Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok i just recently bought a ball python and a red haired tarantula. both of them are fairly nice pets but i went to a pet store the other day and the guy there told me about these monitors and i looked them up on youtube and found that they are way more interesting than the two pets that i have. i got the ball python at petco for half price for 30 bucks. reason i got the python is cause i wanted a small pet now and a slow growing pet that gets fairly big. i am ok with getting a monitor that is about 4 feet or a little bigger. i just have no idea what types there is or what the differences in all of them are. I am looking for something pretty smart, pretty small to start with that will grow slowish, and that cane be tamed over time. So far i have been looking at the Savannah monitor. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, thanks.

Hey there!
I see two keywords, "pet" and "tame." The input you're looking for depends on your interpretation of them.

One thing that might help you is to do a search of the forum using the words "tame monitor" or some variation. Sometimes using the "plus sign" in front of one or the other will give you more/better results. (The plus sign won't show in a post because it's interpreted as code, thus the reason I didn't use the sign itself instead of the words.)

I'm not trying to put you off by sending you on a search instead of trying to give you the input you're seeking, it's just that you'll get more opinions and probably better answers from the search than I could give you. Do a search and read several past discussions on it and then let us know what your idea of "pet" & "tame" is and we can take it from there.

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Ok i will try that, I don't know why I didn't think of that. I do that all the time in other forums. -Thanks

Hey!
Just checking on ya to see if you're any closer to making a decision. All monitors are intelligent and I feel that they're in a world of their own. I've kept snakes for nearly 40yrs and lizards, including monitors, for just over a year now.

Just keep in mind that the bigger the monitor, the bigger the cage. At first thought it doesn't sound too bad, but when you really stop to think about it, let's say, like for an adult savannah; I feel that the minimum cage size should be 4ft(W) x 6ft(L) x 4ft(H). Then you've got to put in 2ft of soil, which makes the cage a wee bit heavy.

Savs are popular almost entirely due to their low cost. Set their price the same as the average monitor and most people would choose another species.

Regardless of what monitor you decide on, it's best to accept it as being nothing more than a "look at" creature because there's a chance that individual may never allow you to handle it.

Like I said earlier, I wasn't tryin' to brush you off, just help you to be better informed. If you've got any specific Qs, fire away.

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

What species would be the smallest in full adult size? and how much attention would I need to give it per day? and last how much food would it go through a week?
thanks

You would be better off to start a new thread asking these questions. You'll get more responses, a variety of opinions. This thread is too far down the list, people rarely scroll down this far.

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