well perched and grab the first thing that hits them ( bats mostly) even before they open eyes. Every keeper who touched them while sleeping has seen this behaviour, and most can testify about how they will size you up.

Albigularis; I find them to be the most prone to biting accidents then all others, they have such a strong feeding response and so little fear of keepers, once a big male jumped out the cage and darted for my feet relentless, all muscle no brains.

Salvator; its hard to provide for such a large monitor, iv yet to see a happy captive of this specie, seems to be out of reach to most keepers.
Needles to say theirs no way to fully appreciate this animal if its unhappy.
At present the worst possible choice as captive.

Just my opinion based on my experience with the many species iv kept thru the years.

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