Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am in need of some help once again. I took all of your advice that you gave me, and agreed not to get any other lizard until I did my homework, however, my dad can be stubborn sometimes... Yesterday, while I was up in SArastota with my cousins yesterday, he went out and got me another animal like he said he would, even though I asked him not to, especially after what had sjust happened and all, but he ignored me, and got me/us a new monitor. At first when he told me, I was very angry at him, but after he showed me the animal, I must admit, I was amazed. This has to be the most prettiest animal I've ever seen. I believe it is called an Emerald Monitor. Even though i think it is beautiful, I still did not want to keep it, as all of you recommened, however, when I asked my dad to return it, he told me that it was final sale, and the animal can't be returned.

So now we are stuck with this animal, and I am afraid that my/our inexperience may harm this guy without knowing it. This monitor is very skinny to begin with, is this normal, or did my dad buy a sick animal without knowing it?probably because he was amazed at the color as I am.. When my dad holds him(i think), he craps everywhere, squirms around, and acts like he's going to bite. I did see some little pointy things pop out while it crapped on my dad, but these weren't as big and ugly when compared to godzilla's. Is this the hemipenis? Like I said, he is very wirey, and doesn't seem to like being held like my other animals(chameleons, geckos, iguanas, bearded dragons, waxy frog). sHould I handle him often, so that he gets used to me?

As for caging, what would be best to keep him in? The 30gallon aquarium I have him in now seems kind of small. I saw on treevaranus's website that his emerald monitors are kept in home built cages. I already have a homebuilt cage that was once used for my iguana, it is made out of pegboard(has lots of holes in it) with a chickenwire-ish top(not as big of spacing as chickenwire). Would this work?

Please, I went to my local library about an hour ago, to read up on the emerald monitor, but was not able to find anything besides komodo monitors. Is there any other websites that talk about these? Or can any of you take me through, step by step, what is involved with caring for emerald monitors?

I really don't know what else I can do... As good intentioned as my dad was, he was wrong to go against what I asked him, which was not to buy me any more lizards. Now I have this animal that I am not sure how to care for properly, and I fear that we might make a mistake, and I can't return it to the petstore... What should I do?

Like I said, I'm sure that many of you will attack me and call me a troll(still don't know what that means), but please see that this is not my fault, for I am just a kid; I admit my father is the irresponsible(can't believe I said this) one.... So please, just give me honest opinions or recommendations on how to care for this monitor, or what else I could do... Thanks for your understanding,

Travis

oh, by teh way, here are some pics of him, for those of you who would like to see one of the most beautiful animals in the world..

here's another photo of him.. What do you think?

travis

maybe I can take some more pics of him after church tonight, if anyone would like to see more pics of him. Please let me know what I can do for him, to make sure his life is perfect, unlike my last monitor. Thanks a million,

travis

no clue as to what happened to it?It does pain me though to see someone with no experience own such a delicate gem,i hope someone here can help you with it as i have no experience with them.But my feeling is you'll get flamed.Some out of jealousy,some out of concern but you do seem to have a dad with deep pockets,so most likely jealousy will prevailNIce tree monitor and hope all goes well for you!

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see yah laterz people
jason

Quite a rare and beautiful monitor you have there... but from what I know, tree monitos are the most difficult to care for because they need humidity and low stress... I have heard that tree monitors are "look at" pets because handling them can stress them, and they are very fragile monitors. I would recommend misting it daily for now and building a large tall cage that will hold in humidity preferibly with misters on a timer inside... and a 30 gallon isn't big enough for any monitor for more than a week or two at most... and the small environment alone could stress the animal... plus when you move the monitor to its new cage it will probably be stressed again for a while.. so leave it alone, feed it and mist it.... and spend hours every day learning about your new pet from as many sources as possible... books, internet, breeders, and most importantly here there are many people that can help.

you seem like you want what is best for the animal so take my advise, learn as much from ppl on here as possible... if people flame you, then deal with it and listen to their advise anyway. it is much more important that you keep the animal alive and healthy then to let some flamage get to you.

-Brent
0.0.1 Black Throat Monitor

I guess I am going to step out into the open on this one, and say that you do not deserve this animal. I thought we had all agreed that you were not ready for a new animal, let alone an Emerald, which appears to be a female?!! Females are very difficult to come by, if it is in fact a female... Now this really bothers me, being a tree monitor enthusiast and all... I think that you should send it to me, where it would be given a proper, and healthy living environment.... This animal will shrivel up and perish if not given the ideal conditions immediately.. Looking at your pics, I can tell you right off the bat that the animal will do poor in your hands...so, How bout it???

By the way, someone mentioned to me last week, or the week before about Glades Herp having a wc emerald tree monitor... is this where your dad got it from? I think I recall you being from Ft. Myers, Florida, which is also where glades is located, if I'm not mistaken...

treevaranus

The Odatriad

I don't have tree monitors, would love to, but they are way over my head for now. You had better ask Bob (Odatria) for some help, as he has many tree monitors and is very helpful. You have got yourself a very beautiful but very difficult to keep monitor. These monitors are fragile, need lots of humidity daily and lots of misting. They also need very large cages with lots of climbing trees/logs. Good luck to you and your new prasinus.

Pam

Here is Bob's website, loads of great information.

http://www.geocities.com/odatriad/

You will not find any books or very much information on this monitor. They are rare as pets here and usually very expensive. They are called emerald monitors, emerald tree monitors, or most often green tree monitors, Varanus prasinus.

A tall cage will do better than an aquarium. Lots of climing areas and lots of hiding places. Do not handle it much. These monitors tend to be more difficult for the average keeper to properly care for than most other monitors. The iguana cage you described is probably not very good for a monitor. Peg board is not likely to hold up under the conditions that a green tree monitor will need.

It is interesting that your dad was able to go to a local pet store and purchased one of these monitors. They are not very common, in fact, rare might even be a good term, and they are very expensive... Interesting indeed...
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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^
Monitors, monitors everywhere
and all the food they ate.
Monitors, monitors everywhere,
their parents loved to mate.

I dont' think anybody hates you, it's just that if you stay on here long enough, people like you come and go. Seeing how young that Prasinus is, I can bet it was a expensive. I doubt that your dad went and dropped $1000 on it out of the blue. Especially with what supposedly happened to your other monitor. With you describing your other cages, which you are probably not telling the truth about, there's no way you dont' have something set up for it. I would check your IP address, and I bet you match with someone else on here, but I really don't care. I would just drop the act, and come on here representing the person you really are. I mean come on, we are just a bunch of hobbiests with a love for monitors, there's no need to pretend to be something you're not. That is a very beautiful Prasinus, young with no visible nose rub, so if you really do own that animal, you should have an amazing creature on your hands. If not, then you should just go to another type of forum where your purpose would be better served. Good luck either way.

Its located on a japanese exporters site.
here is the link to the other photo's

Another one that uses jap photos as their own. We're supposed to believe his dad went out to a local pet shop and they had prasinus for sale there- yeah ok. Not to mention the guy has a new york ip and claims to be from fort myers. Hehe, thank god the hemipenis butchering was made up also.