Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay~ so we have "Rico" (rough neck monitor) all set up in his cage and he is apparently very happy with the hides available as we never see him! So we were thinking~ if we were to get a bell or a clicker and ring it each time we dropped the food in would he eventually become "trained" or conditioned to the sound to come out of his hide and look for the food?

Right now he waits for the food to wonder into his hide before eating~ but what little we can see looks like a pretty strong feeding response~ so if he knew the food was coming (the bell or clicker) would he come out and let us look at him some before the food is presented?

What do y'all think?
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

I am afraid it does not work like that, sorta. Yes, they can and do respond to sounds, and yes, they can respond to a whistle(aka falconry) But they may be a bit smarter then that, they do not need a whistle or bell, they already know if you are bringing food, by the pattern of sounds and movements. They often know this, before you even enter the room. So standing in front of the cage or by the door is a bit naive. They already know if your going to feed them. Monitors are expert at recognizing patterns that lead up to getting food.

Now, with that said, they do not respond like birds or mammals, the reason is, they are not warmblooded. They are extotherms, which means, their abilities are directly related to temps and such(external support). They also are influenced by rhythm. They may or may not, be controlled by a series of different conditions(seasons). This will effect how aggressive how consistant they feed.

So with the above in mind, you must be "smart" enough to understand, that yes they can be trained in such a manner, but, its up to you to make sure the conditions are right, and you must understand, that it will not be consistant. Good Luck FR

First, I'm not even close to being a quarter of an expert, but when I crinkle the bag (and only this bag) that I dust crickets in, my savvy pokes her head out and tongues the air waiting for her crickies. Any other time she runs and hides.

Mike

Monitors are very intelligent. Mine knows that if I take the plex top off his enclosure, I'm doing maintainance and he can ignore me or hide at his leasure. If I just lift the top, mice are coming!

Actually, Bubba has recently become conditioned to the dog barking, as my Corgi loves to watch Bubba eat, so he comes running, barking, when he sees me with the mice. Bubba has decided that dog barking = mice. But if the dog lights off because of the cat, Bubba will come out, tongue going like crazy. Where's my mouse? I swear that monitors can glare!

Leslie

I don't know about everyone else's critters but mine think everything equals food, walk past the cages. Food?
Open the cage to change the water. Food?
Sneeze. Food?
Turn on the TV. Food?
Dog barks. Food?
Kids play too loud. Food?
It doesn't matter whats going on, they always think it's time to eat. Sometimes they will climb up against the glass and it looks like they are begging for food. "Look at my poor belly, I only ate 6 mice today, feed me. Please?"

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Scott, that's because you, like me, have "Sucker" tattooed on your forehead in critter language. LOL They know....

Leslie

Well Leslie, does that mean they have trained us?
My blackthroat does the look at my belly trick a lot.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Sure they train us. There's probably a monitor-written book out there that they can buy, "How To Train Your Human."
Leslie

That means your not feeding enough. Feed more, and you will see them become a tiny bit pickier. hahahahahahahahahaha. Feed a lot more, and they will become spoiled.

There responce to feeding, is totally dependant on need. FR

I seriously doubt my blackthroat will ever become a picky eater.
Shortly after getting her, I offered 8 adult mice. She ate them all, basked for about 20 minutes, then, she started acting like she was hungry again. She was a whole 18 inches TL at the time.
I am beginning to believe albigs are bottomless.
Fluffy is my walking trashcan, but, by God she's fun.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

I get the feeling "your not getting the point" You think 8 mice was alot, but unfortunately, that is not what the monitor thought. When monitors are full, they do not eat. You simply do not understand what full is. The fact the monitor wanted more, means it was not full yet. Its really that simple.

Please understand, there are reasons for not feeding your monitor, that are valid. Such as, you do not want your monitor to grow, breed, get fat(adult fullsized males) etc. But that does not change this post, when monitors are full, they stop feeding. When monitors are kept fedup, they do not have the same feeding responce of a starving monitor.

I believe I have addressed this many times, I believe, many misconceptions are based of the inaccurate labelling of what hunger means to a monitor. Such as the differences in behavior between, hungry, really hungry, starving, and starving to death. For instance, hungry monitors consume preferred foods, really hungry monitors consume a wider range of food items, starving monitors eat about anything, and really starving monitors eat all that and eachother. Cheers FR