Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think there are times that all of us want a specific answer, a specific set of instructions and/or material list. In some cases that type of answer (reply) may be appropriate or neccesary, but FR made a comment in another thread recently that I feel is important to bring to everyone's attention.

While being pressed for a specific answer on caging material, FR replied, "After all, is that not what we are suppose to do. Give them reason to think, and not make all decisions for them."

He's right. There are so many things that make FR's statement true. Now, I don't want to get into rehashing that particular thread so I'll move onto my point.

When uneccesary, specific answers can cause us to rely on others too much, to where we don't think for ourselves. In most cases, personal, environmental, and other circumstances, can be a factor that would/could void someone's specific answer.

(Frank, forgive me for using as an example again here.) I've never seen FR say exactly what brand/type of bulbs he uses for basking. Heh, and yeah, it frustrated me just a tad at first. But consider this: If Frank were to say, "I use 'Hillbilly' brand, product # BR549 (Hee Haw), for basking bulbs" then most of us will run out & get the same thing. A few months later the manufacturer changes that style or stops making 'em. We're all going down on the same boat. We're all gonna be scrambling for a life vest.

Yeah, I know, that's a stretch of imagination but ya'll know I've got quite an imagination. Ha! Ha! But seriously, I hope you see the point I'm trying to make.

One more thing and I'll shut up, for a few minutes.

When I met Tom Crutchfield at the Daytona show I asked him for a bit of business advice. I was thinking about getting into a certain aspect with snakes. I mean, the man's done it for, what, 30 yrs or more, I figr'd he could give me some good input, so I ask him. What was his answer? "Whatever makes you happy." I started laughing and told him, "That's not what I wanted to hear."

He replied, "Honestly, whatever makes you happy, go for it."

He's dead right! And I admire him for not influencing me when he possibly could have. Thanks, Tom! BTW, I'm pursuing what I asked about.

Some of these ol' codgers around here know what they're doin' when they give vague answers. The Internet is a great tool, but too often its used instead of the greatest tool we have, our brains. Granted, some of us are lackin' even a flathead screwdriver we need to tighten up a few of our loose screws, but use that ol' noggin for somethin' more than a hat rack sometimes.

So, try not to get discouraged or frustrated when you get vague answers. Most of the time it will work out for your own good. Think, my man (or woman), think!

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

BONGO????? got me

There is one fact, this is a monitor forum. So I treat it like one. If monitors taught me anything, its this. They are not caresheet reptiles. That is, you cannot take information from a caresheet and apply it and have success over the long term. As in, caresheets are a place to Start, not meant for longterm use.

They(varanids) are a thinking mans reptiles(person/she/he/it, whatever) They require a constant change in tactics. That is, what "works" for young ones, changes as they grow, and does not work so well for older ones. That is, in a physical nature.

More importantly, monitors are, if I may quote Tom C, are a "complex behavioral beast". And they without question change behaviorally as they age. RADICALLY

So both physically and mentally, they radically change. This requires a very key ability. That is the ability to "THINK" the ability to use our grey matter. Not stick to a caresheet. So I do not give answers, I cause keepers to think. As that is KEY.

Books say monitors are solitary, when those books are kinda right, OLD individuals become solitary. The problem is, young producing adults are highly social.(where have we seen this before, hmmmmm everywhere) Then consider, the majority of reproduction(recruitment) occurs with young adults. Both in captivity and nature. A thinking person would concentrate on what????? young adults or old adults??? So why does science concentrate on old solitary adults???? got me, it doesn't make sense. But hey, thats science!

Why I say such things is, you must treat them as they require, on a timely basis. The timely basis changes as they age.

Again, old massive adults use heat in a much different way then smaller adults. ITs all about he ability to shed heat, not gain it. Just a little brain twister.

So you should keep an eye on the internet and see how many fail as their monitors age. Hmmmmmmmm why you ask, cause the monitors change and the keepers do not. OK, you asked me to rant so I did, and gladly so. Did I mention we saw 21 snakes in two hours last night. hahahahaha Cheers

By the way, since moving all the adult Green Iguanas here I have tons of large and small wild Iguanas that have moved in. Today I had a wild baby attempting to get in the adult enclosure. Just more proof on how social many lizard species are..thanks...TC

I've always said that caresheets should only be used for establishing a starting point and not followed to the "T" on a day-by-day basis. And that's for ANY reptile.

I remember the phrase or term you're talking about that Tom made, he said it when we were discussing savs being imported and captive bred. It stuck with me, too. I remembered the words "social" & "complex" but couldn't remember what order or what the other word was. I had to go back & look it up and what he said was that varanids have a "complex social structure." What you said was close enough for government work. I think you know I'm not correcting you with ill intentions. I'd correct Tom if he messed up your "heat 'em & feed 'em" line. Ha! Ha!

I've got an idea! To keep these sayings pure so they don't change we'll translate 'em to Latin, you know, like they do scientific names.

Alright, I'll say that Tom's phrase is "complex social creatures." Here it is in Latin, so memorize it, copy/paste it into one of your important monitor folders.

"complex social creatures" - universa amicabiliter creatura

"heat 'em and feed 'em" - estus lemma quod nutritor lemma

> > > "Did I mention we saw 21 snakes in two hours last night. hahahahaha"

I read it another one of your posts, now quit rubbin' it in you lucky rascal. Ha! Ha! I've only been a few times this year but haven't seen the first one at night. Heck, I've only seen one snake (alive) on the roads all year and it was a Timber Rattler. Everybody else around here has seen plenty but I reckon my timing's off or I'm losing my touch.

Catch ya later!
HH

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

"OLD CODGERS"? I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK...TC

Ha! Ha! And I know that's not a typo. You wear it well, my friend.

Heck, I'm not much younger. I long for the day that I go from being one of the "toolless, screw-loose ones" to an "ol' codger." but I'm afraid I'll skip right over that one and go on to "senile."

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