Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just want to know what gets bigger. Also does the cape white throats get bigger than normal whites. Ronnie

from all that i have read and experienced, black and white throat monitors are the same size varrying from 4-6' . True cape banded white throats are smaller in the 3-4' range, sometimes obtaining 5ft, the term cape banded is what I consider the south african banded whitethroat, which are smaller and alot harder to find. Everything that has been on the classifieds lately are just whitethroats, of various localities tanzanian, mozambique, gana etc..... and these are the ones that get just as big as blackthroats.
regular whitethroat

another "regular"

three baby tanzanian albigs

ionedesi or blackthroat albigularis

banded cape whitethroat monitors



another regular but different whitethroat monitor


as you can see they are a tremendously varied species, just as much if not more than lace monitors, v.varius i have others too but i didnt post, its a "regular" but is banded it is thought to be of mozambique locality, very distinctly banded not as dark as the cape banded whitethroats. Sadly this monitor has passed away from sepsis last week, i would love to get others like her.
hope this helps you out some please let me know if you have any other questions, email me at scottmoser@verizon.net
scott

The V.a. albigularis, V.a. angolensis, or whitethroat is a varied animal in color patterns. The blackthroat or V.a. Microstictus or V.a. Ionidesi are also mildly varied in color and pattern but similar with a dark background, 4-5 rows or white or yellow spots comes from closer to the equator and can range from 5ft to over 7ft in 2 cases that I know of, most are between 5-6 plus feet, with males averaging a larger size. Cape banded WTs are very pretty WTs from the southern or "cape" of Africa, and as the name implies the spots across their backs converge forming bands. The name originally from latin was V.a. albogularis or blackthroat, from the juveniles of most having a darker throat. Genetics also play a part in overall size by evolution allowing BTs to attain a higher average length because the availability of food, warmer average weather has always played a factor. Banded WTs average between 3.5-4.5ft total. The more northern forms of WT can and have made huge sizes to, as Titan of the San Diego zoo (deceased) proved, he was 6ft 10 inches in length and 38lbs if I remember if not more.