Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are a few pics of my new Timor I got today. He's about 1' at this point and I am pretty sure he's a male, but not 100%. I have yet to name him...

Yup, gonna have to give him a few days to adjust to his new home. I tried to take him out tonight and got bit right between the fingernail and skin. It wasn't pleasant. I figure if he's a biter nwo though that if I handle him and don't put him down while he tried to bite, perhaps he'll learn that biting does him on good. Do you think this is a good tactic to take, or would any of you have any better advice? Right now his bites don't really hurt much so I could hang onto him while he clamps down if you think that would help to keep him from biting inthe future if he realizes it's doing no good.

Thanks for any advice.

The way you are going at "taming" is not the way to go. Believe me i know. When i had my first monitor lizard i did that. I would hold it everday and it hated it. The person i bought it off of told me i should (usually not the best people). But after a while it would just sit there in my hand and i thought it was "tame".

Actually it just lost the will to live. It ran away everytime it saw me. It actually hated me. Tame isnt sitting in your hand and letting you pet it. Tame is it tolerating you and it semi-trusting you. Now that i'm alot smarter and have alot more experience and most off all have gotten help from people on this site, I now know that I shouldnt touch it.

Give it good care and leave it alone. It will get used to you gradually. It might not. Every monitor has its own personality. It will take a very long time. But you will have better success with it.

Now my monitor will climb onto my hand for food (not picking him up) and he now tolerates me. This process took 3 years.

I cannot give the best description on how to do this. This topic has came up tons of times with the exact same thing happening. So the best thing you should do is go through the archives and look for "handling" or something like that. You will learn alot.

cheers,
Sean

I love this advice.

I was never a fan of the hold it every day and it will get tame mentality. I agree that just makes them hate you are give up and become miserable. Lets face it reptiles do not like being held. Anyone who says their lizard relishes being held and cuddled is either illusional or a nut. If they loved you they would come running and try to sit in your lap like a dog does. At the very best they tolerate us.

My lizards have learned to tolerate me by the way I behave around them. I reach in to change their water, I move slow, I replace their water and I leave them alone. I dont bother them when they are hiding or eating. I dont pet them. When I do need to handle them Im gentle and try to restrain them as little as possible. And most of my guys are ok. Certain species like bearded dragons seem to not give a crap if you pick them up. They are one of the rare ones and probably one of the reasons they are so popular. I only have two monitors at the moment and they are ok. They will hiss and tail whip but once I have them out they dont try to bite any more. I only handle them when necessary.

I have a reptile room and Im in there a lot. So they see me moving around and I suppose over time they have learned I am not going to kill them. They see me as a food source. When I get near them they come looking for food. Once they realize its not feeding time they go back to business as usual, hating my guts. Ive had a skink for 16 years and he still runs when I put my hand in the tank. Well, he waddles. 16 years and he still thinks Im going to kill him. He doesnt bite, hes a runner.

If you just got the lizard its a good idea to leave it alone for a couple weeks and let it adjust to its new home. Then just be patient.

But then again Im of the belief that reptiles shouldnt be handled all that much. If you want a cuddler get a dog or a cat. I dont handle my animals any more than necessary and I think they are the better for it. I like the idea of gentle but infrequent handling. Most animals calm down. Some never do. I like to see lizards act like lizards. If you give them a large enough cage, the right heat, food, etc and leave them alone they can exhibit some interesting behavoirs. If they are terrified and spend 90% of their time hiding you will never see them act like lizards. And if they are getting picked up several times a day by a well meaning keeper thats what they are going to do. They're gonna hide.

The people I know who have the most success with their monitors rarely handle them. And when he does handle them after the initial "GET AWAY FROM ME OR ILL KILL YOU" drama is over they relax and begrudgingly allow themselves to be handled. They no longer bite they just hiss and give you that monitor look. Im sure their are exceptions to this rule Im just speaking from personal experience.

Your timor is gorgeous. I would just enjoy him for what he is and have patience.