Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do I build trust between me and my monitor?? She seems very unpredictable. She's very qucik, and when i feed her crickets from tongs(to get her used to taking food from tongs) one second she looks not interested at all, and then WHAM! she snatches the cricket lighting fast, no hissing, nothing. When i handle her, she wriggles for a second and then chills out and just looks around, the only time i get nervous is when she turns her head back towards my thumb, and just stares at it, i dont know it she is just looking, or if she plans on latching on to it. Any advice??

What kind of Monitor is it? First I would like to say that sounds like a typical Monitor lizard encounter to me. Building trust just requires "time on the job" and even then nothing is certain. This is a wild animal, they are predictable though and I have found ways of handling to eliminate stress and to also know when enough is enough. I have a Black Throat and I trust him not to bite me, he doesn't trust me for crap. I'm still working with him, never show fear or hesitate, Monitors are real big on bluffs. Good luck!

Shes a savannah monitor. I never put my hands near her face at all, my hand when holding her is always right behind her front legs, and the other hand is bracing her at the base of the tail area. She seems to be gaining trust in me.

...think about. The trust you are trying to build goes both ways. For instance if the monitor "trust" you or it doesn't see you as a threat, are you going to handle the monitor if you don't trust it?
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hbailey

0.1 argus monitor

Hey macho man not all monitors are big on bluffs.You just happen to have lizards that aren't on the aggressive.

How about letting us know some predictabilities you've encountered when dealing with monitors? Thank You!

Actually, if you haven't already been bitten, you're doing pretty good! Be real careful about handling or getting too close when your sav is in 'feed mode.'

I have a rescue 2 foot sav that was said to be the proverbial "dog tame." Poor thing was so dehydrated and starved that it had no choice but to be tame. After some proper temps and good food, one day ol' Bubba felt good enough to turn around and hiss and tail whip at me when I reached in to stroke his back. First time the poor thing had ever felt good enough to object to "stupid human tricks."

I respected his decision to be left alone, and just went in to do basic maintenance. Then one day, Bubba just walked over to me, and I reached out and stroked his back; no hiss or tail whip, so I gently scooped him up. Guess he'd decided it was time to interact. I don't try to interact when he's out 'hunting,' and I always touch him on his back or side before trying to pick him up. (As if you did not know, never smell like dinner, or even a snack, when you reach in! LOL!) I also respect his space if he retreats to a hide. It appears that if your monitor is planning to object, it generally will not let you get close at all, rather than be all nice, and then nail you. Monitors are more honest than people that way.

Good luck, you seem to be doing ok. Just watch him, and you'll learn to read his body language.

Leslie

Yeah, i've been bitten by anacondas(babies), monkeys, tiger and cougar cubs, but i have never been bitten by any of MY reptiles, and all of them have been the equivalent to satan when i got them. I always get the ones that try to kill u when u pick them up, shows they are healthy. thanx