Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I bought this babymonitor from a reptile store was sold to me as a black throat but after a lot of nights of days looking at pictures I bought a white throat. Which is still awesome I'm really happy. Now my monitor when I was allowed to hold it at the store has a nail missing and has a little bit of the tail cut off and had a huge tick in his nose. I took him to the vet and was perfectly fine. So I've had Savannah's and ball pythons I am totally in love with this monitor. My question is he is super super tame including falls asleep with me but he will NOT let anyone hold him except me is this just awesome or could he be sick.

Purely speculation at this point, but I don't see anything good in your description.

From my observations, and from what I have read on a lot of forums, you should have some scratches on you.

being held is not supposed to be something monitors enjoy very much.
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Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....

Please try and understand, its a wild animal, the tick tells you its most likely wild caught and recently.

What that means is, its not tame and its not in love with you. Sorry.
With wild monitors, when dominated, they do what your discribing. If you check its heartrate, you will find its racing and not slow as it would be if it was sleeping.

Doing that is very stressful to the monitor. Let it regain its health and mentality before you attempt to have the monitor become tame. You have to understand, that monitor has been thru a lot. Do not expect it to be normal.

Next, monitors are EASY to tame or allow trust or a parntership, so don't worry about that. Worry about allowing your monitor to be normal first.

Also, my bet is, its a blackthroat and only because True whitethroats are rare in the pet trade, but it could happen, so a picture would be great. Best wishes

Actually your right about one thing it is wild caught just found out and his heart rate is perfect he walks to my hand now and climbs up it without me picking him up...

I was just like you once.

This animal needs to get used to being in captivity.

When frightened, it is common for them to close their eyes, it's trying to pretend you are not there.

It's a wild animal, until recently, the first human contact it has had was an animal trapper placing it into a bag, then an aeroplane ride or two, and now suddenly it's at your house.

as hard as it may be, please just leave it in it's cage for a while, weeks if you have to.

Let it approach feeding on tongs, allow it to gradually understand that you mean it no harm.

Believe me, once you have established a trust, it's far more gratifying, These lizards are intelligent, you will see that in time.

Good luck.
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Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....

Hi, when you say the monitor`s heart rate is "perfect" when you handle it, what is it exactly (how many beats per minute)? Thanks!

Can you give a few details of how you`re keeping the monitor; type and size of enclosure, ambient (air) temps in the coolest parts, surface temp at the basking site, humidity range throughout, type and depth of substrate, type of heating/lighting, and finally, what`s the diet?
Sorry for all the questions, but it`s important to have these details, maybe we can spot something that needs adjusting. Thanks!

120 basking humidity is at 60% on the cool side I'm always keeping an eye he's nice and cool as well cus it's hot here usually I'm he's ate a hopper about 70 crickets in two days. Seen him drink water a lot loves to dig in this soil I have him in. Have him in a 90 gallon building a 8 foot by 6 by 6 by the end of the month.

You should offer a basking spot of 130-150 degrees.

Bet you once you let him warm up, he's not so docile anymore.

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Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....

I'm bumping it to 140 ill let you know if he's docile or not.

Now is he a white throat or black throat what do u think

Hi again, there`s really no such thing as a "Black" or "White" throat, that`s just the common name given in America, not widely recognised anywhere else in the world.
They are just sub-species of the White Throated monitor; V. albigularis albigularis, V. a. microstictus and V. a. angolensis. V. ionidesi is not currently recognised as a separate subspecies as far as I`m aware.

Thanks for the details. The basking temp is o.k, this is a very small monitor just now and will heat up very quickly. It`s best to offer a range of surface temps at the basking site @ approx 50 to 60c (120 to 140f), and make sure the area is large enough to heat the whole body at least. Yes, you can offer slightly higher. Those temps will allow the monitor to function very efficiently. The difference in the time it will take between for example 120 and 130f for your monitor to reach activity levels would literally be few seconds. The larger the monitor the longer it takes to heat up and the longer it takes to cool down, and obviously vice versa (so easy)!

Thanks for the info ur being really helpful! One thing though he is superrrrrr active at the temps I have him at he's always throwing dirt around and walking I'm and out of the water dish it's awesome when I reach inside he doesn't run he comes smells me out and let's me pick him up without any popping biting wiggling or tail whipping when I put him in the bed he just walks around its awesome.

Just for the sake of asking, what are you using to measure the temps and humidity (both ambient and surface temps)?
Do you know what the ToL is (total length)?

Looks like I just got lucky guys he' just finished a hopper and 30 large crickets basking is at 140 ambient at 85 humidity at 60 it's all good thanks for the help anyways I guess I just have a beautiful white throat sleeping on my shoulder

how much time per day would you say you have him out of the enclosure?
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Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey
Thamnophis US
Savannah Monitors
Snakes and Lizards, It don't get any better....

Not a lot I let him do his thing all day usually when I get home from work I do some stuff around the house he just watches doesn't puff up ill stick my hand in for like five minutes them I pick him up no squirming at all let him loose on me he likes my shoulders and head normally he sits there doesn't run when I reach for him. At night he does not like to get picked up I tried already that's the only time he's pissed he'll squirm nothing more than that so I let him just rest he's super active alllll day digging making a mess in his cage. When I feed him even if I still have my hand inside he doesn't even look at me will even just brush by my hand chasing crickets.

Sorry by the way prob in total like twenty minutes a day if I notice there's too much notice I leave him inside.