Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, My son recently bought a baby Savanah about 7 inches now. It bits anyone who tries to pick it up, and it's hiss is enough to keep me at bay! I am wondering what to expect when my son does get bit... anyone been bitten by a baby Savanah? Whats the damage? How about an adult? I understand they get 3-4 feet in length; anyone been bitten by an adult? He went out and purchased the little critter without my consent, though it is kind of cute... I wonder just how safe this pet is going to be for my son.
Thanks,
John

How old ids your son. I'm 15. You should have experience befor dealign with these. If your son is less than 13( that's whenI got mine) You need to do some serious thinking about it. They can do soem serious damge when large. They cost alot to feed. I have been bitten alot by mine( from carelessness) Last time I got bit He was at 27" long and held on for over an hour. It is very pain full. Just get that little one and make him bite you on the finger. Don't jerk away just see how hard a little guy can bite. Just think of a big one. Mine now is Abot 32" long and I would hate to be bit by him. It feeels like a hammer pounding you when they bite as larger ones. You can barely feel the teeth becaus eof the jw pressure. He eats 2 rats, 1 mouse, and a boiled egg about every week now, and craps bigger than a small dog. He always chases me becaus e I'm his feeding responce. I like him that way. I don't care about holding him and stuff all the time I just inspect him daily and spray him with thre vita spray stuff and soak him in water once a week. You can get them tame but you should start now and get your son to hold him all the time( not enough to cause stress though) And don't feed him by hand like i do unless you like to have him mean and chase your hand every time you stick your hand in there. You can get them very tame though, but the bites can be terrible with a 5 footer, if an almost 2.5' er hurts like a hammer. The cage requirements are a large cage for an adult( they grow fast, I have mine in a 6' long and 3.5' tank and if it get s too big i will build on to it. The choice of cource is yours, I just pretty much told the negatives and not the positives, I find it well worth it. I like for him to chase me, it just cracks me up, I respect him so much now I don't htink I'll ever be bitten by him now. I amd care full though When I feed him by hand I always have my finger at least 3-4 inches away from his head or use tweezers.

Thanks Justine,
My son is 18, you know... a macho man. Had to buy a lizard because they look cool. I guess I will not be assisting in the training exercises, he's on his own. I've hit my thumb with a hammer plenty of times to know i don't want to experience the same pain from a bite. Especially if it won't let go.
Thanks again,
John

Just wanted to add another personal experience story to round things out. My Sav started out a hissing, tail-whipping little demon child. He died last Spring, but in the years I had him he calmed down to a very nice lizard. He never once bit me or even tried to bite me. I violated all the rules about feeding monitors by hand and regularly fed him by hand. He always took the food carefully and never so much as nipped a finger, even backing off before he bit me the one time I stupidly and carelessly got a fingertip in the way. Even when the lingering scent of rodents (I have pet rats) on my clothing enticed him to dig through my pockets looking for yummy rats, he didn't go into a feeding frenzy and bite. He let me touch him, and he seemed to like it when I scratched his head. He would climb around on me and liked to rub his head and chin on my hand. He always hated being held and would hiss when I picked him up, but he never tried to bite me, even when he was very unhappy with me or frightened or I smelled like dinner.

Monitors are very much individuals, and even though my Sav never tried to bite me, I accepted there was always a chance he might. Some of the things I did around him, I wouldn't even do around my little ackie monitor for fear of getting bitten. Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that some monitors do become more tractable with time and patience, and some of them go their entire lives without biting anyone. You might also want to consider that some (many?) lizards do seem to recognize the person who takes care of them. My Sav was comfortable around me, but he was skittish and huffy around my husband and anyone else who didn't interact with him regularly. If your son's Sav is going to live in your house, it may be worthwhile for you to get the Sav familiar with you while he's still small.

Mine does not only see me as a feeding responce but he is just plain out aggressive. i tried taming him fro the 1st month i had him, buthe just got more and more aggressive. He hates for me to touch his head, and I just don't like touching his head as he burst inot great speed before you know it. It scares the crap out of you when he does it even when you are expecting it. I will probably ot some pics of him tomarrow eating fom my hand. If I do get bit again i know I'll be getting my camera out and taking pics, maybe I won't have to do that though. Alot of the times when I feed him he goes after me and not the food. Anytime i have a sore or a weakness in my hand it's like he can sense it and he goes for that area. But I still love him no matter what. When I got "spyro" He was 11" long. i now have a 7" hatchling since it was 5" I can't wait for it to get big enough to go in with spyro. Oh I got his name from spyro the dragon game. i should've reserved it for a komodo dragon. i sdon't have a name for the little one yet. Still thinkin on it.

Mine does not only see me as a feeding responce but he is just plain out aggressive. i tried taming him fro the 1st month i had him, buthe just got more and more aggressive. He hates for me to touch his head, and I just don't like touching his head as he burst inot great speed before you know it. It scares the crap out of you when he does it even when you are expecting it. I will probably ot some pics of him tomarrow eating fom my hand. If I do get bit again i know I'll be getting my camera out and taking pics, maybe I won't have to do that though. Alot of the times when I feed him he goes after me and not the food. Anytime i have a sore or a weakness in my hand it's like he can sense it and he goes for that area. But I still love him no matter what. When I got "spyro" He was 11" long. i now have a 7" hatchling since it was 5" I can't wait for it to get big enough to go in with spyro. Oh I got his name from spyro the dragon game. i should've reserved it for a komodo dragon. i sdon't have a name for the little one yet. Still thinkin on it.

