Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my friend is looking for a monitor i told him about my sav and he likes it but he wants something a little bigger. ive heard about how waters are real good and can get real tame and stay docile and they get big. if there are any other kinds you guys can think of that would be great

thanx
Andrew

... before he goes out and makes an impulse purchase.

Wanting "something bigger" is a sure fire sign of someone wanting a monitor for the wrong reason. The coolness factor of a big lizard will get old fast, and another monitor will get dumped. Try to forewarn your friend.
Waters are for those with a spare room in their home, a lot of cash, and a lot of medical insurance. A lot of tolerance for huge smelly crap piles is good, too.
D.

well he has experience with bigger reptiles he had a pretty big b&w tegu and he says hes just looking for something a bit bigger and something he can dog tame and i heard waters were good monitors for that cause his tegu was always skittish around his dog even though the dog let it b

thanx
andy

Oh my!
"Dog tame"?
Tell him they are not dogs. Or mammals.
Whatever attitude he gets from the tegu, he should expect the same plus about 30 pounds MORE of it from a water. More teeth, and a real long flexible neck, much better for twisting around and biting.
Unless he keeps it really inadequately heated. If its sick and cold, it just might act like the doorstop he always wanted.

However, it will not grow big, if kept sick and cold. Hmmmm.

I'm being sarcastic here. Its what I do. However, in all seriousness, it is sad and distressing to hear of a really naive person wanting to force a wild animal to act unnatural. They are not people loving or pleasing animals, like dogs are.
Please tell your friend, if he really cared for animals in general, and monitors in particular, he'd do a lot more research, and be realistic about what a monitor is and isn't. And put aside his selfish desire to force it to be something its not. A scaly dog.
D.

no no no u misunderstand what i said dog tame... he has a lab and he lets his tegu run around and they leave each other alone... not like sit monitor sit kinda dog tame

lol and dont ream the messenger im perfectly happy with my sav and wouldnt want a water they get to big for my tastes

I knew your friend didn't mean dog behaviors.

I was referring to the "tame" part of it. Tame is a bad word.
Expecting a tame lizard... they don't really get tame. I hope your friend does some questioning of people who actually are living with waters, so he has an idea of what to expect.

So sorry, if you felt 'reamed' in any way. It was not meant. Sorry! D.

Tame and monitors are not words that sould even be used in the same sentence. I own a monitor that could be considered "dog tame" and yes he is cool with my dog (100lb lab). But DO NOT expect this or even hope for it. Gator has been around my dog sice he was a hatchling and luckily has never considered her a threat to him which is even more odd. But one thing that you must remember. I BREAK THE RULES as a monitor keeper. Big time!!! They get handled a lot, everyday as a matter of fact and even seem to enjoy the contact. Gator is allowed to cruz around the house and yes has a lot of contact with my dog. He'll lick her and sniff her and then she'll lick him. But he does tail whip her, and hisses when he doesn't want her near him. Gator is a weirdo of a monitor.
I guess my whole point to this is yes it can be done. It's very rare but it can. Out of the 20 or so monitors I've owned past and present (maybe more) Gator is the only one that has ever been so tolerant of a furred animal. Just know that a monitor the size of a full grown BT can do some VERY SERIOUS damage to a dog and BRG is very right, MONITORS DONT LET GO!!!
Christine :>~

P.S. Please I beg of you, don't try what I try!!! I've gotten lucky, that's all, just lucky.

np

this question is not for my friend ryan but for me now
does anyone know if it would be safe for a sav to eat junebugs
i want to ask before i try to feed him any

thanx
andy

n/p

Seriously though, where did waters get this reputation, "The Freshman?" It seems like maybe 1 of 20 waters grow up to be calm animals. Forget "dog tame," or tame at all for that matter. I think it's too bad waters are becoming almost as easy to aquire as savanahs and niles. Waters are awsome monitors, however the dog tame myth is very missleading.

np

LOL! Maybe Michael Balsai is guilty as well. He writes in the 1992 "The General Care and Maintenance of Savannah Monitors and Other Popular Monitor Species" - "If aquired as small specimens, they can usually be readily tamed, and 'dog tame' large water monitors are not uncommon."

I'm not bashing Balsai, as in those days Varanus literature was much more scarce, and I appreciated every page I could get my hands on. I just don't agree with the notion.

But yes, Broderick deserves a good tail lashing.

Cheers