Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so I've had my Argus for a little over three months now and I've learned to never feed him with out wearing shoes or a long sleeve. I wear these because of obvious reasons as claws and or being bitin, but I've noticed diablo (my monitor) always goes straight for my shoes when I open his cage. he will continue to bite at and claw at my shoes even after fed. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this. I don't know if it's because of something he smells because I do have other animals and breed mice. thanks for any input. Anthony

Hi, I think you answered your own question, which makes it that much easier!
If your shoes come into contact with either the other animals or their scent, that could be the reason, or possibly the leather, if that`s what they`re made from (or colour).
How is the monitor doing now, are you feeding from tongs, and beginning to gain his/her acceptance that you`re not a threat?

Also your argus is telling you that its still hungry.

ITs very common that people feed amounts that they feel are good, but don't consider what the monitor thinks/feels, its still hungry and thats what its tellling you. Best wishes

i dunno... while living up in washington state i had a well fed 4 foot water monitor that had a thing either for or against my african american friends.... it was funny as hell! whenever we were in the room the lizard lived in, as soon as he came out, he'd make a bee line for the brother(s)This usually resulted in my pals making a rather hasty retreat whilst uttering profanities of an unseemly nature. It was such a regular occurrance that it couldn't be simply dismissed as "wow, i v never seen him do THAT before, honest!" Now whether or not that qualifies as a fetish i couldn't really be sure... but it was an oddly consistent behavior that seemingly bordered on obsession. who knows....maybe it was the shoes....
guy

It's not just monitors. Other lizards and reptiles do odd thing around certain people and in certain situations. Like my green iguana, for example, he freaks out when he sees women with long hair. [shrug]

my monitor just has a thing for stuff that smells like feet I've officially decided. the other day he was trying to climb into a pair of my shoes but instead decided to snatch up one of my socks and ran off with it.

Hi Guy,

My guess is, that monitor may use color/shade instead of features to distingish predators. It may well be that a person of color collected that monitor to start with and has imprinted on that image.

Also you have trained it to accept a lite skinned human by bringing it food. Cheers and junk

Hey Frank! Nah....this was back in the late eighties(as in the nineteen eighties there kids..) so i'm pretty sure he was CBB, well....I'm positive it was at least one of those letters, if not two... but it wasnt like he was aggressive, more akin to determined I'd say. no outward signs of hostility nor yelling of any sort,on the part of the lizard. However at the time it did seem quite intentionally directed, almost like he was going to climb the individual. not to seem flippant(me?)nor quite possibly rather dim(no...really?me?) but i do recall reading(yeah i know...dang readers and all..we've all read....) that some species will literally climb those things they perceive as a threat. same tactic saved me many a time back in grade school,yet i digress. hows tucson these days? My truck is nearly fixed now(i know...how many months?) currently needing only a fuel pump or so i m told an might even get done this weekend if the planets align properly... guy

I wonder how their memories last. I know dogs only have a memory span of only 5 minutes. But if it was traumatic experience, that would have been different.

my monitor somewhat trusts me he just doesn't like to be touched or he will hiss and whip. I give him 3 pinky along with a dozen crickets. I usually just dump crickets In with him as he puts on a great show chasing them, the pinkys I usually just offer in a bowl. I do need tongs but haven't got around to getting any yet but that's why I offer food in bowl to try to not get my fingers considered food. thanks for replys and any further input. Anthony

my monitor has now takin a likin to my cats food now (cat chow) is it harmful for him to eat or would it be considered safe as a treat? he acts like all the pinkys and crickets I offer him aren't enough but I know they are savage eaters.

Hi, whole foods only, cat and dog food is formulated for those animals, not recommended for Varanids, if the monitor is still hungry, offer more of the recommended items!

ok thanks I'll have to feed my little guy more than!

I've had a similar experience in the past. One such occasion of mistaken identity was this time I was driving home from the vet with a black-throat I used to have. He was resting on my shoulder and as I was driving up the hill to my house he began tounging my ear and I just thought to myself "oh god I know exactly what's about to happen" and so then he just latched onto my ear and I immediately grabbed his head to prevent him from ripping my ear off. Since then i've never again allowed another lizard to hang out on my shoulder. His regular diet consisted of mainly rats, ground turkey and boiled eggs so I have no idea what would have caused him to mistake my ear for food.

Another experience i've had was with my argus monitor, I used to let her wander around my room so she could get some excercise which was a really bad idea since for some reason she absolutely loved my socks and underwear. She would grab a sock and just rip it to shreds so it comes as no surprise that one day while I was in socks working on the computer she charged up, grabbed my foot and shook it violently. It was not easy at all getting her off and I still to this day have a very prominent scar on my foot. I don't know what the cause of this could be but my advice to you would be to never let your gaurd down with a monitor lizard, especially an argus. Oh and always wear shoes around them.

This is just an example of natural selection,back in the days of our ancient relatives you would have been plucked off drinking with your head down at the watering hole by wolves or something.They probably didn't have shoes back then to save you from hungry predators LOL.

The thread name kinda scared me for a second lol.

But i think frank hit it on the head, from what you say your feeding him, i assume its still young (right?). Monitors grow at an amazing rate and are always hungry. If you show me an overweight baby/juvie monitor, I'll eat my hat Feed him a lot and keep the basking spot hot! I recorded my savanna's growth rate when we first got him, he was averaging growth of an inch or two every 2 weeks! I had a 2 foot, defensive beast (I was truthfully terrified of him, i had never dealt with any animal like a monitor before, so I rarely worked with him lol) in no time at all! Lol, but good luck with him man!
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Jason

haha sorry about the thread name, but yes my Argus is still a youngin. I do have to say I learned the hard way of never going near my monitor shoeless but lucky he is still small or else I might be missing a big toe lol! my monitor has at least doubled in size since I got him and recently I noticed started putting on a lot of mass. he kind of reminds me of a bulldog by how bulky his arms have gotten which I think looks awesome, the build of this animal makes it look like something made to kill lol. I wish I could upload pictures from my phone because me laptop is currently kaput and I would love to share pictures of diablo.

here's a photo, if it works I'll upload a few others later.

You're not the only one, antwon. My monitor tries to eat my feet every time he gets the chance. He's started going for my knees now. No clue why my knees, even with pants on.

He probably doesn't want you around and is confused whether to bite you or not. He probably associate with food and at the same time doesn't want you around...give him a couple minutes and he'll probably bite you hard. He's just confused. My friend had a black throat and it would do the same thing, except it was on his arm, and that thing actually bit down hard.