Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is my male komodo, brutus. He has successfully sired many of my babies which are all very tame and eat dog food from my hand! He and the females have complete run of my house and are toilet trained. They come when i call them and know several tricks as well as being fluent in 6 languages.

Sorry, i couldn't resist. hehe

This is one of hundreds of pictures and hours of footage that I shot when we visited Komodo a few months back. I like it because it shows the yellow tongue very well which is a possible source of the legendary fire breathing dragon (supposedly the tongue AND the bad breath but even though i got close enough to get a saliva sample from one of them, i did not take the opportunity to smell its breath). My computer is back from the shop and if anyone is interested in seeing any other photos of komodos let me know and i will post a few.

As i said, I also have hours of footage of them and other monitors but i have been unable to find a way to post avi files to the forum. As I do not see others do it I guess it is not possible but if someone knows how and thinks they can instruct a computer stupid guy how to do it, i would like to hear from you.

thanks, don

What you didn’t kiss them!! Not even on the cheek?
Hers a hint (komodo’s speech French) and they like to exchange with beautiful blonds.

np

haha. very cool. what is the story with the pic, did you take it? Is that what is known as a french kiss?

No I didn’t take them, they are frames from a documentary video, Nicole Viloteau is a French woman that really love reptiles, she is known for a passionate affair with snakes, iv seen her kiss on the lips a Russell viper, in fact she got bitten in the face by one and her face like a bloody pumpkin, you can see photos in her book (la femme aux serpents) I think these an English version on eBay, the documentary on komodo is nothing short of spectacular this woman is crazy, she really hugs and embrace them full body, I think Walter would have loved to see this when on komodo.

Ps. The funny thing is she free handled and kissed russell's for many years, the accident happened with a bagged viper.

np

WOW that pic is nuts! And I thought I was brave for cautiously petting this komodo at a reptile park in Jakarta. Please tell us more about that pic.
Thanks,
Neal

-----
pale reason hides the infinite from us

.

-----
pale reason hides the infinite from us

hey, this is a dream trip of mine, how did you plan it? Did you use a travel agency or just by the airfair and see what happened?

No, I travel to various countries in search of reptiles for a tv show i do. My producer did all of the co-ordination. We flew from jakarta to Bali and then on to flores where we took a boat to komodo. There are tours there but you can surely do it yourself but unless you speak the language, they will charge you more for the boat. As we were filming for tv, we got to do and see a lot more than most visitors to the park but it is still an awesome trip that you will not soon forget. We stayed there for 4 days but most people can get in and back out in a day or 2.

That's awesome! Like a day or two would be enough.. do they sell komodo proof tents? What language is spoken there? I'm sure I could pick up the basics.

Hehe, Komodo proof tent. They have some cabins of sorts that you can stay in. They are just small builings built on pillars. Four guest rooms and a sitting porch and community latrine in each building. If and when you get ready to go, drop me an email and i will give you a point of contact. It is to the chief of the rangers. He is a real nice guy. He is not there all the time as they rotate between the hq's in flores, komodo island and patrol to enforce laws (there is a lot of illegal dynamite fishing and such there that is destroying the coral reefs). It is very hot to say the least. They actually have a/c in the rooms but the problem is the generator only runs for a few hours in the evening. So sleeping at night can be down right miserable.

you work at a zoo or something correct? How do they walk around your house? I thought owning a komodo was illegal everywhere except for zoo's and such.
-----
1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
2.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus, unnamed
1.0 Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter 1-20-05 RIP
1.0 Green Iguana - King Arthur
1.0 Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
0.1 Water Dragon - Lady

Wow, I WAS KIDDING! I said that but even if i didn't i figure most people would have had no problem figuring that out. You are correct, only zoos can own them as they are appendix 1 animals and to even get the permit started you must have authorization from the indonesian president.

The pictures are from komodo island! But i think most everyone understood that. They are truly impressive monitors. The big ones that hang out in the park are very comfortable around people and pose no real threat to people but there was a guy bitten a while back so most tourists are not allowed to touch them or get too close.

The main danger is when they are in their "feeding mode". They will literally chase anything that moves. Wr have some great footage of them eating and even when we needed to get certain shots we would use a fish on a string which would allow us to move them to an area and even the small fish on a string would "wake up" their senses and they became totally different animals than what most people see lying around the park. The ones in the outlying areas are much more "wild" and flighty.

