Reptile & Amphibian Forums

That pic of Sobek being held is amazing. Not sure how many blachthroats you've had, but in your estimation do you have any opinion on what percentage will reach that size (with proper conditions of course). Anyone else with opinions welcomed
Thanks

Referenced. They (as a species) have been kept a long time in captivity, so there are many sources of info to compare as far as size, age, weight, etc etc. Now since then diets, reproduction, and captive care in general have improved, so who knows if the books will update.
I would have to guess that from info in books, in the time Ive kept monitors, as well from forums Ive read (the last 4 or so years)and pictures Ive seen of the average keepers BT that most dont seem to live to 3ft long. Most that do have them live to see sexual maturity either lose interest or sell them to make space (they take lots of it up). Of course the type of keeper that buys a large monitor already raised by someone else usually doesnt have the knowledge or experience to properly care for them, its a novelty thing, the lizard dies in what seems like no time, or lives a little while and does not grow.
In my experience the high numbers of suffering, sickly imports already a few years old brought here anywhere from almost hatchling size to 3,4,5ft long are not going to attain any real size, probably an average of around 5ft, of course this is the keepers who doesnt know what they are doing or wants more immediate satisfaction by getting what they would term well started monitors (long suffering is more accurate).
Of course most of my albigs have been in the category (no matter how good they looked or how healthy they seemed) of long term abused before I got them, I get some great growth in a short time from them, but long term problems seem to pop their ugly heads out. I had 3 from one suplier, 2 of 3 were fast growing, and short lived no matter what I did (my care wasnt as good then either), one had to go while I recovered from an accident. Since that time my confidence in the reptile industry went up, I see some more captive bred albigs (I was very lucky that some life events got me back to this hobby exactly when they did.
I cant say with proper care that any will average any size, I guess we need more keepers willing to do that just to prove the point. I think more people need to get hatchlings and raise them and keep them for the long haul. The info thats been around a long time says 5-7ft plus average size, lets see that average go up.
So far personally Ive only seen large albigs in a hand full of keepers collections (Jody Pieper, Dan Turner, Rob Faust, of course Pro Exotics, someone I used to know years ago named Peggy (she had 2 that were 6ft plus), Mark Bayless, myself, and a very few others, why??
Personally if I had to cut my collection down to size or sell off animals to make space, Sobek would be the only reptile in my collection, shes been a one of a kind ever sice I got her. For this I thank Rob Faust, and ProExotics for giving her that needed start in life.

Thanks for the input. Again, Sobby looks great.

A long time ago, I believe 1970 or early 71. I worked at Ross Allens Reptile institute. I was the head keeper, hmmmmmm for most of the time, I was the only keeper, hahahahahaha.

I forget who wrote this paper, but it was about longevity in captive snakes. He published that the average captive(zoo) snake lived for under two years. Remember that was the average. He then went on to say that is took about two years for a captive snake to die under poor conditions. That is, the average captive kept in a box and watered would live near two years.

That paper of very interesting to me. As I was already breeding some snakes.

At the institute they did not heat or offer hot spots for anything. So one day, the curator(Andy Koukacoulis(sp)) and I had a discussion on the advantages of providing heat. Well, it came down to this, we made a bet. I bet him that I could raise some retics way faster then he could. He believe all you need was space. (remember room temps in Fla. are not that bad) The conflict was, Heat vs. Space.

So I ordered up five babie retics, they were newly hatched about 23 inches. As in really small.

The curator took three and put them in this large cage, something like 8 feet long, 5 feet high and three deep. I got a really small cage(thats all I was allowed) three feet, by two feet, by a foot high and it had a center divider. hehehehehehehe, So I installed a lite fixture in each side.

The one thing they did well at Ross Allens was buy food for their animals and the keepers. So we have plenty of food.

As you can imagine, I fed my two retics everyday, sometimes more. And as you can imagine, he fed his once or twice a week. After a couple months, the curator asked how my retics were doing. I said fine. He asked to see them. Mine were hidden in a back room, his were in a large entry room. I brought one of mine out, the curator gasped and almost fell down. My retics were nearly 7 feet, in two months and 95F constant, with all the food they could eat. His had grown about three inches(not bad I guess)

The sad part was, he did not live up to his end of the bet(i have no idea what it was) he simply said, "make them all that way" hahahahahahahahahaha So what I won was more work. hahahahahaha. Cheers

You left out what you were supposed to win .
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hbailey

0.1 argus
1.0 bosc

Interesting story. I know you once had some sulcattas that grew up well and fast also. Following the same principle of optimal conditions, any idea a sulcatta could be raised up large?