# Perentie Value?



## Morelialover (Jul 9, 2010)

Hey

been doing a bit of research on the perentie monitor (Varanus giganteus) and then tried to find how much there worth, i couldnt find many for sale (as i thought) and tried to find some were with a descent idea of value, i seen prices like $500-$1000, $2000-$4000.

can anyone give me a better idea of what a Hatchling (male, if it makes any difference to price) is worth?

$100's?
$1000's? (more?)

Cheers


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## Jungle_Freak (Jul 9, 2010)

There were adults for sale on the Herptrader recently 
http://www.herpshop.com.au/
check there

Roger


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## bfg23 (Jul 9, 2010)

Most I have seen lately have been advertised for two and a half gz.


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## Morelialover (Jul 9, 2010)

so definitely in the thousands then yea?

and are they specialist permit or class 2 or 3? (if ive got my licence classes right :S, prob changed)


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## Sterlo (Jul 9, 2010)

all i would like to say is if you have had alot i mean alot of experience with monitors go for it but if you don't and want to die GO FOR IT! ahahahaha they are nice looking monitors though


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## butters (Jul 9, 2010)

They are offered from time to time and I have seen them go for under 1000 but unless you have plenty of experience with other big monitors then give them a miss.
These can be a seriously dangerous animal. If you are holding one and it gets a fright it is quite capable of disembowling you. They are big, powerful, surprisingly fast for their size, have a wicked bite and even more wicked claws. It is frightening how strong they really are. 
A friend has one and I have handled it a few times, its usually quite good, but if it's in a bad mood.......my advice is get a Spencers if you want a bigger montior, they are much more forgiving and you won't lose as much blood.


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## Morelialover (Jul 10, 2010)

yea there a freak of nature for sure, amazing animal, im not seriously thinking of getting one, but the info sure does interest me 

what 'big' size monitor are good starters and easy to keep? (not Ridgetailed or Ackies)


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## ingie (Jul 10, 2010)

Morelialover said:


> what 'big' size monitor are good starters and easy to keep? (not Ridgetailed or Ackies)



Ridge tails are Ackies hehe.. 
I would say a Mertens Water Monitor is a good introduction to LARGE monitors... They do need a specialised enclosure with lots of swimming space as they spend most of their time swimming and even sleeping in their water... However, from what I have seen and heard (I just got one as my first large monitor) they have lovely natures if they are used to handling, and aren't prone to being vicious like other large monitors tend to be when scared... Their enclosures also make beautiful displays with a tropical look to them with the swimming pool and other green leafy decorations and furniture that would go with it....


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## Mr.James (Jul 10, 2010)

Its more a question of whether you have the room to house a large monitor & the patience to not want to hold it all the time. They need to be treated with alot of respect & be really careful when cleaning, feeding & handling them
I'd suggest black-headed monitors, sand monitors & then move onto lace/perentie/panoptes. I keep a lace monitor my favourite of all the monitors, highly intelligent & have a huge personality, they are a dream to keep. But due to their large size they can be very dangerous if your not switched on everytime you open that enclosure door.


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## butters (Jul 10, 2010)

Yep a friend has a number of lacies. The normal phase ones are even tempered most of the time but the Bell's Phase is crazy when in its enclosure. It will lunge at any movement in or around its enclosure but once out is a dream to handle but you can never let your guard down. Very cage defensive.
When an animal has claws that can cut down to the bone and the muscle strength to do so easily respect is due at all times.


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## crocdoc (Jul 10, 2010)

butters said:


> When an animal has claws that can cut down to the bone and the muscle strength to do so easily respect is due at all times.


 The claws are nothing compared to a good bite. I never worry about claws with my monitors - gloves deal with that easily. Not so bites.

I would not recommend a perentie for a first time monitor keeper for a number of reasons. The first reason is (and this also applies to lace monitors) the danger of getting bitten badly by misreading behaviour. The second reason is the housing requirements, as they need a lot of floor space with specific heat and humidity requirements. Unless you own your own home, live in suitable habitat and can house them outside, chances are you're going to be up against it trying to house them as adults. That's the reason you've seen perenties being offered at such varying prices - not many people keep or breed them, so theoretically they should be holding their price, but the flip side is that not many people _can_ keep them so it's an easily flooded market. 

Mertens monitors are great animals but require a very specialised setup. Not only do you have to deal with the massive amount of space required by all large monitors, there's the whole aquatic side as well. You'll want a pretty good grip on filtering systems suitable for large volumes of water.

