Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My BT is fairly tame considering his life before I got him, but are there any tips and tricks anyone could share with me for taming them without stressing them.

Also, is it ok to trim his claws? If so, advice on how to do it safely?

Also, he's a foot long with tail, how much should I feed him a day. Yesterday he ate four pinky mice, some mealworms, and some crickets. Too little? Too much?

Thanx
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Zeek Star
Web Designer
Modified-Design.com

0.0.1 Black Throat Monitor
1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.1 Sumatran Bloods
0.1 Borneo Short Tail
0.0.2 Whites Tree Frogs
0.0.1 Barred Tiger Salamander

I would really like to know about trimming claws, please help.
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Zeek Star
Web Designer
Modified-Design.com

0.0.1 Black Throat Monitor
1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.1 Sumatran Bloods
0.1 Borneo Short Tail
0.0.2 Whites Tree Frogs
0.0.1 Barred Tiger Salamander

I have a 2 1/2 year old 5 foot male Black Throat that I raised up from about 12 inches. He is like the family dog. His name is Black T-Rex but we just call him Black. I use the cat claw trimmers to trim his claws. I simply take his foot in my hand and clip his claws while he is on the floor. He tries to pull away but I just hold tight and he will relax and wait till I am done. I must do it quickly though because after about 2 or 3 minutes he' done, he will really poor on his "monitor strength" and pull away, which is ok because at a certain point you have to know when to leave well enough alone. I think you have to really know your pet and have a good relationship where he is used to having a certain amount of contact with you before you try anything that requires this kind of physical handling. My wife and kids love him very much he is the best pet we ever had.

....and I'm glad to hear good pet stories about them. I'm loving mine more and more. This might have been a dumb idea, but since he is only about 12" long, and his claws are just to small to safely clip, I laid a fresh sheet of sandpaper in a rubbermaid and let me walk on it for about 5 minutes. It actually did seem to take the edge off the claws.

I'm thinking (please inform me if this is a bad idea) of using skateboard grip tape on his ramp to the basking ledge in the cage I plan on building him. I figure this would take care of his claws a great deal, and provide nice traction up the ramp.

I'm running into issues with his future cage. Due to my lovely girlfriends taste, I must make a cage that not only looks like quality furniture, BUT matches the rest of our furniture, and provides the right space and specs for the animal. So needless to say I'm still at the drawing board. I have thought of several cages that would be great, but wouldn't work for her. I figure since she has allowed me to own multiple reptiles with out griping, and even gave me the go ahead on building a huge cage for this black throat, the least I could do was make it look nice. Any ideas/plans would be much appreciated.
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Zeek Star
Web Designer
Modified-Design.com

0.0.1 Black Throat Monitor
1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.1 Sumatran Bloods
0.1 Borneo Short Tail
0.0.2 Whites Tree Frogs
0.0.1 Barred Tiger Salamander

A long time, in fact, I think I trimmed one claw on Sobek in the last year a bit because it seemed a bit too long, but her claws are dull from living on dirt, of course with feet and claws that size they arent sharp, but her strength and weight will really rip your skin up with those claws. I just use welding gloves for that purpose, even with my male albig (sharp short well worn claws), and the flavi-argus (both of them wear their claws down on their own).
They decide as individuals who they like, dilike, and when, dont force them.

If you really must trim its nails, get a large, heavy towel and cover his whole body, especially his head and eyes. Use a friend to gently and firmly hold the monitor down (the towel over the body and head). Covering the eyes calms them down alot and covering thier body makes them feel safe. I've had to use this technique before (not for trimming nails, but whatever) and it fell asleep during the process.

It was playing dead in fear or stress.
Ive trimmed them in the past on a few monitor in unusual circumstance, but if kept in the right dirt they wear their claws down themselves. Besides they need those claws to climb, etc why trim them? Just wear gloves and long sleeves or put up with it.

my opinion, at least in my circumstance, was that the monitor was not stressed at all. Playing dead? I was not trimming its nails but inspecting the animal for health reasons. any person who deals with animals will tell you that covering their eyes calms them down, birds and reptiles especially.

Ive done that at one time, but because they cannot see they just lay there and not waste energy, after all they are being held down, blindfolded, and no possible way to escape, so why try?
No, very few experienced monitor keepers believe that monitors relax when their eyes are covered. Its just not worth the energy to waste on trying to fight it at that time.