Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've seen a few of these beautys recently in a local petstore and was wondering if anybody had some good info on them. I was holding the larger one(about 20 inches) and it was calm as can be(except a few scratches from overgrown nails). How difficult of a monitor is this to keep? Are they generally calm adults or not? What's their average adult size(feet/inches please).

Thanks for any info

Average a meter in length. Can be fairly calm, to outright flightly and unhandelable. Ive had a female for some years now, and am still searching for a striped male to compliment her.
They are readily avail in the market, but are almost exclusively WC.
They enjoy high humidity, an arboreal set up, and are varacious eaters, consuming anything you offer. Minimum cage set up should be 5' high, 4' wide and 2' deep, imo. They seem to burrow, when not given enough arboreal hides.

cheers

i have a young one that is about two feet long. he scratches a lot and is pretty flighty. i clipped his nails, and now he is quite manageable. his flighty behavior has improved as well. he has never tried to bite. he likes to swim a lot and i would suggest a large water bowl, large enough for swimming.. i feed him mostly the san diego zoo diet and goldfish. he seems to like both and he eats well. i've read that the males get to be much larger than the females. usually four feet but sometimes six feet long. he or she has a nasty habbit of defecating when it is upset. i have had tegus, red argentine and black and white columbians, common nile monitors, ornate nile monitors, savanah monitors, and iguanas. of these my favs have been the ornate niles, red tegus, the iguanas, and the mangrove. the mangrove has been much less difficult to train than the ornate niles. the ornate niles had to be taught not to bite and tail whip. they were bad about defecating like the mangrove. they were bad about scratching until their nails were cut as well. the ornate niles were over four foot and were heavy bodied. the mangrove looks like he is going to be a lot skinnier. both seem pretty flighty though regular handling seems to help this a lot.the red tegus aren't as flighty. they scratch pretty badly too and their nails need trimming as well. they are heavy bodied and sort of lumbering strong lizards that don't seem afraid of anything. they sometimes threaten to bite if they are upset. the mangrove has not done this. the red tegu i have now doesn't like being carried that much thay seem sort of afraid of heights. the mangrove seems to like being up high and does not mind being carried but you have to worry about him getting scared and running away and hiding. the red tegu can just be put on the floor and i just let him do as he pleases. he never runs away he jwould ust as soon crawl on top of your feet as try to hide. the red tegu likes to explore though so you need to keep an eye out just to make sure he doesn't get lost burrowing in something or doesn't get into mischief. i don't really feel safe letting the mangrove wander; i'm afraid i would never see him again. my iguanas have free reign of the reptile room. their nails need to be trimmed. thay are flighty at times. thay are big the male is a lot bigger than the female. the female is a little over three foot, the male is almost five foot. thay are moody but thay usually like affection. they will actually climb into my arms or onto my shoulders or head if thay want to be petted or fed. they don't usually hide. they feel secure climbing on top of the spots in the reptile room that are the highest off the ground.

haha... indicus is known for their projectile decication abilities when upset. Also vomiting, from what ive heard, though have been lucky enough NOT to have experienced that one. haha

Indicus rely almost solely on their claws for defense. The only time ive ever been bitten, was when i was handeling one that had a pretty bad injury.

cheers