Reptile & Amphibian Forums

bc im getting a book on reptile parisites(bc my bd just died wana no more about them)

and saw a few monitor books i dont have so what is a good one for around 25-35 or under

or more just tell me how much

thanks

By far, the most comprehensive book covering varanids is Eric Pianka and Dennis King's new book, Varanoids of the World. I believe it sells for 70 or 80 bucks, but it is definately worth every penny.

If you are unfamiliar with Eric Pianka's work, he has dedicated the past 40 years of his life to studying the ecology and evolution of desert lizards, with varanids being his favorite. He has written hundreds of scientific papers on desert lizards, many of which are on Australian monitors, and has written several textbooks which are used in many universities across the country.

This book includes much of Eric's own research on Australian goannas, as well as many other field biologists who have studied Varanids in the field. There is a detailed section of the book which is dedicated to the natural history of every(just about every) monitor species, which offers excellent color photographs of each species. There is a great segment dedicated to the evolutionary history of varanids, as well as varanid paleontology. The book also offers a great deal of information on the other varanoids, the heloderms and the Borneo Earless Monitor(Lanthanotus borneensis). All in all, this book offers the greatest amount of information regarding monitor lizards to date, and lots of hard work has gone into the writing of this book, unlike the crappy books that you will find at pet shops for under $30 as you mentioned... If you want a good book, expect to pay a bit more, it will be well worth it.

As for your animal dying from parasites, I will have to disagree with that. Parasites are not designed to kill their host, otherwise, the parasites would be killing themselves. What killed your monitor is an improper husbandry issue that did not allow them to live with the parasites(which occurs in nature all the time). A lot of people fail to realize that a skinny monitor is not a parasite infestion problem, but a dehydration problem. As I said before, animals in the wild commonly live with parasites. While parasites do not do any good for the animal, they do not kill their hosts in most circumstances. In captivity, we allow conditions to be unfavorable for the animal's survival, the animal becomes weak or dehydrated or sick, in which case they usually die. I would rule out that the cause of your monitor's death was parasites. While it could have very well have had parasites, the parasites were not the cause, it was an issue with husbandry which allowed them to weaken and die...

But check out Eric Pianka and the late Dennis King's book, you won't be disappointed with it. With over 500 pages of monitor information, there is an invaluable amount of information to learn from that book.

Cheers, have a wonderful day... Below you can view a summary of all the studies that Eric Pianka has accomplished in his 40 years as an ecologist/evolutionary biologist..

Take care,

Bob

Eric Pianka's contributions to Science.

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TheOdatriad

There are a few good books, most are over your ideal budget, however. If you are really stuck under $35, I'd recommend 'Monitors : The Biology of Varanid Lizards' by King and Green ($30), or 'The Savannah Monitor Lizard' by Daniel Bennett ($15).

If you can go a bit higher, check out Varanoid Lizards as Bob mentioned; it is the best out there right now. Daniel Bennett's 'Monitor Lizards' and 'The Little Book of Monitor Lizards' are excellent, though dated. He apparently has a revised edition in the works. 'Australian Goannas' by Vincent and Wilson is very good as well, imo.

There are a bunch of bad books out there. I would suggest you avoid Living Dragons, Natural History of Monitor Lizards, Giant Lizards, Grassland Monitors, General Care and Maintenance of Popular Monitors and Tegus, as well as other AVS/TFH/Petstore type books. I've heard good things about Rob Fausts Nile Monitor book, however I have not checked it out myself. I'd save the money you would have spent on these books, and buy some mice or something.