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CBS 2 (Chicago, Illinois) 19 December 07 Owners Find Lizard Too Hard To Handle - Nile Monitor Dropped Off At Chicago Animal Care And Control
Chicago (CBS): Dogs and cats aren't the only animals hanging around Chicago's Animal Care and Control these days.
Andy, a nile monitor, the largest lizard in Africa, showed up Tuesday night looking for a new home. His owners dropped him off apparently because they could no longer take care of him.
The nile monitor is a relative of the Komodo Dragon, and his native habitat is near lakes and rivers there. Right now, Andy is about three feet long and weighs about 25 pounds. He has the potential to double in size so it's no wonder his owners wanted to give him up.
By Wednesday morning, he was waiting for a ride to the Chicago Herpetological Society, which would find him a new home, most likely in a sanctuary, Ann Kent, executive director of Animal Care and Control said.
In the meantime, he was basking under a light while camera crews came in and out to see the creature with scaly skin, big claws and a powerful tail.
Nile monitors "are not recommended as family or pets in the home," Mark Rosenthal, operations manager for Animal Care and Control said. These types of animals need to be handled very carefully and as they grow, it can be difficult to keep up with their dietary needs, Rosenthal explained, adding that Andy currently eats a couple of times a week, two or three rodents at a feeding.
Nile monitors are best left alone, which became clear when Rosenthal prodded him, and Andy let out a hissing sound much like a vacuum cleaner, a clear warning to back off.
"If you really antagonized him he's capable of giving you a very severe, bad bite or scratching you or they'll lashing out with their tail," Rosenthal said.
Nile monitors are really meant to be observed. "The fun of having a reptile is probably the fascination of the uniqueness of the reptile," Rosenthal said.
Dr. Marek Dygas, executive veterinarian at Chicago's Animal Care and Control said people should try to "avoid keeping an animal like this as a pet" because they are aggressive and can carry bacteria like salmonella. He also said a nile monitor needs to live in a temperature controlled environment.
"You couldn't keep an animal like that walking on the floor in your house," Dygas said.
Owners Find Lizard Too Hard To Handle

Stupid people shouldnt breed.

This is yet another reason our hobby gets restricted further and further. Stupid people buying pets they cannot handle, should not get, and cannot care for in the first place.
By the way, thats an ornatus, not a nile, but then again you cant expect much from most keepers or animal shelters these days.

People not being to handle their animals is not the reason for that type legislation at all if it were dogs and cats would have been outlawed years ago as anyone can tell you dogs and cats make 99% of the animals in shelters. The fact of the matter is the legislation we face is an attempt by communists in the enviromental movement trying to do away with our private property rights that are of primary importance to the free society we live in. Reptiles are just an easy target and face it they always will be.

Dogs and cats, a few of the countries most powerful political organizations that make millions in donations, fund raisers, and have lots of political clout are the HSUS, AKC, UKC, most zoos, and others representing cats and dogs. These organizations make it clear that they do not want us to have reptiles, they support all organizations that try to ban exotics, they make it clear that they want you and I (the common person) to adopt dogs and cats, not to buy or adopt reptiles, birds, amphibians, inverts, etc.
There are good and bad people in these organizations, unfortunately when they use political power against exotics and their money, the public and polititions listen. Who do you think the "experts" are that the polititions who seek info on exotics, for the purpose to pass legislation against us keeping them? These very same organizations. In fact the humane society worldwide supports banning exotics for the common person, unless you are a zoo.
Theres no excuses, believe me, its easy to find these orgaizations backing the proposed laws against exotic pets.

The last 5 years have shown a marked increase in dogs and cats bought, adopted, and either returned, abondoned, or given away to shelters. It shows the attitude of the typical keeper, that even such prized pets and family members are not safe from the "throwaway" or "disposible pet" mindset.
These days so many people are into fast satisfaction, and no waiting for anything, they want, then dont want in no time at all.
Its gotten worse with parents caving to kids who are not taught to earn anything, they think that the world revolves around them. Its showing in so many places and ways nowadays.
I always thought that any reptile beyond small simple easy to care for examples should only be legally owned by or cared for by responsible adults, and maybe the laws should reflect it, who knows. If these cheap throw-away species werent so easy and cheap to buy they wouldnt be so popular, and only a few would suffer the fate that 99% of them do now.
I dont care how good your intentions are, or how well you can care for an exotic pet, as a kid you are limited by your families responsibility to them. This will never change period.

I give the idiots credit for at least realizing they can no longer take care of it and found it a better life (maybe) before they stopped feeding it and it became a decrepid sack of bones a neighbor found out in the middle of the street or something along those lines.:/