=-) Just making sure.. That last pic looks like he dove into a cow and ate it from the inside.. hahaha that's one big ugly dragon.
-----
1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
2.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus, unnamed
1.0 Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter 1-20-05 RIP
1.0 Green Iguana - King Arthur
1.0 Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
0.1 Water Dragon - Lady

I guess some people just have short attention spans these days... they only read the first two sentences and then get bored...hhahahaha...

Gorgeous photos as always Don, keep them coming. What an experience that must have been to get that close and to interract with these giant beasts. Let me know next time you make it down to Komodo, I'll meet you out there...

Cheers Don, talk to you later,

again, wild pics mate...

Bob

You said you flew into Flores. DId you happen to go searching for komodoensis on Flores? as I believe the Flores population is much more colorful than the ones commonly seen on Komodo in all the documentaries and such. I believe all of the captive US komodos originated from Flores, and from the dozen or so that I've seen, their colors are striking... much more colorful than the blandish ones that you see on komodo. Not sure about the colors of individuals on Padar or Rinca...

Just curious... Cheers Mate,

Bob

I did not seen any of the other islands dragons. When we got there they said there was a dive accident so we could not take the boat to komodo until the morning so we stayed on flores but i did not get out and see anything other than a few beer and a nice sunset

You talk about them like you've been there. You've gone around the world a few times in one year. Have fun on your travels!

well, i actually do not understand your post. Yes i have been there as well as the peruvian amazon, Kalimantan and many other places in search of reptiles. Not only is it not hard to travel around the world several times in a year but you can do it in a few short weeks. God, aren't airplanes great!

I wasn't talking to you, but anyways whats the name of the show you're filming?

My bad. I am not use to these forums and i saw it below my post so i assumed (which you know how that works). I see now who you where speaking too. I do several shows but the main show is µ¿¹É ·ÕÀÜ (to any korean visitors, i know i may have messed the spelling up a bit but i am a terrible korean speller). As far as bob goes, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders (with no chip) and even though he has never been there, he obviously is well educated and has the passion that if he sticks with it and puts a few years under his belt, will surely make his mark in the world of monitors. If nothing else this forum has hooked me up with a few people that appear to have the same passion as me and for that i am glad.

The animals that I was referring to were specimens that I've seen in person, in captivity here in the US. I am basing my personal thoughts and observations on the many different published accounts which I have read on Komodos. While I have done a fair amount of traveling, no I have not had the opportunity to travel to indo yet, however it is definately one trip I plan on making in the future.

I do not understand your sacrasm, or what you are trying to infer.. Perhaps you can elaborate a bit more..

Cheers,

Bob
TREEMONITORS.COM

Yeah, it's called ADD/ADHD. thx much
-----
1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
2.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus, unnamed
1.0 Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter 1-20-05 RIP
1.0 Green Iguana - King Arthur
1.0 Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
0.1 Water Dragon - Lady

yea sure ya'll get together on komodo island

actually since i have been there once and there are so many other places i want to visit, you are probably right in that we will probably not hook up in Komodo BUT i am putting an expedition together to go in search of undescribed monitor species so perhaps in lieu of meeting on Komodo, we will hook up in Irian Jaya. Who knows?

Again i wasn't talking to you

again, my bad.

lol.. two times.. i think you should put the person you're directing the post to.. maybe that'll help? haha
-----
1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
2.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus, unnamed
1.0 Baby veiled Cham - Sir August De Winter 1-20-05 RIP
1.0 Green Iguana - King Arthur
1.0 Rose-hair tarantula - Bill
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
0.1 Water Dragon - Lady

Man, you photographed some "rough" looking ones, LOL. I was there last August and I tried to photograph some of the more "photogenic" looking ones. The pic down below of you in the background with the dragon reminded me of one morning that we stumbled onto one that had just taken down a wild pig. It was just past and above the watering hole area on the higher ground. We watched it for nearly an hour trying to consume it, great stuff! Our guide that day was "Johnny"(pictured below), he picked up on how passionate I was about the wildlife and really went above and beyond to make sure we saw everything that we could. I am quite sure he thought I was someone famous, he made me promise to bring him that printed image when I returned. And just imagine, on the ride back to the dive boat we came across 6 feeding whale sharks in the bay and jumped in with them for nearly another hour. Now thats what I call an exciting day and it was all done before noon.

DM Exotics

I was on Komodo and Gili Motang for 2 weeks and spent a few days on Flores also. Stayed at the Chez Felix Hotel at the top of the hill. Ate at the Dewata Ayu restaurant everyday I was on Flores... amazing fish dishes there!

Here is an article with pics and a couple of video clips from my trip there:

http://www.kingsnake.com/rockymountain/RMHPages/RMHkingsand.htm