Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a few questions...

how important is dirt? I have a large water dish for her to swim/bathe in, and there are several places to hide. Should I still have some dirt in there for her to dig around in?

What techniques should I try for training? I used to have a savannah monitor; that was easy enough to train. I'm expecting this water monitor to be more difficult. Especially considering, when I bought the savannah, it could barely eat large crickets, and this water monitor is already eating fuzzies. So when it bites (like tonight), its not as painless as it once was =).

Speaking of the bite. She held on for quite a bit. It drew some blood, but the teeth are still short and so there are no deep wounds that I can see. I washed with soap; is that sufficient? Also, it took some time to get her to let go. I was afraid to pry her mouth open, I didnt want to hurt her. I know you can put whiskey in a spray bottle and squirt a bit in a snake's mouth if it bites; should I do this with the monitor when she bites?

I used to make a mix of ground turkey with some other things for my savannah. What specific mixture should I be making for the water monitor? Any other diet-related tips?

Thanks for your time.

Any other useful tidbits would be appreciated.

They are inexpensive, easy to keep /store, as well as whole rodents and peeps not needing any vitamin supplementation as insects do. Ground turkey makes a smelly, wet, runny, stool with no roughage to help clean the digestive system, hmm, that tells me it cant be good as a long term food. After all consistant diarreha would be a reason to go to the doctors because it leads to dehydration.
All monitors enjoy digging and should be kept on dirt deep enough to dig down into and conserve moisture.

Taming is all about getting the animal to trust you.

Spraying bad tasting stuff on it, holding it under water, or hitting it will make it bite down harder in fear. They can hold their breath for a looooong time, can you take the pain that long?
A forumite recently wrote of a monitor dying from having liquor poured on it to make it release. It didn't let go, but did die from the alcohol.

Please be careful. Try to avoid getting bitten if possible. And be nice to the animal if you do. For the baby nile I had, I would insert a small stick in its mouth, and it would let go. Sorry I am not much help for getting bitten by bigger animals, but I had to mention that about the alcohol. That is a nasty practice.
D.