Many of the smaller monitors are great. I'm not sure what you have against ackies (I think they're great starter monitors), but if you're dead set on a large monitor perhaps you should think about _gouldii _or _spenceri_, as some people have mentioned.


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## Scleropages (Jul 10, 2010)

I have been looking into geting a perentie for a few years now , hatchys are usually around the $1800 - $2500 , altho I have seen some adult breeders go for around $1k each atm and I am very tempted...

When I do get one I don't think I will ever handle it. My Larger spencers can do enough damage. if you are new to monitors don't even think about it.. They are fast and powerfull awesome Lizards!.


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## Kenshin (Jul 10, 2010)

there was that adult group on herp trader 5 animals for around 5-6k (proven breeding adults at that so a good price), also south aus reptile research has a male for 1k for sale at the moment

as for monitors start with a small to medium (most are good at this size if you dont like ackies start with tristis or scalaris) for larger monitors mertens are good but as said need a decent sized body of water which is a pain especially when you have a good sized monitor doing his buissness in there you could also look at a gouldii

when your compitent with the smaller guys if you want a perenty get your self a big pissed off panoptes and house that for awhile then if you think that the panoptes was evil, the perenty would be a panoptes on crack 

and id agree the scratches are nothing its the bites that can screw you over


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## levis04 (Jul 10, 2010)

Try getting spencers or merts they are very good goannas if you get them from a young age.


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## DonnB (Jul 10, 2010)

Some of the comments here make me laugh. I work with Perenties everyday and find them pretty easy to read. They are also quite easy to handle if done correctly. To be honest laccies are harder to deal with! They also tend to tailwhip more than they will bite. Most will bite in food mode but that pretty much it.


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## butters (Jul 10, 2010)

All Monitors can be easy to handle if done correctly and with experience.

You need to be aware of the potential for harm and take precautions.

I too would rate a Lacie as worse than a Perentie, they usually just hiss and carry on if upset, but for someone that has no experience ( and from previous posts this is what the original poster has)I would recommend neither.

I have never been bitten myself or even seen anyone bitten but have had claws go through thick leather welding gloves. Not enough to do damage but if it can do that to a glove my arm isn't going to give much resistance.

I have been bitten by a Storrs before and that was bad enough so can only imagine what the bite from a full sized Lacie is like.


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## Mr.James (Jul 10, 2010)

DonnB said:


> Some of the comments here make me laugh. I work with Perenties everyday and find them pretty easy to read. They are also quite easy to handle if done correctly. To be honest laccies are harder to deal with! They also tend to tailwhip more than they will bite. Most will bite in food mode but that pretty much it.



We are only pointing out the dangers of keeping a large monitor to a person with little to no experience & is only 19yrs old. He even said that he's not seriously considering purchasing one just interested in information. I think its better to do this than pat them on the back, tell them to go get a perentie or lace monitor, with a 'she'll be right' attitude. My lacey is my first and only monitor but I have had experience with alot of other reptiles & was well prepared to house & care for one. It is also one of my favourite reptiles. You're right DonnB there are those exceptions out there that are a dream to care for and handle, but if you simple think that every monitor is the same & tell inexperienced people this someone may end up getting seriously injured. 

Just my two cents..


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## crocdoc (Jul 11, 2010)

crocdoc said:


> I would not recommend a perentie* for a first time monitor keeper* for a number of reasons. The first reason is (and this also applies to lace monitors) the danger of getting bitten badly by misreading behaviour.





DonnB said:


> Some of the comments here make me laugh. *I work with Perenties everyday* and find them pretty easy to read. They are also quite easy to handle if done correctly. To be honest laccies are harder to deal with! They also tend to tailwhip more than they will bite. Most will bite in food mode but that pretty much it.


Working with perenties every day would make you _not_ a first time monitor keeper. I keep and breed lacies at home, deal with perenties at work and agree that lacies are worse. I also agree that they are quite easy to handle _if done correctly_, but I'm not a first time keeper and doing this correctly requires experience that first time keepers don't have. Yes, most will bite in food mode rather than defensively or aggressively, but first time keepers can't always read the switch into food mode and that's exactly where the danger of getting bitten badly comes in. The ones that are a 'dream' to care for are the worst of all, because people take chances with a tame animal that they never would with a cranky animal. All it takes is a simple mistake, waving a food covered hand in front of their face, or moving a hand too quickly (food or no food) past one's mouth and the next thing you know you're booked in for hand surgery.


