Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i currently keep and breed green tree pythons.i love them but have been thinking recently that it would be nice to keep an animal with legs.my monitor experience is limited to only 2 species,wait actually three.the first was a nile that i raised from a baby to a wild adult that still has me thinking why the hell i kept it as long as i did.i got absolutly no joy whatsoever from that beast.the second was i think a rough neck but not sure.it was a really long time ago.it was the type of monitor whos babies have a totally orange head but it goes away at adulthood.this monitor was nice,small but boring.basically just layed on a branch all day and rarly ate unless starving.the third was my savanna,he was perfect.great personality,nice size,easy care.i also raised him from a baby to a huge adult.i never fed him in his cage.i would open the top of his tank and he knew it was feeding time.he would climb out and crawl across the carpet and stand right in front of me waiting for me to throw a mouse on the carpet and id watch him chase it all over the room.it was great.when he was done hed crawn in my lap for warmth and sleep.i gave him away years ago due to me moving and not being able to bring such a large animal with me.anyway,now ,like i said i am looking for a monitor.id love for his personality to maybe be like that of a savanna,but look more like an argus(a real monitor look)i dont want a wild animal like an argus but id love an animal that tripods(stands on his hind legs a lot)actually this is a must.so,you know what i am looking for,anyone got any suggestions? oh yea,if he could be a bit smaller than an argus that would be an added plus.

one not all arguses are the same mine for instence would have to be the calmest argus(to my knowledge) in this forum, but i personly perfer the typical argus attitudeso as soon as i get some money i'm getting some baby arguses, two you had a varanus dumerelli, brown rough neck, or just dumerils. three the monitor closest to what you want sounds like a v. flavirufus, or an argus x flavi cross, both tripod flavis are known to be placid monitors, argus x flavis are have some trates from arguses and some from flavis (flavi crosses are good for people who find pure flavi a bit expensive, ME), also id sugest looking into ackies. well from this point my advice is this reserch all these monitors, try and find if these monitors are what your looking for, and post after a bit of research.
hope this helps
Gage Herman

hey thanks for responding.i have researched and kept monitors for many years.thats my problem.i cant find one other than argus,that tripods as much if at all.you suggested flavis,but everyone i know who keeps them and everything i read say they tripod little if at all.and ackies i never heard of tripoding.what about goulds?anyone know anything about them?if they have a good personality and if they tripod?

ackies dont tripod(atleast ive never heard of this habit), i have an argus x flavi and it tripods all the time more than my pure argus( my pure argus usally only tripods when tempted with food), as for the glouds monitor i dont know of a place to obtain them from in the states, i know someone who owns a zoo, not just a personal zoo but a zoo that people pay to see, and he cant find a place to get a glouds from, but yes the tripod, get biger than arguses, and im not sure of their temperment, but realy for you im thinking an argus x flavi cross would be the best mine has the temperment of a flavi( it has a better temperment than the last flavi i met), it tripods like hell, it has the feed response of a pure argus, but orverall it reminds me of a pure flavi. come to think of it ive neer met a flavi cross with the attitude of a TYPICAL argus.( TYPICAL). like i said i perfer pure arguses but this isnt about me, research deeper into flavi crosses go to a pet store that has some( if possiby) an handle them ( but try not to fall in love with one and endind up with the wrong monitor for you), talk to people who have them on this site and ckeck out repticzone.com, also if you've ever talked to ,lwcamp, luke hes more experienced with arguses and flavis than i am, and i pretty sure he know more about these monitor than i do, check out his site it helped me alot in choosing an argus monitor pizards.com
once again
hope this helps
Gage herman
P.S. heres a pic of my pure argus i know you will like

I have had a couple of Argus. I still could kick myself for selling them. I have a blackthroat now that is nowhere near as cool as the argus were.

One of the ones I had tripoded a lot. The other one didn't tripod much at all.

This picture is of the one I named Tripod shortly after I got him. He may have done it so much because the way the cage was built and the way it was situated in the room, it was the only way he could see out when he was on the dirt.

......

Hey Gage, do you know anyone around our state that might want to give my blackthroat a good home. I don't want just anyone with no experience to get her. I am seriously thinking of getting another Argus or two, but I would have to let someone have my blackthroat. My wife said I should get Argus again.

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Ed

These heat lamps make my electric bill to high.

i fact if you remeber the kid with me at the reptile show with the long blonde hair and the columbian tegu, mellers cham, and ferret, hes been looking into getting back into monitor scince i got that flavi cross( i showed him that pic you posted of it and his first reaction was i want one) , also if i have the cage space i could buy the black throat from you. i also know someone in boone that owns a zoo and is intrested in more monitors( i got him hooked on them i gave him 2 mangroves for free and hes getting me a lemur for free, i love haveing these kind of conections) but i know plenty of people that would give your monitor a good home plus i would be in close contact with it at almost all times. also ive reduced my animal count to only my argus, my flavi cross, my arg b&w tegu, and an iguanna, and just got the ok to get 2 baby arguses( i want to get typical argus babys, i dont feel like a true argus keeper seince mine is so calm) so i'm going to call ben siegals soon and ask him to get some arguses and bring them to the show in 2 mounths. but just email me at gage4990@gmail.com and we can work something out about your black throat
Gage

Hey, I have a 40 inch male Blackthroat that Ive had since it was about 5 months old. It grew from 12-40 inches in 3 and a half months. Im looking to get some more BT's cause I want to get into breeding them. I have an 8x8x6 cage for my male right now but Im expanding it to 14x8 in the next week or so cause I have a female hopefully coming in soon. Id love to get another blackthroat though. I can give it a great home. If you need 2 see pics for proof than Ill send some...Just let me know..