Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Took the chance on this little guy at a local reptile show, about 20" at this point he looks great and is eating about four fuzzies a day, my problem is that he is so mean. He doesn't seem to stress because when I work with him he tail whips and bites and gets all worked up but will take food from me a second later. Has anyone had good luck with evil waters, I would rather mess with my four foot caiman then my 20" water. I just hope to have a pet quality big boy one day.. Thanks jason

Sounds like he's got a nasty disposition that I bet he will always have.

I have a bt like that. He is about 40" or so now and gettin pretty big (about to transition from pretty big to really big)...he doesnt play and I dont think he will ever be different. I dont even try.

He will tail whip at you for even looking in his enclosure from across the room. Honestly I think he is highly offended that he has to even deal with us and hates our guts.

He'll take a rat off tongs but will tail whip the hell outta you and it and the tongs and the wall and the glass...first. I've even had him shoot past a mouse and snag my finger, it was not an accident. Open his enclosure when he is hungry and he is coming, and fast. A whole mess of angry lizard coming at you mouth first (wide open).

If I could I'd ship him back to Africa hahah. He is not cut out for captivity. But I cant so all I can do is provide the best I can for him and leave him alone. He is an awesome looking specimen though, I'll give him that.

I would try covering your water's enclosure fully and leave it that way for a while. Feed him with tongs and then back away. He may come around, my water did that way. Ok, my water sort of did. It took a month of him completely covered and leaving him totally alone other than cleaning and feeding for him to calm down.

You are right, you have signed up for a potentially crazy ride with a very large lizard. Anyone that gets a bt or a water or a croc or lacie or argus, etc has. All part of the party hahaha.

Good luck!

Tom

Hello,
Just feed and treat it well. They grow more confident with size. Notice I said confident, not tame- trust is something you two have to work out and all your bads will be remembered... Best to you- Mike

well said! That is exactly the word I was looking for (confidence) with my juv water...he has developed a confidence he never had before...which is nice because he doesnt flip out when I am around anymore, but a little unnerving as well. He'll climb right up my arm while I am cleaning his cage with a "hey what's up dude-with-mice...I strongly suggest you do not offend me" look in his eyes as he climbs on my head for a look around hahah.

Tom

LOL, Tom! Love the way you said that. I could see & hear your monitor doing & saying that just as plain as day. Ha! Ha!

Thanks for the laugh.

Oh, and I think "confidence" is the right word, too. My year-old nile has it & my sav is getting it. My nile's not runnin' up my arm yet, though. That's a nice level of confidence.

Have a good one!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Thanks for all the help, I agree with all of you and think with time we will have some sort of relationship, how about nail trims, I figure four foot in the first year, this could be a very stressful and dangerous job, how often are you guys trimming and how thick are your gloves(j/k) Thanks again and I look foward to being a member of this forum. Jason

Hello Jojay,
I can tell by your post that you purchased this animal under the understanding that this would be a handleable pet... monitors won't do well(deal with it well) with restraint type handling and they will remember the bad experience and fear you for it especially if you prolong these experiences with a WC animal(when experts refer to the animals as going "crazy"- nail trimming too. Besides- they are not nails, they are claws. They are not there to be painted or look pretty, they serve a purpose, a function that is necessary for their survival. Set it up properly and you will see this function and know why monitor claws should never- don't ever have to be trimmed. It's as silly as trimming a tail or filing it's teeth down- you don't want to do it- you are taking an important tool/function away from the lizard. Oh, and the gloves you will only need to minimize blistering when using the shovel, wheel barrel and powertools to house it properly. You should post a ? about proper housing for big monitors(after archiving)- this will help you much more than harmful cosmetic tips. Hope this helps your lizard...Best to you- Mike

my lack of experience. Ya see, I'm just like you, I'm here to learn. I've only had a nile for a year and a sav for 7 months. My sav was 2ft long when I got it & I trimmed a little off its nails when I first got it, while it was still in "petrified/terrified" mode. I've never had to trim my nile's nails.

I keep a few rocks for climbing and a piece or two of ceramic tile placed in traffic areas in hope that they'll wear their nails down themselves. I don't know how fast their nails grow, even though I've got a good idea, so I couldn't tell you if the rocks & tile help or not.

Some of the other fellas in this thread can tell ya, though. And I'm sure they will.

Welcome aboard!

Have a good one!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Common questions, and posts by new monitor keepers in any forum.
Why, they thought that if they buy a monitor it will be a lap dog, now they are disappointed, and want to change it somehow.
You get a monitor for what it is, a monitor, you can always hope that someday it will trust you, and accept you into allowing participation into its life, but never expect it.
This should have been thought about before getting a monitor.

Its not about the monitor, its all about you, If you had experience "taming"/conditioning, monitors, you most likely could train almost any water monitor.

But it sounds like you do not understand how it works. It works by how patient you are and your understanding of monitors.

In otherwords, its ALL about you.

The very good thing about monitors is, they force you to learn, or they die. Which is what happens 99% of the time.

