Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a one and a half month old croc. monitor. I'm having a tough time getting him to take pinkies. He's eating ground turkey and zoo med canned monitor food no problem but i want him on a more varied diet. Anyone with any suggestions or experience in this area would be greatly appriciated. thanks

Oh crap. You have a croc monitor and are so inexperienced with monitors you don't know about the diet? You should also probably provide more details as well. Its pretty impossible to have any clue as to what is going on with the very very minimal information you provided, but you should consider feeding him full prey items and not canned mush. Could be a receipe for disaster because inexperience and croc monitors don't mix. Best of luck to you.

First off lets deal with the inexperience issue.I've been working with reptile's for 35 out of my 45 years.and monitors for about 15 years. Iv'e had 3 croc monitors prior the being lucky enough to aquire a hatchling. The others were already established. This is the first hatchling i've had the oportunity to deal with. Haven't seen much info on new born crocs. That was the reason for the post. This croc. is alittle over a month old.

Hello Dragonslayer,
First, congratulations on acquiring a most spectacular monitor lizard. You now own what I dream of every night... Be aware, though, to some this is a monitor keepers nightmare- giant enclosures, enormous food bill, and a bad bite to boot. Captive hatched imports are usually very calm and curious compared to their wild caught relatives... Obviously, you have interest in getting this animal off the cheeseburgers and onto something more wholesome... You may want to start by checking all of your temps and humidity level. Typically, under ideal conditions a croc will eat anything meat, and I mean anything. You can try leaving the dead mice in the cage on a tray(dish, etc) and don't offer the junk food for a day or two. If this doesn't do it, eviscerate the mice(cut their guts open). Hold one on your tongs(which I surely hope that you are using!) and let it sniff it a few times and then back on the tray. Leave it alone for a while (you, out of the room for a few hours). This should do the trick... Try rats also- you will need to convert later anyway. One of mine can down 20 to 30 F/T mice at one meal- again, you want rats...BTW, no hand feeding- treat it like a venomous reptile and you won't be a casualty...- this species has had enough bad press! Best to you- Mike

Nice post Lizardhead. I have used the evasceration technique on some of my snakes and on my Monitor's first F/T. There is something about the smell of blood and brains. I dream of Croc Monitors too but am not prepared to take on that challenge yet.

Let me add to the bite issue. A keeper at one of the zoos I worked for was bitten on the forearm by a 7-8 footer. I never saw so much blood in my life. As it turned out, an artery was severed and the doctors had to do a graft.
One stupid move is all it takes. And we animal keepers make a lot of those in our lifetimes!

AH

Someone posted a pic once that showed a bite from one of these guys, it looked bad. Do waters, niles, savs, BT all have this type of bite. I know they have the power but is the croc the most feared bite?
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

From my experience, any of them CAN be bad. The thing about the croc monitor is that the shape of the upper and lower mandible allows the teeth toward the center of the snout to be longer than the other teeth.
The severity of the bite will still depend on many other factors. I would have no desire to have a severe bite from any of the animals you mention!

AH

This is just my small female

Thanks. That's what I was trying to describe. When you look at skull profiles, the croc monitor has more concave jaw bones than the other big guys.
How big is this one? The 7-8 footer we had was given to us and had some health issues. The tip of the tail was necrotic and had to have about a foot removed, so he would have been longer. The "experienced" keeper was handling the animal so the vets could get a look. After it chomped the middle of his forearm, it was loose in that area (around 2500 square feet of tubs, troughs, and 8 foot cages) Believe it or not, it took awhile to find him!

AH

Hello Rotty9,
Croc monitors do have long sharp teeth, but so do many other large monitors. You don't want a bite from any of them. Water monitors, mangroves, bluetails, tricoloreds, crocs- they all have very long sharp teeth and the muscles to push them deep into you... Handle monitors only when necessary and you reduce the chances of being bitten frequently. I will go so far as to say, treat your croc monitors as though they are venomous and you will greatly reduce your level of danger. This is a beautiful species and deserves as much interest and attention as any of the other large species (provided you understand the commitment and responsibility of a large monitor lizard). Like the other large monitors their bite should not be the focus point of their captivity. I have seen croc monitor bites(deep and bloody), crocodile and alligator bites(which usually severs limbs, fingers, etc.), a 7.5' water monitor bite (deep, bloody, pulled hard and refused to let go...), giant retic bites, not to mention the venomous... Heck, iguanas have a bad bite! - Reptiles can be dangerous- be smart- be cautious- croc monitors are not bad creatures, just bad biters- don't get bitten... Factored in with the rest of the reptile world, they are monitors... no more, no less, ...respect & enjoy them- best to you all- Mike

Thanks for the info, I also was reading on these, not to get one, just to understand them. Going back to your point do you think at some point that monitors will get to the point the Captive Bred and Born Retics, Anacondas got to. Sorry for the snake terms, or will they always be flighty like the Rock Python no matter how many generations it goes through.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Hello Rotty9,
I am not sure that people are trying to breed a non-flighty monitor specifically? I do know someone who picked out a pair of specifically very calm(non bitey- weren't the prettiest though ) rock python babies raised them, bred them, and the offspring were calm also... Best to you- Mike

Mike,Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. This is the first hatchling i've had the plesure of working with. My other crocs. were 4 foot and six foot. They pretty much ate everything and at that time quail eggs and button quail were easy to come by.Two of their favorites. The cage temps. are 92 on the hot side and about 86 on the cool with a 80% or so humidity and hide spots on both sides. night time temps are 82 to 84 deg. any more info would be welcomed
THANKS.