As has already been said they like to hide in tight spaces. The good news is as long as it is not seriously cold it will come out eventually to forage.

You do need to look for any holes in walls and and such. Even if they seem like they are too small for him to fit into.

The first large water I ever bought (many years ago) found a hole in a wall that I could not fit my fist into and crawled into it. This monitor was large enough that I would have never guessed it could get into this hole especially considering it could swallow my fist if it had wanted to. I ended up ripping the wall up to get it out (it was upstate N.Y. in the late fall and I knew it would shut down in the wall.).

I also once had an adult mangrove escape while cage cleaning and shoot around my house faster than anything I had ever seen reptile wise. I jumped behind a drum kit and barely caught it as it was halfway into a tiny mouse hole behind the drum kit.

Once again other than having had the previous experience I would have never guessed the mangrove would have fit into that hole.

Good luck on finding your monitor. As someone else mentioned locks are a good idea, I keep them on the cages with my bigger waters even though I seldom have visitors to my house or children (my own or others) you never know what may happen (break-ins, overly curious repairmen, etc.) that could cause an escape or worse yet a bite you would be liable for.

As for your brother I think a good shot from a taser is in order.

[ Hide Replies ]

• escaped young Ornate Monitor - reptilegirly, Thu Apr 14 11:24:33 2011
• RE: escaped young Ornate Monitor - rk262, Thu Apr 14 12:37:06 2011
• RE: escaped young Ornate Monitor - basinboa, Thu Apr 14 18:54:27 2011
• RE: escaped young Ornate Monitor - Calparsoni, Fri Apr 15 13:08:52 2011
• RE: escaped young Ornate Monitor - jdecker94, Fri Apr 15 19:52:21 2011