Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I'm new to monitors and I thought I might find a good species to get here. I'm looking for a good monitor for a pet that is around the size of a sav. I don't really like savs very much, I think that I'd rather go for a more arboreal monitor. I also think timors and ackies are too small, so if anyone knows any good ones that are a good size that would be great. It doesn't really matter how rare they are because there is a reptile show twice every month around where I live, and they have practically everything. Thanks

Dumerils(brown rough neck)monitors make excellent pets,climb and need a tall cage,usually have great temperaments and are around 4' and thinner than Savs.I had a beauty that unfortunately got Cancer in a limb that kept coming back and eventually had to be put down because of mounting Vet bills to save her.She was even better than my Sav in her attitude.

I have a pair and they are very cool. They will eat out of my hand. Their main problem is the eviscerating mice. Cleaning up rodent guts in not fun. They like crayfish and crab, and some people feed them instead of rodents.
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Ed

Thank you so much! I am considering buying a monitor, but I can't decide if it's a better choice than a rt boa.

well here is something I can speak about from personal experience. I've owned my two boas for the last four years. Great animals, very tame, easy to care for IMO. Great to handle, easy to predict, feeding is simple and straightfoward. I can feed them, leave for a few days and come back with no worries, so long as power is maintained and water is there. I've always had a fascination with large snakes and they are the perfect large constrictor pet. They are, however, not spectacular animals to watch. They hide in their logs, most activity is nocturnal, and their speed is only truly realized at feeding time.

Monitors are on a whole different level. I recently bought a black roughneck (very similar to a dumerils) and he is GREAT. However, feeding is more involved and not as well documented, IMO. Housing is more involved, basically generally husbandry is much more intricate and time-consuming. All that being said, I LOVE MONITORS. The interaction you have with them, their curiousity and active nature, all make them incredible animals.

Basically, it boils down to this. If you want an animal to put in a cage, feed occasionally, look at and take out whenever, and just keep warm, the snake is for you. If you are looking for a more involved pet that will reward you with interaction and curiousity but take more of your time and effort for its care, than the monitor may be for you. Dont get me wrong, I still enjoy my snakes and all that they are but monitors are a completely different kind of pet. Did I miss anything?

OH YEA, PLEASE PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST. Do not go buy a monitor or snake on a whim and then find out about it after you have it at home. See what the requirements for each are. Find out how big it will get, how much space it will need, what to feed it, how warm to keep it day AND night, and any other special considerations. I hate to see SO many monitors and large snakes alike for sale because the owner bought it when it looked 'cute' at the pet store, not realizing that nice 12" nile monitor is going to grow up to be a 6' long tangle of tail and claw that may or may not be friendly.
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Chris
1.0.0 Columbian Boa
1.0.0 Columbian x Hogg Island Boa
0.1.0 Argentine Rainbow Boa
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.0.1 Black Throat Monitor
0.1.0 Black Rough-neck monitor

hey chris,

i really hate to sidetrack this thread, but i am dying to know
what a columbian X hogg island looks like. might you have any
photos?

orinoco

sure sure, i have a few but this one is the best. She is just under 4 yrs old now, about 62"-64" long and approx 5.5 lbs. (all verified by a recent vet checkup) Her coloration will vary day to day, from a dark brown like her columbian cagemate, to the light tan/grey you see in this pic. She also has awesome iridescence that shows well in the sun.

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Chris
1.0.0 Columbian Boa
1.0.0 Columbian x Hogg Island Boa
0.1.0 Argentine Rainbow Boa
2.0.0 Bearded Dragons
0.0.1 Black Throat Monitor
0.1.0 Black Rough-neck monitor

Thanks everybody, I think I might go w/ a red tailed boa. I just find that they are much more popular these days and being popular, there is much more info out there. With some monitors, the information is hard to find and not reliable, especially if it's from a breeder at a show. I just learned this a week ago when I went to a show, I was amazed at how sometimes they try to get you to buy the retile. First of all, this guy had this bc, but it was some rare subspecies and it was HUGE!! I mean, I've seen a full grown bc, but this thing was huge! Anyway, he was selling it and told me the bc will be happy in a 100 gallon tank, to my suprise. I found this really sad, because that snake must have been giant, and he recommended only a 100 gallon. And another thing, I was looking at some female veiled chameleons owned and currently priced by a woman who breeds them. She let me handle the cute babies, but I wasn't interested in buying but acted like I was because usually when these breeders find out that you're not interested, they stop being nice. Now I don't know a lot about chameleons, but she told me that if you don't breed a female, it will die at 2 years old, but if I do, it will live at least 4 years. Now she said that if I buy one of her chameleons, she'll breed it for me when it's ready and then keep the eggs. So then I left her stand and went to another veiled chameleon stand, and there, the breeder told me the complete opposite. He told me that if you breed them, they live less. I started not trusting either and stopped looking at chameleons.
The other things about monitors (I don't really know if this is true), but compared to snakes, you feed them more, and they poop more. Now w/ a boa, it's like feeding once a month and defecating once a month, w/ urates a little more. Also, monitors need a larger and more specialized enclosure; while boas need something that could be as simple as a vision cage and they need no uv lighting too. Monitors also need to be socialized more, and there are also no claws on a boa. I have a bd, so I know lazy, and I don't mind having a non-active reptile as a pet. The other thing I heard, is that monitors aren't as flexible when it comes to taking them out of their cage. I've heard that they will not tolerate leashes, on the other hand, boas can be carried around and they shouldn't have much problems if they're tame. Sorry if I have bored you guys, but being 14, there isn't anyone else to talk to about this. I've done a lot of research, and a bc is often the best species of snake for a pet, or so I've heard.
Thanks for the replies!!!

you dont need either a large lizard or a snake. if your 14 and you must have a reptile, get yourself a sudan plated lizard or some anoles or something. do you have a job? are your parents going to pay for all the food, every week? my sav's only like 15 inches and he eats like 80 crickets, 4 grasshoppers (he loves those grasshoppers), and 6 pinkys or fuzzys a week. imagine how much a 4 or 5 foot long one would eat? you gotta clean there stankin @$$ poo like every day, and its like a small dogs, except all drippy and smells like nasty bugs and mice and stuff. i dont mean to sound discoraging, cause i had reptiles since birth practically, and im not but a few years older than you, but you really should think realistically. boa constrictors also are enormouse, messy, and can be dangerous. unfornutaley, most of the ones iv met have been very aggressive, and they have some really sharp teeth.