Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone recomend a good scale for weighing med-large monitors?One of my V.dumerilli layed yesterday(this will be the 4th clutch from this female,produced by Mike Fost 1994,that I'm incubating)and I would like to keep up with my records but dont have the proper scale-I have a triple beam and an ohaus gram scale that are good for weighing eggs and babies but nothing acurate for my adults.What are you guys weighing your crocs,niles,waters,lacies ect with?Would also love to talk about the ethics of producing these guy's. I havent been incubating my eggs for the past 3 years because of the lack of interest in captive bred and born babies.Ihave hatched out 22 dumerils scince 99(been keeping them scince '96)I am not a newbie just new to the forum.Any comments?
cheers
Ben Aller

I was able to sell/trade my captive bred dums very easily @ $300/each and would think that captive bred would be prefered over wild caught any day. Ethics is nothing but personal opinion which leads to nothing but arguments here, so I'll stay away from that discussion (maybe).

Weighing a large monitor can be simple depending on how accurate you want to get. One easy way is to weigh yourself, then weigh yourself holding the monitor and do the math.

Congrats and I hope for good hatchrates.

I will let Rsg give you advice on scales,(above, i didn't read it yet) I do not weight them. Unless theres a huge reason to, then its most likely a Vet weights them, thats been extremely rare.

I seen no reason to. Is there something i am missing? They get heavier, they lay eggs, they lose some weight if nesting is good, if nesting is bad, they lose lots of weight. I feed them back to weight and it starts all over again. After many years, the females lose the ability to gain the weight back and egg laying becomes fewer and farther between, then stops altogether.

All of the above is very visible by the eye. Isn't it?

About ethics, if you are not happy with what your doing, then don't do it. Its really about that simple. I imagine, anything captive hatched is better then WC and so some positive good is gained there. But if you think monitors should not be held in the publics hands, then maybe you should not hatch the eggs. But you have them, don't you? Are you the public?

Wifes calling me, gotta go, maybe some more later, FR

Thanks for the replies!
As far as scales go I was looking for exact weights and have weighed my snakes like that for years,thanks for the input tho.
Hi FRank! wonder if you remember me?We have talked and visited several times over the years.You might remember me meeting you for breakfast at the old 49 or the south fourty or whatever that greasy spoon by your pad is.I used to live in Picture rocks(behind the wagon wheel)but am back in Sacramento now.Am not sure if I am the public?I have been making my living building zoo exhibits and animal enclosures for the last 9 years and keeping and breeding herps scince '92 I think this just makes me "interested" .......or stupid!My ethical question stemmed from this recent clutch-it was expected-and my memories of selling my babies to an uniformed public- tho I tried my best.
I had massive problems selling my perfect orange headed beasties,5-7 weeks of waiting after copulation followed by aprox 210 days of incubation,then getting them feeding/thriving, just to hear people at the shows make comments like "why pay $300 for cb when I can buy wc for$75-150" or "I dont care if they are cb I dont pay more than $150 for any monitor".Very frustrating,I dont hate people I just feel beter when they arent around!But I love working with my monitors and feel dums are a great monitor for the "public" to keep.Also all of my dum's are captive bred with most being f2 so I feel like I should breed them,because I can.As far as weights the resons you stated are exactly why I want to keep weights....because I can't remember all the stuff I should about each individual and just want to keep it straight,for future reference when my memory gets even worse!
Hope all is well with you and yours.
cheers B.A

I kinda remember, hahahahahaha, there have been many many herpers that I met at the south forty. From all over the world.

The problem with value and captive hatched is very very discouraging and most people do not understand it.

They want all sorts of stuff, but when push comes to shove, they want it cheap and the same price as imports. And people wonder why there is only hobbyist efforts in commerical breeding of monitors. Captive breeding cannot compete with wild caughts, and it shouldn't.

