Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi folks...I have 8 years experience with all sorts of herps and I have always wanted a nile monitor...I have a savannah and s/he's great, but I've always been entranced by the nile. Anyone have any thoughts? Are they really as bad as everyone makes them out? Can they be tamed? How quickly will they grow? How long will a 100 gallon tank last me? Etc...any thoughs or help would be appreciated...I can be reached at soupinla@hotmail.com or just post something here...thanks a lot

Daniel Lipton

Something alot smaller, and less dangerous. I say this because with monitors you dont measure cages in gallons, you measure monitor cages in feet at the very minimum, yards, or meters, monitor especially big ones require very very big cages and in the case of niles they should have swimming pools to swim in, they are the second most aquatic monitor species. The species si very inexpensive to buy, they are very pretty but very very expensive to PROPERLY care for. How many do you know have a 20ft by 10ft by 6ft cage? I mention these sizes because the pool to swim for a 5-7 plus foot monitor, and area to move as well properly bask and adequete substrate, etc.
As far as attitude, the typical nile is not a handleable monitor, they are very very nervous, high stress, defensive, bitey, have big sharp claws, and dont hesitate to slap you with almost 2/3rds of their body (their tail). Not to mention their common habit of "power-crapping" all over you. I made that leap to get one and the monitor suffered as well myself years ago when it didnt eat much, hid alot, was completely unhandleable, and I didnt understand why. Mainly the reasons for it was my bad choices, as well it being typical of nile monitors.
If you have the space, the drive to build it what it needs, and the dedication to keep a dangerous, unhandleable monitor its whole life, then by all means go ahead.
Good luck, there are a few rare handleable niles with decent or good attitudes, just dont interpet playing dead for handleable or sick and dieing for handleable or tame.

Hello, i have had several niles, from good natured to nasty, right now i have a 4 footer that is not really mean he just does not like to be picked up, i think most can be tamed somewhat, if you spend alot of time with them.. The 100 gal tank should work for a while depending on what size you get.. I feed mine frozen thawed chicks every couple days, mine seems to be growing pretty fast on them, i also throw in a thawed rat every so often for a chage of pace.. Good luck!!!! hope this helps. Mike L

i have 7 lizards. i have had a few common nile monitors previously. Currently I have 2 ornate nile monitors. they are a little over a year old. they are a little over 3 feet long. one is actually 3.5 ft long. they are both pretty tame. they are a lot of fun. they are very active. i handle them at least once a day. they are very powerful and almost playful. i feed them dog and cat food, dog food, lean ground beef, raw shrimp, strips of raw beef, and strips of raw chicken. when they were smaller i fed them crickets and earthworms as well.they really liked the crickets. the earthworms were a sometimes yes sometimes no. i find that the ornates are easier to tame than the common niles that i had previously. they are also much stockier. the two i have, have quite different personalities. i keep them separate because they fight over food; though i think one is a male and the other a female. surprisingly the one i think is a female is larger than the male. she chases him sometimes when i put them together in attempts to breed them. other times he shakes his head to the side and she gives him respect and backs off. i keep one of them in a half bath whose toilet doesn't work anymore. the other one is housed in a large walk-in closet. i have 2 plastic containers about 3' by 2' and about 1' deep for them to swim in. they love swimming. i empty these by handofdten twice a day. it's not really all that much trouble. they usually defecate in the water. besides handling them i also let them walk around the aprtment for about a half an hour a day. sometimes on leashes. the are really a joy. i'm crazy about them.
i'm always careful with them. they kind of inspire respect. and they don't appreciate sudden movements or loud noises. i have taken them to public places like the library. the public and childtren love them. i love them too.