Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been keeping a baby water monitor for a about a month. When I first got him, he was skinny and sluggish. He looks much stronger now, theres no loose skin hanging and he's more active. However, he's proving quite hard to handle. When he first came in, he was much easier. I realise that improved health has made him more resistant to handling but I was wondering how I should start handling him. He will retreat under logs if I open the tank top and come too close. Though he's more tolerant of my presence now, he will run like hell and do his level best to evade me. After being picked up, he may calm down slightly but I can field the tension in his body. He's ready to strike if I give him the chance. Anytime I wave my other hand in front of his face,, he'll open his mouth. I've learnt that thats his sign before he bites.

Just after handling, he will tend to run away more easily if I come close, but still eats his food. Other than that its normal.

The question is, how do I get him to calm down and get used to me by handling him? Is there a process?

i am not going to give you the answer you want.

the truth is your monitor is acting like it should. i don't know maybe its just me, but i like to give my monitors neat setups where i can watch them be themselves not make them into something they are not. monitors don't like to be handled or tamed (broken down).

my .02

andrew

All monitors are not the same, they don't all act like terrors because they are healthy, although many do. If a person wants a monitor that "acts like a monitor" and also likes to have one that appears "tame"; they can have both, it's just much more difficult. I have never had luck with calming a monitor if it wants to be a hellion, but if you are willing to be patient and sometimes paymore, you can find one that is just naturally calm and doesn't seem to exibit fear of humans. I believe these are always ones that have had contact with a owner since they hatched. Species have different temperments and individual monitors within those species have differents temperments. You can't lump them all together and say they if they are calm an content when being held, then they are not being kept in ideal conditions. I have had many monitors over the last 12-13 years and never had one die or even get sick and I have had many that seem to have no fear of people or being handled. I found as a kid real quick that the line I would get from the pet store dealer "it will calm down and become tame as you hold it" is a bunch of crap. If you want a monitor you can interact with without a fight, it is better to find one that is calm (alert and healthy, not sluggish) or at least shows potential for being calm instead of hoping to tame a hellion.

you are correct in saying that different species display different behaviors but i disagree that the temperments are entirely different.

a healthy ackie will bite just like a healthy nile one will just hurt a lot worse. although the nile is more prone to biting, scratching and crapping on you they are both monitors.

i thought the point of owning a monitor was to get it to behave like one (allowing) not getting it to behave like a dog.

i have little experience but i too have kept many different species. i don't own very many different kinds, most that i do own are odatria (kimberlys, pilbaras, ackies) and i have some gouldi complex monitors and a nile. all bite at either certain times a year (gravid kimberly females have bitten me), some bite all the time, all act normal. that is the goal.

andrew
andrew

I really wonder what you are doing to your animals, Andrew???

This is the second post of yours I've read where they all hate you, bite you, whip you etc. And you tell everyone that it means yours are 'healthy'?? If yours are afraid of you, you're doing something very wrong, IMO.

All my animals like me(in their fashion) and are very nice to me. And they are not sickly.
D.

i just let them have their territory, when i enter it to do what is necessary they don't like it. i am not saying that they whip me everytime or bite me or anything else. they don't make a point of that.

however i have inspected a female kim for eggs and have been bitten, i wouldn't assume a person would like it if they were turned over and had their sides rubbed, they might even fight back.

the monitors here are healthy enough to whip plexiglass. they are healthy and normal enough to dive into hides when i come in. some stand they ground and tripod to check me out, sometimes they just treat me indifferently, it is always different.

i just don't make a point to pick them up for the heck of it or play with them, i let them be.

you assume way too much dragoon.

andrew