Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, my name is scott and i decided that eventually i want to own a BT monitor, however i want the monitor to enjoy the experience as well, so im waiting until i get out of college and get a job before i buy one. Until then, i just read about monitor care as a hobby.

My question is about taming, ive read alot of ah, "Advice" ranging from forcibly handling it (dont worry, i know not to) to some weird lizard-dominance psychology tips (very skeptical about those as well.) and i have a few questions about building trust and handling.

First is, when the monitor seems to tolerate you changing its water and cleaning its cage, when do you know its time to start trying to work with it without stressing it. By that i mean deliberate handling with the intent to get it used to you. I dont want to think its getting used to me when in reality its just getting stressed out due to me harassing it.

How often should i handle the monitor?
when should i do it?
How long should i do it for?
If it starts becoming aggressive should i try immediately the next day? or give it some time?
if so how much time?
should i feed it after handling?
does it understand a reward concept?

is it good to start handling in a bath tub while its swimming? some people say its calmer in water, is this true?

Another thing, is has anyone tried Operant Conditioning to make their monitors enjoy being handled? I know monitors are pretty smart lizards, so i think its not out of the realm of possibility. My psych professor told me he did it with pigeons, and i really want to believe a monitor is smarter than what it eats....

Now, i know i could buy a book, written by someone with a degree possibly some other qualifications, but i know alot of you are dedicated enthusiasts but i know alot of you are dedicated people and id like to hear your first hand thoughts and life experiences on these questions.

Again, i am rather set on owning a BT monitor, so if you also have specific advice about that breed, i would greatly appreicate it.

Thanks in advance, Scott.

Hello,

Im no expert in monitor husbandry but I have seen a lot of people keeping them and other large lizards.

Some people will say that they should never be handled but I have a different position. I own around 30 amazon basin emerald tree boas, a snake that most people say cannot be handled and should be left alone. I tell you that I handle all my boas whenever I feel like, and they are all healthy and breed well. I even dare to say that handling sessions are good because they provide the animal a chance to exercise and the keeper a chance to enjoy his/hers pets.

That being said, you should definitely start with a captive bred monitor, even if it cost 5X more. It will surely aclimate better and get used to interaction quicker.

Second thing is that lizards definitely are routine animals. They get used to a daily routine and repeat it every single day. A friend of mine has a crocodile tree monitor that is handled on a daily basis and it tame, eats a lot and grows very fast (maybe it is not very smart doing that with this species, as if it decides to bite, the damage will be great).
Another friend has an adult nile monitor that free roams his backyard. Every single morning it leaves his hiding place, goes to the sun, swims, eats, etc., and in the end of the day it goes back and hides to sleep. It likes to tail whip a little bicouple times when approached, but once held it gets as tame as puppy.
My grandmother also had a green iguana for around 12 years that was kept free roaming on the house. It also had a very well stablished routine. It liked to sleep in the kitchen, under the fridge (it is warm there) and every morning used to go outside to the sun, eat, and even defecate in the same place every day. It never tried to go to different rooms on the house, it never tried to scape. Both the nile monitor and the iguana did very well with the dogs as well.

So, what I tell you is: once the routine is stablised, the lizard will be fine. Just make sure the lizard have been eating/defecating, etc., for a couple weeks after it arrived, and it should be fine for you to start handling it.

just my 2 cents..

Huh, interesting, i didnt know you could have a monitor healthily live in your backyard. Could you tell me where they live? i live in the Bay area of california so i dont think its hot enough to do sometime as adventurous as that. Also, could you tell me what do they do during the rainy season? i assume you would need to move it to an enclosure to keep it warm, if that is the case does that seem to agitate them since its a change in hide/routine?

Haha, i guess i have another question: I might be moving to nevada depending on the education situation here, if i end up living out of the fringe of town in a desert enviorment;

is a outdoor enclosure viable for a monitor?
If yes, how do you construct one?

From what ive read that might just leave to a very sick and mite-laced monitor, but if someone has done it successfully id like to hear about that as well.

Nvm, looks like someone already asked that, im reading the post now

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1846452,1846452

I am from Brazil and depending on the region, it is completely possible to keep them outdoors.

I have been to South Africa and saw many people keeping white throats and niles outside, even with a harsh winter there. But they are in the same place these animals inhabit.

You can use operant conditioning on any animal (humans included), I believe the London zoo has there Komodo dragon trained using clicker training. If your looking for some info about training check out the book "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor, it is a great resource. I used this method to target train my Dumerills.

ty, ill look that up. Yeah the thing with monitors and operant conditioning was that usually you need a different food as a motivator since the stronger the stimulus the more effective the conditioning. So ideally you want something more "interesting" than the normal everyday regiment. I heard monitors can get hooked on certain foods and will then refuse to eat the normal assortment of insects and rodents you provide them. did you just cut up thier meal and use that as training food or did you use something ah "tastier"?

and yes, i know not to feed it ice cream ect. im thinking more along the lines of, maybe you usually feed it crickets, but for conditioning you gave it roaches. Do you think bits of cubed steak would work? or is that too exotic?

The best way to build up trust is tong feeding, and keeping your hands OFF the animal as much as possible. Myself and I’m sure many others get sick and tired of hearing, "I want a big tame Monitor to hold"
etc... These animals don’t want to be handled, to them handling = death. If you go with the hands off approach, and tong feed, they can and will become used to you, and you’ll be able to make them crawl up your arm, or leg to get food, or even just to check out a new smell.

Also NO steak.... feel whole prey items ONLY.

I live in the Valley of CA, even here I could only keep albigularis outside for short periods of time. (our nights are too cold).

Cheers,
Chad

I just used cut up mice to do the training. The bridge is more important than the actual reward (as long as it’s a good reward). Monitors enjoy eating so any food works even if it’s the regular dinner. I guess I could use small roaches but I haven’t gone there yet. For me I used a small ball on a stick as a target, a whistle as the bridge and tongs to give the food to the lizard. It took him about two sessions to get the hang of what I was asking, I haven’t done other training because I haven’t needed other behaviors yet and have been busy training other animals right now.

Whew, thats a relief you dont have to buy anything special and risk them becoming picky. BTW nice dumerille, i just noticed the pic XD. Those are from indonesia correct?