I do not care what you personally do, but remember, these threads rarely benefit or hurt the folks doing them.

Its others who read this and pick a direction based on someones ability to transmit ideas.

In most cases, newbies decisions are based on hopes and wishes. With one basic thought, if I pay more it must be better. Or if I see someone promoting it in a reptile mag.

The problem is, I have been around a very long time, and many of those fine faces you see in advertisements, never used the product, until after they were successful and were paid to do so. In fact(some) reptile mags use articules that promote the products their advertisers sell, they then place those products on the same page.

You do not see articules by folks who do not recomend the products that SUPPORT AND PAY those mags. I am not judging those mags, they are supported by high profit products, and sadly, breeding reptiles is not high profit. Like with everything, there are a few exceptions. But I do not think its sound to base your hopes and goals on the exception.

Anyway, your supporting your choices, which is great, but your not supporting them with results. Again thats also great, except when there are results you can compare them too. And here is where I am the punk.

Because I have longterm repeated success with the raising and breeding and longevity of monitors. I have an unfair advantage. If I bring up my unfair advantage, I become the bad guy.

The truth is, you HAVE to base your choices on the results they yield. For instance, after a few years your monitors do not progress at all and you see our monitors grow up and reproduce and those babies grow up and reproduce, and such, you will have to wonder, WHY are yours not doing so. Consider, with no effort at all, all species from the smallest to the largest(albigs, croc monitors, lace monitors) Grow to adulthood and reproduce in a years time. Some of the small ones go egg to egg in four months. Again without the aid of UV bulbs, gutloading, other commerical products.

As I mentioned, what good is it promoting things that do not help and do not harm. The answer is zero good. In an area where the average sav dies in less then three months. With very very few lasting a year, and none, zero zilch(that I have heard of) breaking the decade mark. Now for comparison, folks say having them multiclutch all the time shortens their life. Yet, I have ackies that multiclutched since they were less then a year old, and are still alive at 16 yrs of age. I have a gouldi group cross that just successfully laid her 60th clutch and is nine years old, and working on 61.

Again, all without paying any attention to those products. What would you have me think?

Then consider, its been over a decade of folks like you(nice reasonable folks) saying the same thing as you, only to have their animals fail, time and time again, and it appears there are no exceptions. Susan, that is plain sad.

I do not think its difficult to keep monitors, they are so strong and easy. So, why all the failure.

With somewhere around 250,000 savs imported a year, WHERE THE HECK ARE THEY? Thats a possibility of 125,000 pairs. hahahahaha lets not go there.

In the fifteen years I have been on this forum, there have been five or six clutches of savs. One person had a female lay some of those, they hatched some, wrote a book, the female died. The other did the same thing, only did not write a book. Both keepers are really nice people, but one season does not make knowledge and understanding. But I wander.

The point is, WHATS THE DEAL, if these fine products work?

I know, I know, you want your animals to be happy. Consider what makes them happy, TO SUCCEED, makes them happy, very happy. I can explain this in greater detail if you like.

They do not read books, they do not go to plays, Their life is accomplishing their lifes goals. Just a hint, I have never seen more satisfaction/joy/whatever you want to call it, then seeing a female monitor after she easily and successfully nested. They almost appear proud. Then they do it all over as fast as they can. Cheers

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