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I have had a savannah monitor for about a year now. I bought it at about a foot long and it is a little over that now. He is not puppy dog tame haha. He will bite every now and then and I was wondering what are the odds of him calming down. Would a baby savannah become a calm monitor as appose to a monitor that is already a foot long? I would appreciate any help.
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>>I have had a savannah monitor for about a year now. I bought it at about a foot long and it is a little over that now. He is not puppy dog tame haha. He will bite every now and then and I was wondering what are the odds of him calming down. Would a baby savannah become a calm monitor as appose to a monitor that is already a foot long? I would appreciate any help.

Bearing that I have 5 years of experience with 'pets' (no reproducing or "life events" like eggs)and just three savs and a single ackie. So take this for what it is...my naive opinion...

I have told this story before but I will again. I have three monitors (savs) that came from three different places and to me at three different ages. One, I got as a hatchling, tiny, force held it.....though honestly it took all of half an hour before it didn't run or fight and would walk up and take crix from my fingers.....puppy dog.
Two, got at a foot and it thrashed and bit and generally was offended at being restrained for many months.
Three, got at probably 18 inches and over a year, a few weeks after another monitor bit off a good 4 inches of it's tail, and after it had scared it's owners into thinking it was just not the pet they wanted.
I have had One for 5 yrs, Two for 3 plus and Three for just over a year.
I feed them, work around them. Have pulled them out for major cage changes, weight checks and showing off a couple times, picture sessions too.
At this moment I could walk over, open the cage and pull any of them out. I might get Three a little upset (enough to thrash a bit) but otherwise I could hold them for touching by kids and take them anywhere and they would be civil. They would go back and eat and only be a little miffed.

My ackie will eat greedily from my hand and climb all over me, and scamper off. If I try to restrain it it gets a bit pissy but recovers the second I release it.

My point, and I do have one....
I don't think it is an age, it is what they come with. If you have forced too much you have betrayed a trust and it may take time to get over that and both of you relearn each other. If you want a tame animal get a different animal. Some monitors may never 'like' you. All you can do is give them an opportunity to trust you. It doesn't sound like your's trust you just yet. Or maybe it is just a jerk. You have just as good a chance of getting another just like it at whatever age.....or making it that way depending on what you do with it.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

If your sav was a fresh W/C when you got it, not imported and handled as a hatchling, it's still possible for it to get calmer than it is now but it may never be puppy dog tame or even casually handleable.

I don't know what techniques you've tried but forcible handling will not work with monitors, it actually makes things worse. It takes a lot of time & self control on your part to gain a monitor's trust. One forced handling session can undo several months worth of patient trust gaining.

In general, it's easier to gain the trust of any animal within the first few months of their lives. I think it would be easier to tame a 3 month grizzly bear cub than a 3yr old adult grizzly.

But where does that put you considering your circumstances? Discard the 1-foot sav you've already got and get a juvenile with nothing but hope that it will be easier to make handleable? I'm not criticizing you, by any means. I can't. I'm in just about the same boat as you are.

If you don't think you'll be happy with the sav you've got now, please, by all means, try to find someone to take it because the odds are you won't care enough for it to take care of it properly. However, don't count on a juvenile being easier right out of the box. It all comes back to you. You'll get what you put into it, with the 1-footer or juvenile.

Too many people get savs thinking they're a lot like ferrets but they aren't. They're better, but in different ways.

Take care!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

trust me, even if the monitor never likes me I would take proper care of it. But I think I may try and see if I can find someone that may have babies that will trade me a baby for mine. If I get rid of him I want him to go to someone who knows about monitors, not just any random person. I am a snake person so the monitor is suppose to be a pet but I want to try and have one that is tame, well as tame as a monitor can be.
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1.1 Motley het butter corns
0.1 Snow corn
0.1 Okeetee corn
1.0 Anery mutt corn
0.1 Stripe Ghost corn
0.1 Amelanistic corn het carmel
2.1 Colombian Redtails
1.0 Hypo Colombian redtail
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Anery Kenyan sand boa
0.1 Normal Kenyan sand boa

There's something about monitors (more than some of the obvious similarities) that attracts us snake people to them. I'm a snake guy, Sonya's a snake gal, FR's a snake guy, and so are many more people here.

But on the flip side of that, monitors are a world apart. Most don't tolerate being handled the way snakes do. Monitors don't make good "pets". Yeah, once in a great while we see an exception to the norm that causes us to think that it's possible. Hitting the lottery jackpot is possible, too.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic in any way whatsoever, just factual. I think most of us here, at one time or another, have thought the very same way you're thinking. I have. I just want you to be correctly informed, that's all.

Sonya nailed it in her last sentence of her first reply: "You have just as good a chance of getting another just like it at whatever age.....or making it that way depending on what you do with it."

In other words, it takes the same patience, techniques, to get a younger one to a handleable stage that it takes to get a 1-footer there. The one you have may take a bit longer to get there versus a younger one with the same disposition. The only thing is, if you get a younger one, it could easily have more of a pissy disposition.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't do what you're planning on doing (trading), I'm just trying to let you know how big a word "if" is.

I wish you well in whatever you decide to do.

Got any pics of the one you've got now?

Take care!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

How lucky do ya feel?
Theres a chance that it will stay exactly what it is, a wild animal that does not appreciate your misdirected affections, or there are examples that decide to accept a human or 2 into limited activities in their life.
Expect the former, but you could just hold out hope for the latter to happen, but either way expect the worse and learn to appreciate it for being what it is a monitor.

Just remember that in regards to SHvars post that you could just be "Unlucky" and have a generally ill-tempered monitor and really no matter what you do, it will always hate you. I'm sure you know this, but it's always best to avoid WC animals if at all possible, and with it being a Sav, theres not really much you can do to avoid it since they are so common in the pet market they usually aren't bred.

if you have had it for a year with little to no growth, then the issue of tameness is moot. you should be seen 3 ft of growth in that time.

the problem is not the monitor, it is you and your husbandry. a poor setup that doesn't allow growth creates many other problems, including stress.

fixing your setup would be your first, and smartest step.

check out the Sav caresheet at our site, our monitor FAQ, and get a copy of Bennett's Savannah Monitor book asap.

best of luck.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

>>if you have had it for a year with little to no growth, then the issue of tameness is moot. you should be seen 3 ft of growth in that time.
>>
>>the problem is not the monitor, it is you and your husbandry. a poor setup that doesn't allow growth creates many other problems, including stress.
>>
>>fixing your setup would be your first, and smartest step.

OOOh, I didn't even catch that. That is a very valid point. Doubled size anyway.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny