Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was recently given the opportunity to rescue a bad tempered nile monitor upon my arrival to get it i find out that it is an ornate monitor. it is mean no bites but excessive tail whips not to bad im slowly but surely calming it down. it is 2 1.2 feet long the guy said she is 8 months old im not sure i would like am opinion on age and im familiar with sexing snakes with the probing method am i able to probe my monitor to determine sex or is there other more simple methods.....tia

charlie

Hi, on no account should you try probing varanids. If this aniimal is 2.5ft ToL you should see evidence of the hemipenal bulges or lack of. Can you put a few photos up of the monitor, and give details of how you`re keeping the animal? Thanks!

this is his temporary home untill i get my reptile house built i am going through the permit proscess right now

this is triton i stated before that the guy told me he was a male but the same guy also said it was a nile and to my surprise i find that it is an ornate nile and it was a quick rescue like come get him now before i let him go outside deals so im trying to gather all the information i can get and he or she is accually three foot i measured him in between tail whacks

thanks guys

Hi again, I see there`s a piece missing from the tail tip, I`d guess perhaps 6 inches, which would make the animal closer to 3.5ft ToL, certainly large enough to be sexually mature.
It`s impossible to tell from that photo, you need a side-on view, then the hemipenal bulges (if present) might show.
The easiest way for you to do it is to hold the tail base towards the shade, that should make it clearer, obviously, when you take a photo, the camera flash takes out all the shadow.
I need to tell you that enclosure is NOT suitable, you cannot maintain humidity or heat in a screen cage, and it`s much too small!
This is the largest African species of Varanid, possibly the third largest in the world, thought to get over 2.5m (8feet).
They are semi aquatic, but also excellent tree climbers.
If this is a female, you`ll need a deep substrate for egg deposition asap, this species is known to be parthenogenetic (virgin birth)...
It`s an Ornate monitor (Vartanus ornatus), there`s no such animal as an "Ornate nile"...

thank you for all the help i appreciate the criticism but as i stated before it is a temporary home i had less than six hours to decide where i was going to keep him so i built it fast. i will enclose the sides with ply wood this weekend. i was outraged when i got to the guys house and it was running loose in his house battling his dog. i asked why he was out he says its an ongoing thing they chase each other around the house. i feel although i did a great thing by adopting her or him. is there a website that you can recommend that will give me all the humidity specs heat basking temps.as well as creating a suitable nesting area i am in the process of building a reptile house which is 18x 40 and his cage will be 8x 40x 8 which should be plenty for it to roam. there are no bulges behind the rear legs that i can see on the sides does any one have a pic that i can compare to like a male and a female? ill post pics in a bit

i have provided my ornate with about 2 foot of soil to dig in and she loves it. i have been reading about parthenogenesis and i was wondering if any one knows how common it is and does any one have pics of a gravid ornate monitor

tia
charlie