Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been about 5-6 years since I have been on here, let alone in the hobby. But this past weekend at the TARAS Spring Show in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I nabbed this little guy/gal. I had a wild caught juvenile way back, but he was such a pissy little guy. This guy is great, friendly, and hasn't tried to bite or tail whip at all. No defensive postures, mostly curiosity.

The other bonus is my wife has become enamored with reptiles, and held her first snake.

congrats i had rudicollis when i was younger,one of my favorites.I don't know about you guys but they seem almost avian-like to me.You're lucky to start with a younger animal,best of luck
Moe

Nice looking Rudi.They are definitely my favorite monitor.I remember when mine was that small.

Greg
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1.1 Varanus Rudicollis(Black roughneck monitor)
2.0.3 Varanus jobiesis
0.0.1 Ornate box turtle

Awesome. I'm excited to watch mine grow. He was a little huffy last night, but relaxed after a coule minutes when I had him out. He's settling in nicely.

Try not to handle him,Rudie's don't take well to handling.They don't bite like most monitors and most people think they are calm when in fact they are stressed out.Most of them die in the first year.My male trusts me some what and I rarely handle him my female the same thing.They both come to me readily for food and to see what I'm doing in there enclosed,my male will even climb on me.

Greg
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1.1 Varanus Rudicollis(Black roughneck monitor)
2.0.3 Varanus jobiesis
0.0.1 Ornate box turtle

Yeah, I only had him "out" as I was doing stuff in his cage. He came over, climbed my arm, sat there, jumped off, wandered around the room. It was when I went to get him back in the cage, he huffed a little as I was picking him up, but one he was in my hand, he was fine, just tasting the air.

I had one a few years back that was "mean". He'd tail whip and bite. He didn't like your hand inside his space at all.

I don't plan on forcing him to be docile or anything like that, but his behavior so far shows far more curiosity than fear. Except when he hears the cat trying to get in the room.