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## Morelialover (Jul 11, 2010)

Scleropages said:


> I have been looking into geting a perentie for a few years now , hatchys are usually around the $1800 - $2500 , altho I have seen some adult breeders go for around $1k each atm and I am very tempted...



cool, thats a better idea, cheers man.


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## Kristy_07 (Jul 11, 2010)

Morelialover said:


> cool, thats a better idea, cheers man.


 
After all the comments, your not considering getting one as a first-time keeper, are you, ML?


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## Snakeluvver2 (Jul 11, 2010)

Kristy i got a water gun for 10th birthday, then the next year I wanted a machine gun. Worked out very well


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## cris (Jul 11, 2010)

I dont keep them and wont untill i move somewhere that can fit more large goannas. I would expect the price to drop to around $500 over the next few years and stay around that price. They are awesome, but dont have a big market due to their requirements and wouldnt be profitable like many other reptiles are.

IMO lacies, _V.spenceri_ or _V.panoptes_ are better suited to the average person interested in keeping a large goanna.

I often hear that perenties are dangerous or agressive(compared to other species), i suspect this is BS, what do others think?


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## Scleropages (Jul 11, 2010)

cris said:


> I often hear that perenties are dangerous or agressive(compared to other species), i suspect this is BS, what do others think?


 
Tell you in a few months...


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## cris (Jul 11, 2010)

Scleropages said:


> Tell you in a few months...


 
Only if you survive :lol:


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## impulse reptiles (Jul 11, 2010)

Do they chase you for 20 k's like brown snakes do? :lol:


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## cris (Jul 11, 2010)

fusion said:


> Do they chase you for 20 k's like brown snakes do? :lol:


 
Obviously they are cold blooded killers just the same, its just no one has actually survived to talk about being hunted by a pack of perenties (they only kill when they can take out all witnesses).


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## Kristy_07 (Jul 12, 2010)

Jannico said:


> Kristy i got a water gun for 10th birthday, then the next year I wanted a machine gun. Worked out very well


 
Was it a super soaker? I had one of them. If you pumped them hard enough, I reckon you wouldn't need the upgrade to machine gun. You could take someone's eyes out easily. I imagine your girl-wrists prevented this, though, and the machine gun was compensation? Maybe you should have upgraded to an attack perentie, instead?


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## Snakeluvver2 (Jul 12, 2010)

I wouldnt say girly wrist....they're more dainty really. 
and I'll stick to Brown Snakes, I enjoy the run


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## DonnB (Jul 12, 2010)

crocdoc said:


> Working with perenties every day would make you _not_ a first time monitor keeper. I keep and breed lacies at home, deal with perenties at work and agree that lacies are worse. I also agree that they are quite easy to handle _if done correctly_, but I'm not a first time keeper and doing this correctly requires experience that first time keepers don't have. Yes, most will bite in food mode rather than defensively or aggressively, but first time keepers can't always read the switch into food mode and that's exactly where the danger of getting bitten badly comes in. The ones that are a 'dream' to care for are the worst of all, because people take chances with a tame animal that they never would with a cranky animal. All it takes is a simple mistake, waving a food covered hand in front of their face, or moving a hand too quickly (food or no food) past one's mouth and the next thing you know you're booked in for hand surgery.



I agree with what you have written here Crocdoc. The thing I was trying to point out is all these ppl posting that have no experience with them, saying alot of different garbage, that they may have heard... Perenties can be very dangerous, but with time and experience they are quite easy to deal with. Just have to be alert at all times.


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## Pythoninfinite (Jul 12, 2010)

ANY large monitor can be dangerous, and despite someone suggesting that Lacies would be a good first large monitor, this is simply not the case. I have a friend who insists that his 'tame' Lace Monitor is totally reliable, and wears it like scarf, even kissing it on the nose occasionally. This behaviour makes me cringe. I have another good friend, who is sensible with reptiles, and have many years experience, who recently ended up with 40-odd stitches in his hand & arm after misjudging the mood of his 'tame' Lacie.

With time and experience, most reptiles are readable, but casual behaviour around large monitors is, at best, risky, and at the other end of the scale, downright stupid. A decent python bite is nothing compared to the damage they can do.

Jamie.


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## Morelialover (Jul 12, 2010)

ive already stated im not getting one, i dont know why people cant read and not ask the same question LOL

No i am not getting one! - cleared up


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