Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey I am thinking of getting a cb yearling pair of melinus from Terry Lilley. Does anyone have ideas on caging?. I will be putting them in a 4'wide 10'long 8'high cage. Any ideas appreciated. Has anyone ever purchased from Terry.

Jeff
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Kitsap Reptiles
1.0 Sumatran water
2.2 Kimberlys
3.3 Tegus
1.1 Cuban Rocks
1.1 San Estabans
1.1 Suriname boas
2.2 Balls
1.1 Mali Uros
1.1 Jaguar pythons
1.1 JCP

Do yourself a favor and use that space for storage or something. Melinus are some of the worst captives. You will be nothing but disappointed.

Have you ever owned captive ones?
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Kitsap Reptiles
1.0 Sumatran water
2.2 Kimberlys
3.3 Tegus
1.1 Cuban Rocks
1.1 San Estabans
1.1 Suriname boas
2.2 Balls
1.1 Mali Uros
1.1 Jaguar pythons
1.1 JCP

Yep. Worst monitor experience of my life.

thanks for the info mike I will use to help me decide

jeff
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Kitsap Reptiles
1.0 Sumatran water
2.2 Kimberlys
3.3 Tegus
1.1 Cuban Rocks
1.1 San Estabans
1.1 Suriname boas
2.2 Balls
1.1 Mali Uros
1.1 Jaguar pythons
1.1 JCP

No problem. How large is your sumatran? And our Cubans? Any pics?
Thanks

A melinus is your worse choice of a display animal. Your best choice was your original choice, an argus monitor.

Unfortunately they are not the best for handling in front of groups of people. Argus have a mind of their own and will want to go play with the people. Which is why they are a great display animal.

The best for handling is a Sav. They are so, because its their natural behavior to lay low and let the threat go by. Which means to sit still in adverse conditions. Taking them away from their homes is indeed adverse conditions. Monitors are homebodies, all of them. Taking them out of their scented home area is stressful. Its how they react to this stress that is what your really judging.

Taming any wild animals is taking their natural behaviors and mutating/aborting them to satisfy human entertainment values. None of these animals WANT to be used for human entertainment, be it a whale or porpoise or monitor. They would always choose to do otherwise.

I understand that you call taking animals to classes and malls/fairs, education. And you can call it anything you like, but I get the feeling is 99% of the time, its only entertainment.

How about making videos of them(these monitors) in nature, and in captivity, showing them doing normal life events, IN BOTH. You know, borrowing, climbing, feeding, breeding, hatching, growing, and of course another normal part of natural life, dying. Showing that in both captivity and in nature would indeed be EDUCATIONAL.

So do the needful and oblidge, use an argus and clip its nails. They are the most mentally strong and can put up with our silliness. Cheers

I appreciate your help FR, I am thinking of going with a pair of
black heads. I know a lot of people use them for entertainment like you said. I have had reptiles for 25 years I keep mine in large enclosures in a 1200 sqft building. I have only had monitors for two years( mostly keep cyclura and boas) I like the sumatran that I got from Robyn at Pro exotics and love the Kimberlys. I do not use them for entertaining, I go to schools for free and try to educate the kids and teachers that reptiles are not gross slimmy creatures. I also have had our area mayors and county commissioners and washington fws out. I do not keep reptiles for profit but purly for the joy. Do you think black heads are suitable? or are argus still your favorite? I am looking at the trio Kevin Brown has I know him and have purchased a pair of San Estaban from him. I you still think argus are the best do you breed them or know any one who does perfer not wc or from online pet store (worried about mites etc)

thanks Jeff K
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Kitsap Reptiles
1.0 Sumatran water
2.2 Kimberlys
3.3 Tegus
1.1 Cuban Rocks
1.1 San Estabans
1.1 Suriname boas
2.2 Balls
1.1 Mali Uros
1.1 Jaguar pythons
1.1 JCP

In my opinion tristis are a much better choice than melinus. Argus are cool, but can be a little intimidating if you aren't prepared for their total lack of fear.

V.tristis are actually small monitors. They rarely reach three feed. Kimberlys also reach three feet(males in both cases) But both of these are small monitors.

Tristis are also VERY VERY fast. If your going to take them public, make sure they are cool or they will be gone.

I still recomend Argus, because they are tuff and can take a beating. Big males can be a handful, but if used often for shows, soon learn to settle down, much like most other reptiles.

I do not breed pure argus at this time, check the classifieds, I saw some in there yesterday or the day before. Haven't looked today.

By the way all melinus are wild caught or from eggs from wildcaught. Cheers

I like mine, but I am not a very "hands on" keeper. I see him / her out every morning and that works for me. JMHO

Kevin

I do not see where you said that you are using them for traveling demos but i may just be missing something. If that is the case i can think of better suited species.

However, i have not had the same experience with melinus as others have voiced. On the contrary. I have only had a few dozen of them so my experience is limited compared to others. I would however much rather acclimate a wild caught adult melinus than say a wc adult doreanus. They acclimate much faster and perhaps i have just been luck but find them to be much better display animals than many other species. All of my melinus were purchased for resale except for a group of 3 that i decided to keep. 2 were wc adults that i acclimated and were baby tame. The other was a captive hatched from wc female baby that a person had for 2 years and I got in a trade. I had them for over a year before a zoo talked me out of them. They are now a very popular attracation in the zoo. I set them up for them and they have had several clutches of eggs so far. All of the other ones that i purchase for resale stay with me until they are well acclimated (eating from my hand, etc.)

The pics below are some cb babies (true captive bred, captive born babies. They exist but are rare.