Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Bob, Did you write that article in the latest Reptiles magazine on V. prasinus ? Very informative article. Hopefully it will help educate some people out there on the proper care of prasinus.

Yes, I wrote this particular article on Varanus prasinus. I was contacted out of the blue one day by one of the editors, explaining to me that they were looking for somebody to write an article on V. prasinus for their magazine. I was hesitant to accept at first, for a number of reasons which I will not go into.

However, since it was clear that the magazine was looking for somebody to write such an article regardless of whether or not I accepted, I decided to take on the article and use the opportunity to stress upon what I felt has been poorly acknowledged in the herpetolocultural literature of the past, the sensitivity and frail nature of these animals.

Since Reptiles magazine caters to beginning and novice reptile enthusiasts, many of which are the impulse-purchase type, I felt that an article which failed to address their frailty would result in many of these beginner enthusiasts rushing out and purchasing one (or worse yet, several), after falling in love with the photos portrayed in the magazine; another reason why I accepted.

Despite the changes and deletions made to my article by the editors, I am satisfied with how it turned out, as the main points I sought to emphacize were kept intact. It is interesting however, that the magazine chose to run with a cover-page caption of "Must-have monitor", when the article itself strictly emphacizes the exact opposite what that suggests.

Take care, and thanks for the compliments.

Cheers,

Bob

*PS: Can you contact me via my email at odatriad@yahoo.com ? I have something I would like to ask you. Thanks again.
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Treemonitors.com

Wow! You have a great website! Do you have any care sheet for Savannah monitor? I would love to hear some tips from you on how to sucessfully raise a captive Savannah monitor.

Caresheets fail to allow for manipulation of conditions, which is needed as your monitor grows and matures. Relying on a caresheet for all of your husbandry needs will not allow much room for learning or understanding your captive.

Everybody wants a strict 'recipe' for keeping animals in captivity, unfortunately reptile keeping isn't that simple, as each individual will respond and react differently to the same set of conditions.

It should also be noted that most caresheets which are published on the web and distributed at your local pet store are terrible, and usually offer 'advice' which is potentially harmful or even fatal for a captive.

Your best way of learning about how to care for a captive is through networking with other keepers, and seeing what has worked and what doesn't work in various different keeper's collections. Aside from all of the fighting and bickering on these forums, they are excellent sources for meeting fellow keepers and enthusiasts. Of course learning from the behaviors of your captive is the most important aspect of learning about and caring for your charges.

What I have tried to do with my website, is to create a resource which offers/displays many different acceptable techniques and practices, from many different keepers, in the hopes of allowing for a keeper to grasp 'the bigger picture' of things, and pick out similarities shared between conditions which work, and those which do not work, to formulate his/her own individualized husbandry parameters.

Thanks for the compliments, good luck, have a wonderful day!

Bob

***I believe there is a similar Varanus exanthematicus-oriented website, which offers a broad spectrum of ideas and techniques.Check out
[url]http://www.exanthematicus.com[url]
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Treemonitors.com

I do not keep Savanah monitors, therefore I am not someone you should be asking about their captive care. As I mentioned before, use the internet to network with other people, as opposed to using it to find caresheets and blueprints for keeping these animals.

Good Luck!

Bob