Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, To get back to the subject of monitors......

I want to share a story Be nice to me hehehe

I have a big shallow bowl in the corner of the tristis enclosure. It is inset in the dirt. In order to keep the crickets from leaving the enclosure and getting all over the house, I pop off the hopping legs through a plastic bag. The back legs can grow back, the crickets will not die without them. I hate doing this, but it’s the only option I have found for my situation. I did have some crickets breed in my dirt recently, the babies fell into the bowl and grew there, as I put a fresh piece of iceberg lettuce and a few pieces of mouse grain/pellets in there everyday. I didn’t have to buy crickets for a little bit, but I did find small ones loose in the house for a while. Good thing the houses owner doesn’t have the best eyesight..lol Anyway, I have found that my tristis really don’t overeat, so I always leave at least one food choice in the enclosure. Last night the mouse legs were gone so I put in a big batch of crickets. The tristis keep all sorts of hours, sometimes stay up all night. I went back a little while later to see if they needed more, and found Mosey, my boldest one sitting in the basking spot with the 2x2 inch piece of iceberg lettuce, gnawing away. I had just put it in there, it was fresh and crispy. Mosey must have dragged it over there. Mosey chewed it for awhile, and then it fell off the side and the lizard lost interest. There were still some crickets in the bowl. I’m still trying to figure out what that meant...lol

On a non-monitor but raptor related note...
My mate has been at E3 in LA all week, it is a computer gamers/computerized toy convention. He told me they had a prototype robot called Raptor, and he said it was VERY raptor like in every way It’s about a foot tall, designed after velociraptor. He said it hears and sees in stereo, the guy snapped his fingers on the left out of the raptors line of sight and it’s head swung around to look. He then wiggled his finger and it ran over and started chomping on his finger! It has 3 speeds stalk, walk, and attack/run. He said it’s very lifelike in it’s movements and reactions. Neat. No price on these guys yet, but I’ll bet its at least a few 100 bucks.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, -H-
-H-

Hi Holly,

I think your V. tristis is telling you he does not care for what you are offering him/her. In the wild, these goannas feed on other lizards - so try offering it other lizards - this is not as easy or as pleasant as it sounds, but such delictable food might trigger their natural feeding response.

Somewhere about here, I have an article about Monitor lizards and their diets, wild vrs captive published in (late) Vivarium magazine by Robert Sprackland that depicts V. tristis feeding on Sceloporus lizards = more in tune with its natural diet... try that.

Other monitors have been observed to eat vegatation before: V. prasinus, V. exanthematicus, V. albigularis, V. bengalensis.... and of course the herbivores V. olivaceus, V. mabitang, and the other ? Philippine Varanus there....

Good Luck,
mbayless

Hi Mark,
I think you misunderstood me, they eat fine and plenty. The lettuce and mouse mix I leave in for the bugs. I just thought it was odd to see this lizard chewing on a piece of lettuce. I figured he may be enjoying the moisture? My dirt is dry on the surface, but damp underneath. There is a fresh drinking source. He didn’t actually swallow any pieces. He dragged it into the basking spot and chomped it for a few minutes. Since I have never seen this, I though it was weird-unusual-comical.

About these Sceloporus lizards, I do offer a variety of foods and am happy to find new nutritious tidbits. Are anoles not as nutritious as Sceloporus? My mate read your post and to my surprise thought getting them some lizards would be ok. First I have to find out how much they cost. I don’t know if I can find a place with a low enough minimum order though, any recommendations on suppliers? I can’t keep a large order where I am living even if they are cheap.

I’ll look around, thanks!
-H-

Hi Holly, I would not recomend anoles, not in the least. They are full of parasites and are stressed. There is also, nothing to them. They are skin and bone.

I would not recomend spinys either, almost the same reasons.

Uta's, side-blotched lizards or skinks are much better.

The first couple of years I kept odatriad monitors, I fed lots and lots of lizards. I did not see any benefit or problem with them. The only benefit is to see the monitors behaviors. Of the odatriads, ackies and kimberlys were the most interesting when feeding on lizards.

Also, many of our montiors will eat plants from time to time. I have also seen them try to eat coke cans too. I have a pic of that. Later, FR

Do you think it grabbed up the lettuce on purpose or was it grabbing at the crickets feeding on the lettuce and got the lettuce instead or also?

In my opinion it could go either way I was just curious as which way yours was. I have had my monitors grab all sorts of things to see if they can eat it. From much the same as you with the lettuce to eating bananas etc.

The lettuce thing actually just happened with my baby nile I hatched. Tossed in the crickets and then some lettuce that night. He walked over with no crickets in site and began to see how the lettuce tasted.

As for the bananas I was feeding my iguanas. My albigs stareing down at me. I placed the banana near their cage and they began trying to bite it through the glass. Opening the cage led to them running over and gobbling it up. I used to have pictures of it posted on here a few years back. haha even though some mean nasty people of this forum bashed me for feeding it to them.

Now I would never say to feed them that as a diet, but I can tell you I have seen them take to many different foods. Still the best diet that has worked and been proven for me is whole food items.

Is it possible the lettuce ended up in it's mouth by mistake? My monitors get all kinds of extra stuff in their mouths while going for food. Could've been a cricket on that piece of lettuce and he got the lettuce by mistake.