Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it because she is spayed and no longer puts her energy into eggs?

Or is it because she is a hybrid? That is, she is half WT and half BT. I know, both are albigularus but different enough locales to give hybrid vigour and larger size when crossed perhaps?

Try to find other crosses (not hybrids, hybrids are different species crossed) from Rob Faust and compare the size. There were several years ago when I got her, who knows how few survived. They were sold by Pro exotics.
Albigs in general such as blackthroats compare in size (I know because years ago I used to see big BTs) and ask yourself why dont the others get near that size?
Instead of asking or thinking its something unusual that causes her to be so big, ask the simple question, why are so many others smaller? Years ago I personally knew a 6.5 to almost 7ft male, a male that was a bit bigger that was supposed to be over 7ft (I never measured him), and 2 other males that were 6ft plus. Unfortunately these big albigs seem to move from collection to collection quickly. It was hard to find females that were big years ago for the simple reason that large males were so much more easily captured for the pet trade, and males in general.
Ask yourself why I had 3 other BTs that in my care went from 14-24 inches to 5ft in less than a years time (cant even begin to guess at a wild caught monitors age). Why a cape banded WT that was over 9 years old when given to me grew from 3ft to over 4ft in a few months.
I must be doing something right, and have been for many years. Some advice from FR along the way has been well appreciated.

I am in Texas and have and alledgedly Faust female albig, she is 5.5 feet and age unknown. She is also growing like a weed. Her name is Quah.

I know hybrids are clasically different species like mules for instance but as a livestock breeder I know you can also get hybrid vigour from fairly close bred lines that have been widely separated for a long time. Such as if you cross a New Zealand hereford with a line of English herefords. Kind of like crossing an albig from north Africa with one from South Africa? This is just theorizing here.

Female monitors are generally smaller than males, correct? I notice all the big ones you mentioned were males. Yet Sobek is larger than any female and most males I have ever heard of. There is a dragon in your basement. What are your keeping secrets?

Why are females generally smaller? Because they start making eggs? Or has nature selected for males that grow large because they are sucessfull in combat with other males and therefor breeding?

I would imagine you don't see big males anymore because for one they are not imported, and two, they are not often given coditions and length of life span to attain large size in captivity unfortnately.

Does anyone know what the 'average' size of a mature, wild Albig is?
We hear about captives, generally averaging around 5'-6', but could it be they should be continuing to grow to a much larger size? Not just lenghth wise, but frame and body mass?
I only ask because, being a relatively new Albig keeper, I had started to cut back a little on my coming 2yr old, 5' male's food intake, being concerned he might start to become obese.

Instead, he seemed less active, so I went back to feeding him like he's a growing boy and that's what he is.
They're a massive animal and need tons of room, much more so, than I was expecting. A huge responsibility.

Some of those I saw years ago were raised from young and smaller sizes, and yes most were males. I saw one that left me thinking that it could have been female, but at that time and to this day I dont know if he or she was one specifically.
I think that you dont see that many big ones today because so many keepers lose interest and sell or trade them off after a few years if they do keep them that long. When the people who buy or trade to get large albigs and waters get them, its a novelty and the animal suffers.
One factor may be the cage size and area they need, the animal suffers for it when the reality sets in on the owner. One factor may be the loss of interest in continuing to feed such a monster after time passes, although they eat so much less as an adult.
Around the time I was raising Sobek from a hatchling there were a few of her siblings in a few keepers care on this forum, within a year or 2 I dont think any of them were still in their orginal owners care, and none were 5ft by that time. I knew of one guy who had 3 of them for about 3 years, the one male was around 5-5.5ft but he sold or traded them at some time to focus on dwarf species, beardies, and argus of which he had good sucess with.
I think part of what I did right was I kept fewer reptiles in her first year. Part of it was continuing with larger and larger cages. Also I swear by 24/7 basking lights with low wattages, high basking temps, good temp gradients, and the use of dirt for a substrate.
I think it would take way too long to specify everything I did right with her.
I read a few articles over the years where whitethroats studied in Kruger national park were averaging 6ft plus for males, and 5-5.5ft for females. There were tons upon tons of them to study, I dont know how long they were studied, and it didnt mention how large they got as a maximum. My guess would be nature being so rough on them limits their size. Also being large lizards, but not large enough to set records they are not so noticed by those who look for the biggest examples or species so no one seems to know how big they can get.
Mark Bayless had a female that was 6ft 2 inches, but I dont know of any close otherwise, and he didnt know of any either.

Its a pretty funny story. First of all let me say I am no irresponsible keeper of animals and have kept many species of animals and reptiles all their long lives. But I must say my first monitor, Quah, aKA Old Hissy, was an impulse purchase.

I heard of a petstore where the police were making their nightly rounds and shined their flashlights in the window of the pet store. What did they see but racks overturned, stuff strewn all over the floor, and total chaos throughout the building. Thinking the place had been robbed or vandalized they searched all over with their flash lights. What did they see but a gigantic lizard standing on its hind legs trying to pull down a cage full of baby rabbits. Other cages lay on the floor nearby. They called the owner. The big BT had escaped, trashed the store and eaten a cage full of sugargliders. I thought now THIS is a LIZARD. I knew what monitors were but had never kept one. The owner was more than happy to sell me the animal at a reduced price. I was told she was bred by Mr. Faust. This was several years ago.

I looked on the Internet and learned their requirements and the FR philosiphy of making conditions for monitors to do what monitors do. She was hell on wheels at first but now we have worked out a sort of a relationship. I find her to be very intelligent and a creature I am gratefull to know. Yes, she eats like a carnivorous horse and has her own dang house and yard. I am raising a mate for her. I am raising a few young monitors. I did buy a large male Sumatran Water but it was mostly to have a big guy without having to supply all the rodents to get him there. He is like a big old lap dog. Anyway, it all started with Old Hissy and her pet store rampage.

I knew of a few monitors now that have broken into sugar glider cages and ate them all. I know of an alligator that broken into a floor level rabbit pen, but couldnt catch the rabbits (easter time), even the 19 ft retic escaped that night and couldnt get a rabbit, in fact the retic was trying to escape the 7ft gator when they opened up in the morning. The same petstore had a big nile that broke into a few cages, ate guinea pigs, sugar gliders, hamsters, etc.