Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would you say it's better to feed your monitor outside of it's enclodure?

Is it better to feed him inside his enclodure?

Does it even matter?

Just curious on what you guys have to say. I never thought it would matter, but I heard it's better to take him out and hand feed him, that way he'll look forward to being handled. This is JUST what I heard... At the moment, I feed mine both inside and outside of his cage. I'm curious on how you guys feed your monitors.

Se7en,

Think about it the idea that hand feading your monitor to make it easier to handle dosent really make much sence. He will learn to relate your hand with food. I have a friend wh use to hand feed his niles because they where "TAME" as he put it. He now as severe nerve damage in his hand. This happened in 99 and he still says it feals like his arm is on fire when ever he bumps something wrong. My point is feed in the cage off tongs at least 18" long. Have a good one. Ian

My monitor has started acknowledging me and looking for me. I usually interact at feeding time or cleaning. the only thing is I started having to wear a leather glove because my Sav started nipping at my hand when im doing stuff in its cage. its not an agressive nip...its like he's hungry and wont understabd im not food. Today he crawled on my glove and started "digging" at my wrist.

any advice to curb this?

i feed thawed small rats off of tongs and i usually hold an egg crate and let him pick crickets or hissers off of it.

-----
Adrian De Leon
Hissenia Reptiles

"He now as severe nerve damage in his hand. This happened in 99 and he still says it feals like his arm is on fire when ever he bumps something wrong. My point is feed in the cage off tongs at least 18" long. Have a good one. Ian"

THIS is the reality of keeping monitors; people need to open their god-damn eyes.

These things are PREDATORS, not PETS.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TAME MONITOR! Anything with a mouth can (and likely WILL in time) BITE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!

There is a healthy amount of fear that good monitor keepers have for their animals- its called self preservation. If you arent a total moron, you realize the dangers of dealing with an animal designed to tear open rotting carcasses and incapcitate small/medium animals.

LIONS dont mess with Niles; wtf makes humans think they can?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2777041413271399512&q=lions+nile&total=27&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

"My monitor has started acknowledging me and looking for me. I usually interact at feeding time or cleaning. the only thing is I started having to wear a leather glove because my Sav started nipping at my hand when im doing stuff in its cage. its not an agressive nip...its like he's hungry and wont understabd im not food. Today he crawled on my glove and started "digging" at my wrist.

any advice to curb this? "

First off, WHY do you think you should 'curb' the natural behavior of an animal? To make YOUR life better?

You are keeping a captive, the LEAST you can do is be understanding of ITS instinctual feelings- if it does something, let it do it! Dont try to find some way to change the natural behavior of your animal- its disrespectful.

Second, get it straight- your animal is VERY unlikely to be 'looking/acknowledging' YOU. Its a feeding response- youve trained this animal to see you as its food source.

DUH! I mean, COME ON people! Can you anthropomorphize these animals any further? THEY ARE LIZARDS! NOT HUMANS!

You should ALWAYS wear a glove when dealing with your monitors on a personal basis- if you dont, youre a friggin idiot and will, in time, most likely incurr a bite.

And that bite? Oh, it could be a 'friendly' little nip.... OR it could cause severe nerve damage and pain for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! GET THAT INTO YOUR HEADS!

THESE ANIMALS CAN HURT YOU! BADLY NO LESS!

*sigh*

And for the record, Im not directing this at you Hissenia- you are smart, you use tongs.... but Id quit that whole 'holding the egg carton' deal- put the carton in the cage and let the animal do its deal.

Im just so damn tired of dealing/hearing people talk about their monitors like its a dog, cat or hampster....

Dont you realize that using food to connect to your monitor COMPLETELY negates any chance of becoming close to them on a social level- they see you as the food source, THATS why they like you.

Personally, I long ago started just giving my animal its feeders on a paper towel and returning in about an hour to remove the empty towel. My animal dosnt seem to equate me with food in the least, and actually seems confused when I try to offer it food.

When it comes to me, theres nothing about food in its mind- I know its me its coming to interact with; because I havent given it food in God knows how long yet it continues to attempt interaction.

I may be looking highly upon myself here; but in my eyes, THATS the kind of interaction you want- theres no bribes, no BS; just you and the animal.

Youd be surprised just how intelligent these creatures are; which makes me all the sadder that we subjugate them to death by the thousands for our personal 'amusement'.

Its sickening, and it should stop- if that means no more monitors for us, OH WELL!

BELIEVE ME, we WILL get over it.

My savy is only 12in. at the moment. He bit me a few times when I first got him almost 4 months ago, but never bit me ever since. If anything, he'll lick my hand, but won't bite it. Depending on his behavior, I'll decide if leather gloves will be needed when he reaches decent size. I KNOW EXSACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN, but my savy is not even 5 months old. I started to pet him on his head and neck when I had him for 1 month. I was able to pick him out of him cage after almost 3 months. I took it really slow, and gave him enough time to settle, become comfortable, and confident enough. I finally feel like he accepts me. He finally realizes that I'm am not a THREAT. I just feel like, without any interactions or handling, he won't be as FRIENDLY. As long as my actions and movements ARE NOT threatning, my savy doesn't hiss, whip, or bite. I just want to keep it that way. I am not FORCING him to do ANYTHING. Thanks for saying what you had to say, because it's the truth. I was just curious on people's opnions and advice. Thanks again.

Se7en,

There is no such thing as a TAME monitor was my point exactly. I though Putting it in caps would kind of point out how stupid that sounded.

for the record didnt intend to frustrate... just lookin for info but thanks anyways

cheers
-----
Adrian De Leon
Hissenia Reptiles

Sorry about snapping iike that.... seen one too many starved monitor in a pet shop and being able to do nothing about it is frustrating to the extreme.

I was in petco about 2 weeks ago buying some fruit flys for my hatchling geckos- and I see they have a Sav.

$40; higher than I would have expected, but not that much- impulse buy fodder to the extreme.

The thing looks terrible- drooping eyes, thin, cage crawling with crickets, looked like it had a burn mark on its back.... and the cage is a half log, repti-carpet and a flourescent bulb... Grrrrrrrrr.....

Whatever, I cant do anything about it....

I come back 2 days later; Sav is gone- someone bought it, but the guy tells me it apperantly died the same day it was purchased and a refund was given.

I walk in this week, another Sav- same cage, same setup.

The cycle wont stop until its stopped- nobody is going to start breeding Savs or Niles in captivity as is; theres no profit in it.

I REALLY dont see why the supply isnt just cut off.

Theres a (minimal) threat to the wild populations.
The captive populations... well, about 90 % of them die before they reach 1 year old.

So why should animals continue to die meaninglessly? For our enjoyment? Because humans hate being told they dont have the 'right' to do whatever the hell they want?

Whatever the case; the lizards just keep on dying.

The whole thing about taking animals out of their cage to feed them started with snakes as they are not the brightest animals out there and tend to respond to cage opening with a feeding response to whatever moves when you them in their cage. This does happen with some monitors as well. That said, This is great if you have a few snakes but it can upset them as well causing them not to eat at all and if you have lots of snakes this practice can greatly increase feeding time. As far as monitors go I would be worried about them getting upset and puking their food back up with all that movement. my advice would be to just feed them in their cage and learn to use tongs and gloves when they get bigger to help avoid unintended bites.