Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Up until today, I have been happy to let my husband be the monitor fanatic in the family. He's had Argus (my fav), BTs, Niles, Ornates, etc. We went to the Raleigh Show today and saw an adult Blue Tail Monitor... WoW!!!

So now my research begins (no, we did not buy the monitor, but I love the coloration, shape, size, etc).

Do any of you keep these? Can they be "tamed down" even enough to be able to view them while in their enclosure? Any site recommendations for my research or advice is greatly appreciated. This is the only monitor (other than a Peachthroat) that has piqued my interest in having a monitor for myself.

Thanks!!
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Tammy

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will gladly do without the necessities." ~~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Doreanus and jobiensis are my favourite monitors of all, they are colourful perhaps the most colourful of monitors, they are such gluttons its easy to train them with food, they dump in water making cleaning a snap! One more thing I like about them is unlike every other monitor I keep, captive raised adults are never a danger, most monitors get very bold with their keeper and this often leads to accidental bites, Iv never even came close to an accidental bite with both these species.
However all these qualities never got my wife interested in monitors, she got in this hubby with these little creatures, just as nice much smaller and very safe critters, they sure are growing on me, we are incubating the agama eggs for the first time this year, this excite me like a kid.

Wow, nice lookin critters!

WoW... What's the little guy in the last pic? He's intense!!!
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Tammy

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will gladly do without the necessities." ~~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Its a Tanzanian agama agama, don’t know much about them other then they are loads of fun and have all the attributes of bearded dragons, they sure are nice lizards my only complain is that they aren’t as polymorphic as ornate uromastyx.

Hears one of my newly arrived doreanus (from batanta) peoples should know that Irian jaya and Jayapura doreanus, are the very shy and nervous type! There are at least a dozen locality that are very easy to work with, some are totally fearless of there keepers and make excellent captives. I own 7 different locals and totally love them.
These new batantas already eat from my fingers and don’t hide in my presence, all this in less then a month (not bad!)

Jobi,

Although it may be awhile before I feel prepared (both space & knowledge wise) for one of these beautiful animals, I really appreciate all of your input. Is there someone in particular that you deal with when looking for the "calmer" localities?
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Tammy

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will gladly do without the necessities." ~~ Frank Lloyd Wright

They are very skittish monitors, but they can calm down and be viewed in their enclosures without running all over the place. It takes time but they will. Be sure to provide a deep substrate of a mulch/leaves mixture so they can bury themselves if frightened or sleeping. I have had my male for 4 years and he can be held without even trying to get away. The female i've had for only about a year and she still has some calming down to do. Overall they are great monitors, easy to feed, and very pretty. I have noticed that they prefer it on the warm side for monitors and I provide mine with a 100 watt heat lamp on one side of their enclosure even with their cage outside here in Florida. Mine are fed rodents (mice or rat pups) and seafood (live fiddler crabs from the river or boiled shrimp) with the occasional cut up hard boiled egg or roach. Hope this helps.

Great photo, and your reply has given me hope. I still have a lot of research to do; but I'm fairly confident that when the time is right, I will be ready for a Blue Tail
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Tammy

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will gladly do without the necessities." ~~ Frank Lloyd Wright