I'd be scared if a 32" monitor attacked me. How old is your monitor? Mine is 11 months and almost a foot (w/tail). He has never bitten me yet, he will proceed to hiss a little but when I pick him up, he quiets down and relaxes. He will whip when my two dogs walk up to his tank and he gets mad. My monitor has bitten once though, my father picked him up and was staring at him, and then was trying to scare my little terror of a cousin a way, but instead, my monitor bit my dad's moustache. No real harm, he just lost a little of his moustache and got a little cut, it was funny though, but its not funny when your monitor attacks at 4 feet. When my monitor did this about 3 months ago, he still was only 8". I'm trying methods to calm my monitor and I think they work since he has been letting me touch him and pick him up.

He is probably a little over 3 years old. It realy is not hard to keep from getting bitten if you know your monitor. I usualy know exactly what he is going to do. But sometimes he tries something new to try to get him. The main reason I hand feed him is that i always make him chase it, because it gives him some excersize and stimulates his mind to start trying to figure things out. I sometimes take him out and put the food in between the rocks I have in there for him to figure a way of getting it out. He will actually stick his hand betwen the rocks and scratch it out between the rocks. They are realy smart, and i think they should have some mental stimulation. I'lll try to take some pics tonight after I go to my July 4 dinner. It is to hot to go out side right now I am staying in over the air conditioner.
Justin

I agree that mental stimulation is a positive thing for cage-bound animals. I used to hide dead mice around the living room and let my Sav find them when he was out roaming. My family thought it was sick, but you never saw a lizard's ego puff up so fast as his when he found a mouse all on his own (and you never saw a usually calm lizard eat with such flourish!). I also used to let him out and toss crickets to him to chase, kind of like playing fetch with a dog. He'd chase one down and eat it, then look at me and wait for the next one.

You might want to reconsider making him chase your hand when he feeds. Even if you believe you can avoid being bitten by him, consider that someone else may have to take care of him for a period of time. I, for example, ended up having emergency surgery and was in the hospital a week and completely bedridden another few weeks. My husband had to care for my animals during that time period. He would have been less than thrilled to lizard-sit a 3- or 4-foot lizard that charged him whenever he tried to feed it. God forbid the lizard that you taught to lunge at his food should ever mistake a friend's toes or something for food and charge, your parents could end up in a lawsuit (not to mention you could end up responsible for a new local anti-herp law). Should you ever have to rehome him (do you plan to go to college in the future?), it will be difficult enough without having one that is an aggressive feeder.

Mental stimulation and exercise is good, but it's a bad idea to teach an animal behavior that could be dangerous to you or someone else. Like someone else who wrote, I've raised Pit Bulls for years and work in dog rescue (usually Pit Bull rescue). You learn to be very, very careful what you teach Pits when they're puppies. With most puppies it's okay to play tug-of-war games with stuffed animals and such, for example (provided you teach them the drop command). A Pit grows into an animal with incredibly strong jaws that's been bred to bite and hold on. Until you've had a large male Pit Bull (a rescue in my case) try to initiate play with you by clamping down on your hand and squeezing his jaws shut like a vice (all the while staring up at you happily with his "let's play" expression!), you may not see the folly of playing tug games with cute little puppies. It's a similar thing with monitors. We probably all take calculated risks (I fed my Sav by hand, though I wouldn't even consider feeding my tegu that way), but try to stack the deck in your favor.

I under stand all of your points. But if i end up in a bed fro a long period, and when I go to college my parents will feed him If I don't get to come home every weekend. There is a college near me I am trying to get to go. All they have to do is to put the food in the bowl and put the bowl in rela fast or drop it or soemthing like that. I'll never let friends feed him. No exceptions. I'll train my parents to feed all my herps. If I ever get bit, I know its my fault. I never give him an inch so thats just a very slim chance I'll ever get bitten by him again. But if it does I will get over it. I understand teh risks involved. I loike for him to be happy. I keep forgetting to post a pic of him, I have been gone fishing today so i'll try tomarrow, but I will sometime.

It's good your parents are willing to care for your herps. My father has babysat mine in the past, but my mother won't go near them, and my mother-in-law won't even come to visit because she can't stand the thought of being in the house with a "big" lizard. Do you think it's wrong that we never told her my Sav died last Spring? Lol! Anyway, do post a picture when you get around to it.

Yeah, some monitors are just plain aggressive. They all have their own personalities. That's one of the things I really like about them. My only real point in what I wrote was to show the questioner that these animals display a range of behaviors and personalities. The important thing is to know what you're getting into and accept responsibility for your animal, regardless of whether he grows up to be the picture of calmness or a holy terror. I like your Sav's name, btw. I have a tegu hatchling that I haven't figured out a name for yet. They look so different as babies than they do as adults, I want to find something that will fit him now and in the future.