If you give me your name, it may break thru the grey stuff thats suppose to be a brain. I kinda remember someone who was wanting to do some outdoor enclosures it that area. hahahahahaha, to many people and to many monitors.

Also, I see nothing wrong with you keeping track of the weights, I was just wondering why. I did that for years, then found out, the only value is, the extremes and no one likes extremes. FR

Hey FRank!
My name is Ben Aller I moved from Sacto to Tucson in early 2001 and must have been at your house late 2000.I did come to ask about outdoor enclosures, so your memory is not too shabby.
I came out there with my -then-wife to work for Cemrock.We talked about monitor enclosures,Rick Dyson and Dave Taplin.You told me to watch my back with D.Taplin and I should have listened! Oh well- I learned a lot out there but just didn't work out, left my wife and job and am having another go at my own buisiness again after one very dark period.I did build some cool outdoor enclosures for my Dumerilli and Caeruvilerens out there tho. I'll try and dig up some photos.Have a friend coming over this weekend to take some photos of my set ups now and will post them soon.Currently I am doing some poison dart frog enclosures and a few aquariums(private)..too bad not many people are willing to drop$5-10,000 on monitor enclosures....maybe someday.
cheers B.A

Yes sir, Nowwwwww I remember, hahahahahahaha, I could say its cause I'am old, but thats not it. Its all the chemicals and stuff from doing exhibit work.

You were lucky if you got to learn from them, as normally they pick your brain and drop you like a stone. At my company, we tried to hire their ex's but most were too fried to carry on.

My experience with large companies was the same. Only I didn't lose my wife(dang) I was very burned out, then after a few years I forgot. See, by sorry brain is good for something.

I did keep some plastics equipment and have been doing some roto-molding lately, mouse rack food bins. But have plans to do some real stuff soon. Hopefully it will be fun again.

I have cut back on the monitors(still have lots) So I have time to do other stuff.

Anyway, congrats on the dums, I got some of rsg's and somehow ended up with all males. I had two get out and shrivel up, they must have been females. They are the only monitors that have ever shriveled up when loose in the building. I really don't mind them out. I even had a mertens out for months then one day, there it is walking down the walkway.

I am raising up some local vine snakes and will put them in natualistic cages. I have a ton of naturalistic cages laying here and there. Cool beans FR

I Know what you mean about ex-cemrock employees, hope I got out before I was too fried.They told me "Ben, your to interested and exited about these projects,you dont need to know the mateing habits of the western shrew to build an enclosure for it"So yeah I'm tired of big companies too.We should talk epoxie some time I also am working on some new stuff that is fun.lots of work to do next few days but will be back soon, hopefully we'll talk more
later...B.A

Hi Ben,

As you say, there are good reasons to weigh larger monitors occasionally, times when "just eyeballing" or getting on the bathroom scale won't give you the information you want. I use a digital scale sold for fishermen -- these are durable and inexpensive. For big monitors with good attitudes a plastic mortar mixing tub hung by cords from the corners works well (that's how I weigh my crocs). Moving down the attitude list, many skittish animals will stay in a long-ish pvc or abs hide tube while you weigh them (if they're borderline, stuff a rag in each end). At the bad attitude end you'll probably have to bag them somehow. For weighing big wild monitors I've wrapped them up in a piece of minnow seine netting, which cuts way down on struggling and the chances of getting bitten by a thrashing bag.

SS

Thanks, great ideas,
will try to locate the fish scale,thankfully my kids are very co-operative.
B.A

My large albig climbs right in the bag when you open it in front of her, makes it easy. The scale I have goes to 50lbs. I can weigh almost all of my lizards with it, ackies and the beardie are a bit light to use it for though.

First, I do like to bag a keeper monitor without great reason. Althought on our study site, we do use bags and fish (hang) scales.

Go to Graingers Inc. and pick a scale that suits you and your needs, they have a wide range of platform scales various ranges.

I am sure, you will find something you like. Then weight a holding container and you can figure the rest. Good luck Ben. FR