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Hmmmm Monitor senses

l_l3lackwolf_l Apr 29, 2005 02:33 AM

I have a curiosity...Can monitors sense when their prey is sick or am i getting into fantasy world Ive been observing that sometimes my BT accepts won´t accept a cric, thought it was cause it was not hungry, but then i tried again with another cric and he ate it....the first cric wasnt moving as much as the second, so maybe the cric was sick or weak or at gates of afterlife, and the monitor sensed it, and didnt want to get sick himself....I dunno, what do you guys think bout this?:-?

Replies (2)

lwcamp Apr 29, 2005 08:12 AM

>>I have a curiosity...Can monitors sense when their prey is sick

Undoubtedly.

It is said that the wild Komodo monitors can smell when a mare is pregnant and close to giving birth. They then follow her around and wait to snatch the foal and afterbirth. If they can do that, surely they can smell when prey is sick or weak or badly compromised or generally not feeling well.

Regarding the cricket issue, however, my guess is that it didn't eat the cric because that cric was not moving around. A lot less exciting from the monitor's standpoint. After all, these are animals that eat just about anything they can cram into their mouths, healthy, sick, dead, rancid, festering and rotten, whatever. Of course, I wasn't there, that's just my interpretation of what you reported, but that's my first thought.

Luke

ToR038505 May 02, 2005 04:36 PM

I used to think the same thing, then I watched my monitor closely and realized that he just goes for the one that is making the most movements. He'll eventually go around and pick up the non-moving ones but before then if there's a cricket jumping around or doing something very noticeable then he goes for that rather than the non-moving.
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1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
1.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus
1.0 Green Iguana - King Arthur. Mr.Sexy(R.I.P.)
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
0.1 Water Dragon - Lady R.I.P.
2.2 Cats - Psycho(radiation), Moses, Satan, Bandy.
3.3 Dogs - Romeo, Juliet, Falon, Baby Girl, Scooter, Really Old Man!
1.3 feeder mice - One of them was fed to my monitor by mistake so now I have 3, which one was fed is unknown as I am not at home right now, darn it! How am I suppose to reproduce with dead mice? ~_~

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