Thanks, I have already noticed that my son's monitor seems to recognize him and backs into a corner when I approach the cage. I never would have believed that a reptile had the capacity to recognize a person. I guess it has opened my eye's to the fact that many animals are more intelligent than we give them credit for.

we can certinly tell you a kid

I've been bitten twice. Both while hobbes was smaller. Its kinda neat, the bites bleed well. Fortunately the teeth are cone shaped, and they leave nice incisions in my experience that bleed well but at least there are no teeth left inside.

Savs are great food crushers they eat lots of insects, and other hard bodied food items, so they DO have strong jaws.

Make sure you follow good feeding habits, and protect yourself as well as your animal. Its never good to accidentally toss your animal when it startles you and grabs on.

Later.

Oscar

Thanks Oscar,
I think I have made my mind up that my son will be the sole handler of his pet. This works out for me as I have a good excuse not to be the one to clean up or feed the little guy. I need all my fingers to type!
Take care.

Think hard about this one. You don't have to pick up the animal and hold it, but it wouldn't be a bad idea for the animal to get used to having you and other people interact while it's still small. If it's backing into a corner when someone besides your son is around right now, then it's clearly very frightened (though some of this will probably lessen as the lizard grows larger). My concern is that your son has a lizard that has the potential, though most in captivity don't, to live a a couple of decades. Unless your son is planning to never be sick or take a vacation during the next decade or so, at some point, someone is certainly going to have to look after the animal for him for a few days. It's also entirely conceivable that the lizard will still be alive if and when your son decides to marry and perhaps have children of his own. It would probably be in everyone's best interest, including the lizard's, to let the animal learn to be comfortable around more people than just your son. He may still get huffy around other people (mine often did), but ideally he shouldn't be so genuinely frightened that he cowers or feels he has to defend himself.

First, babies do not hurt, go ahead and stick your finger in its mouth. That way, you will know, and not have to be told.

Next, If your son does not learn to keep his parts out of a monitors mouth during the time it takes to raise the monitor up, then you may want to have him tested for learning disorders.

To ask people about bites from adult large monitors is most likely not the best approach, as they suffered from the above conditions.

So you see, raising them from babies is very good, because it gives you time to learn. Somewhere along the line, you will figure out at what size you want to stop putting your finger in its mouth. The Reason is, it will cause you pain and pain is a good teacher. Please take this with some sense of humor. F

Point taken FR,
I don't think my son really intends to deliberatly be bitten. It was my concern that he could get caught off guard. I have seen how quick this little guy is. He can be fine while my son is petting it, but when I walk up he looks like a balloon shooting all over the place with the air rushing out of it, only with an open mouth.

I rarely post on this board but this has got to be the single most ignorant msg I have read yet. Not from the man asking about the bites but from the irresponsible children who think it is neat to have a 4 foot monitor lizard think your hand is a prey object than brag about it.
First off if you would like to curb the chance a serious injury I would start either trying to tame the lizard or think about building a very large enclosure that will allow you to clean on opposite ends of the enclosure without the chance on the monitor biting you. Let me tell you that these lizards can inflict serious wounds that could be disfiguring if bitten in the face and very painful as well as requiring emergency medical treatment in other places.
I once had a 4 foot Nile monitor bite my leg luckily all he got was white rubber boot. That was my own stupidity. I agree with FR if your son doesn’t learn to keep his parts out of the monitor’s mouth than getting bit should be the least of your worries.

Now with that said your monitor is young enough that it can be tamed to what degree is the question. My sav was 4 feet and had no enclosure he was a free roamer. He had one place and one place only that he was fed and he was NOT fed by hand. Ever wonder why people get killed by large snakes?
Remember these are wild animals that have become your captives, treat them as such and you will be fine.

BTW while you may think from reading all this that these lizards have awefull bites they are much less damaging than almost any dog bite so keep that in mind if his next step of machismo is to buy a pit bull.

This is not meant to be a negative post but a matter of fact post to let you understand the seriousness of what you’re dealing with. While the children may think it cool to have a ravenous animal in there bedroom it is not and takes a large amount of responsibility and you bear a large amount of liability. Take it from someone who has raised and bred American Bulldogs and American Pit Bull terriers since I was small child while I have never ever had a bit incident there is always a labiality factor involved.

Mat Price

Any other questions feel free to post or e-mail

Why do you say that the chldren on this forum think it is cool to have a monitor chase you. I am 15, i don't think it is "cool" It is not hard at all cleaning his cage, because I usualy just put him in another container or while he is swallowing something. i don't kno why that is so irresponsible. i take the precautions and if i ever get a serious bite it will be a dog bite as far as the doctors are concerned. I don't really think it's "cool" for him to chase me. He usualy calms a little bit if he sees that I'm not going to feed him. it' s not like he tries to kill me all the time. Just when i walk into the door of my animal building and go by his tank. He then goes to the front of the tank and tries to get out but after about 2 minutes he just goes and basks. if you take ur time to grab him then you will get bit, you have to move fast. i'm more responcible than most adults that i know. I refuse to argue anymore on this post about this crap. Say what you must, i will only reply to another ? for me.