So, your monitors life is in your hands. Cheers

I wouldnt go so far as to say its ALL about the keeper.

Obviously, this is a beginner monitor keeper, and new to the forum to boot. They dont appear to have much of an understanding of what a monitor lizard is.

A monitor lizard is not a pet. It never will be.

What I mean by that is, a 'pet' is, by my thoughts, a domesticated animal; or an animal that has, over a long period of time, been acclimated to humans.

A monitor lizard is not domesticated, and it never will be (at least, not in the sense that a lap dog is).

It IS an intelligent predator.

It DOES have a 'personality'- by which I mean each monitor has the capacity to have its own, unique attitude towards itself, its surroundings, life in general, etc.

Some dont mind handling at all. Some will tolerate light handling. Some wont let you near the cage without hissing. Some wont let you in the room.

Now, each of these animals CAN be worked with, but there are 2 seperate ways of going about doing this- on their terms, or on your terms.

With an animal that dosnt seem to 'mind' handling, your terms and its are relatively similar- it dosnt take offense to what youre doing, and thusly dosnt react in a 'negative' fashion.

As you get closer to the other extreme though, you begin to realize that you simply CANNOT work with these animals strictly on your terms, at least not if you want to maintain a somewhat 'friendly' captive.

You have to work on their terms- allow them contact with you, but dont force it on them; be quick and quiet with feeding, water changes and other cage maintenance; give the animal its space.

To the original poster, you condemned yourself right here:

"He doesn't seem to stress because when I work with him he tail whips and bites and gets all worked up but will take food from me a second later. Has anyone had good luck with evil waters, I would rather mess with my four foot caiman then my 20" water. I just hope to have a pet quality big boy one day.. "

First off, just no. No, no no no no.

It dosnt seem to stress? wtf are you talking about? You describe, in the very same sentence, how it thrashes about aggressively/defensively if you enter its territory.

Thats stress my friend. If a giant lizard ripped the top off your home and started throwing turkeys and cheese burgers at you, wouldnt YOU be just slightly stressed out by the whole ordeal? And probably rather defensive?

This animal isnt 'evil' by any means- its scared, and probably stressed out of its mind (especially if everytime it feeds you pester it to the point of tail whipping and hissing).

Honestly, you're right- it probably does hate you.... but can you blame it?

You pester this highly stressed, extremely nervous, amazingly intelligent animal- its just like (well, ok, not JUST like) a human trapped by itself in a small room- when your captives show up, you become defensive and scared, worried for your life even.

And then you claim you want a 'pet quality' 'big boy'.....

If you want a PET QUALITY ANYTHING, go get yourself a damned dog and leave these poor animals in peace.

They arent meant to be pets for you to play with; they have no desire to have that happen. That is YOUR desire, YOUR goal; and chances are if you succeed it will come at the expense of the animals health and/or mental well being.

You have a 4' caiman and you come on here, asking about nail trimming and handling of an aggressive monitor- did you do ANY homework on this at all prior to buying?

I ask this because, if you had, you would know that most water monitors are NOT happy-go-lucky lap lizards; in fact very few large ones are REAL 'dog tame', and most are really more along the lines of 'handling-capable unhealthy' or 'low heat lethargic'.

No, you didnt. You looked up the housing it would require, bought yourself the materials you thought you would need, and bought it.

And now, well, darn it, that 'evil' lizard isnt turning out JUST the way you wanted him to, so there must be SOMETHING you can do to force him to become what you had envisioned.

Dontcha just hate when animals refuse to be turned into slaves?

Im sorry, but the more I learn and see, the more the whole concept of keeping monitors in the home becomes something I really, truly believe the government should be brought in on. You should have to take classes to own these things, just like you would a gun.

Infact, no, I dnot think we should even have them. Period. You want to see monitors? Spend some damn money and go see em in the wild. If you dont have the money for such a thing, or the time, turn on your TV, watch some Austin Stevens, and shut the hell up. You can see wild animals in the wild; and if YOU cant, get over it. Its not the end of the world that you cant see a monitor lizard less than 5' away from you.

People can buy an animal that can reach 5' or more in its first year, for less than the cost of dinner at KFC. And you are not required to have any knowledge of the animal, or its needs, prior to buying it.

Its total ridiculous; and the only ones who seem to be paying for it are the hundreds of thousands of monitors that get dragged from a perfectly normal life in the wild, to spend the rest of their days living in a box so some narcissistic apes can have something interesting to look at.

It makes me sick to think im part of a species that has and does allow such a thing to take place.

Wow, too much caffine this morning or what. I'm glad you not monitor God and that you have any decisions in what I can keep or not. I think you should "get over" the fact that people enjoy animals, and at least he is seeking guidence. Your extreme view of no touchie is as bizare as some of the rookie expectations. I hate to see animals mistreated, but if the person is trying, get off your high and mighty tower and be helpful instead of a self rightous all knowing turd.

lighten up