Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Oh right....Lets hear both sides and your experiences.

Husbandry is correct (just for this senario)

Leave the monitor alone and let it trust you and gain it's trust through food. If it decides to allow you interaction, lucky you.

Handle it every day and it will be conditioned to feel handling is a part of life. Yes the monitor will feel stressed out, but that will fade with time.

Any takers......

Hmmmm. Good poll. I never had good luck trying to "food tame" a monitor, and never had the patience either. I see nothing wrong with no handling. I let my monitor be, only handling it as needed, which is not much.

I am against force handling.

What do you mean "it will fade in time?" Stress is stress and your monitor will think, "wow, this sucks" every time you handle it.

I will only handle my monitors when they allow it.

-Dean

Scroll through the threads here. This topic has been gone over and over like a gazillion times.

I have had a red ackie for around a year now and he has started to come up to the glass and I can open it and put my hand out and he will come out and run up my arm to my sholder and then jump on the bed and hang out and hes not that hard to get back in the cage either. not forced at all, just did it on his own.

just wanted to share.
-----
0.1.0 BCI, 3 yr old
0.0.1 Ridge Tail Monitor
0.0.1 ArgusXflavi Cross monitor
0.0.1 Leoperd Gecko, Juvi (My girlfriends)

Times is that each new member here wants to think that they are the exception, that what was told to another (when its not something they wanted to get as a response) new member does not apply to them.
Of course if one person out of 20 says its a good idea they may disregard everyone else and do it, because that was the answer they wanted, then again if noone says its ok they may follow advice that it is a good idea from elsewhere.
Also to consider for this person, each individual monitor is different, each and every one has its own personality, and their varying levels of what they will allow. When you see a true healthy tame monitor you are seeing a very rare captive, why because it was tame to start with, it accepted that person to that exact level, at that time, so if you want to gamgle go right ahead, the chances are that you will be among the vast majority who either give up on them because they are not lap-dogs or decide to accept them as they are, as wild animals.

Ha! The funny part is "When are WE gonna learn not to answer the same question a gazillion times?" Ha! Ha!

I told myself I wasn't gonna reply the first few times I saw the initial post. However, I guess the temptation was too strong for me to continue resisting. And I see I'm not the only one. Hahahaha!!!

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

Of all my monitors, this is the only one that will not hold it against me. He does not like it and I generally sustain some sort of injury as a result, ha ha ha. The thing is, this bugger comes right back to me for food or just plain curiosity afterward. The others avoid me like the plague when handled, so I do so only out of necessity.

I'd call that trust & mutual respect - the best foundation for any relationship of any kind, with anything/anyone.

My male sav is about the same way, tolerates it somewhat but let's me know he don't like it. My female sav doesn't seem to mind being handled, but I still only handle her (and my others) when it's necessary.

You've got good timing, Roger. I was just finishing up reading somewhere else about your award when you posted here. Congrats!

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

Thanks HH. I think maybe those guys over there like messing with me, heh heh. I think the award should have been for the best copycat, ha ha ha.

Roger

To put it in context that most people can understand & relate to:

Get a dog, or puppy. Yell commands at the top of your lungs everytime you want it to do something. What will you have? A dog or puppy that will be scared -hitless everytime you give it a command. It will not be relaxed and cannot be itself.

Force-handling monitors, of any species, will have the same effect. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Another view:

When a parent comes home from work and their spouse instructs their child to "Go give daddy a hug" and they do, it make s us feel good. But when daddy comes home from work and the child goes & gives daddy a hug without being told to, it makes you feel GREAT. They did it because they WANTED to.

It's all about the keeper, what the keeper really wants, period.

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

VERY VERY VERY true.

Se7en,

Theres something YOU have to understand. To tame a monitor, or any animal is a TALENT. That means, its something you have to develop. A skill. Its more about your ability then about how it effects the monitor.

If you had an understanding of monitors, you would understand, that healthy monitors can not only withstand lots of stress, but males seem to invite confrontation. In otherwords, males seem to enjoy a good fight. Healthy monitors are NOT easily stressed, you handling them IS nothing.

With females, you HAVE to understand how it effects the reproductive process and adjust to the condition of the female.

So you must first understand what a healthy monitor IS. My thoughts are, why don't people think about, ask about and are more concerned with WHAT A HEALTHY MONITOR IS, and how to bring that condition about. I think you and others should be asking more about that and not if handling is good, bad or indifferent.

So, yes handling IS bad, if you do not know what your doing. No, its not bad if YOU know what your doing. And No, its not a question anyone can answer if they do not KNOW your talent and abilities. Cheers

Very nice explanation. So I will ask the question... WHAT ARE SIGNS OF A HEALTHY MONITOR?
Thanks

Se7en,

I purchased my baby sav about 3 months ago. He was about 6 inches long, and he was VERY VERY VERY defensive. He would whip, hiss, and bite. Everytime I tried to reach in, or pet him, he would respond in a very agressive way. After a few weeks of this, I decided to just let him be, inorder to minimize the STRESS from the recent move and all. Even in the first month or two he was still very fiesty. I SLOWLY earned his trust, until he would let me pet him on his head/neck. And now finally on the 4th month, I can pick him up out of his cage without any hissing or whipping. He is now 12 inches long. Seemed like it took a long time for him to trust me this much. But I feel like I didn't force him into anything, and therefore feel like I did the right thing by giving him his own space and time. It's probably better to be patient and leave him alone, until "HE" is ready to interact with "YOU". Not the other way around. Just make sure you're aware of your movements and actions, making sure you're not offending or threatning him in any way. This is what happened in my case, and just wanted to let you know, that leaving him alone until he feels confident and/or comfortable, is definately the best way for your monitor.(maybe not for you, because you have to wait a long time). This is just MY personal oppinion. Hope I was of somewhat help. O yea, my monitor loves to EXPLORE outside of his cage, he is very curious (just something different from his enclosure).

Se7en,