# Monitor ID



## Bl69aze (Mar 7, 2018)

Friend found this guy on a beach just chilling, didn’t know what it was (in terms of weapons) and was sitting beside him like a dog


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## Foozil (Mar 7, 2018)

Where's it from and how big? Nice find!


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## Bl69aze (Mar 7, 2018)

Foozil said:


> Where's it from and how big? Nice find!



Whitehaven beach


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## cris (Mar 7, 2018)

Lace monitor (_Varanus varius_). They get along with people fairly well most of the time


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Mar 7, 2018)

Bl69aze said:


> Whitehaven beach


Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday island is where I got married.  top spot.


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## Stompsy (Mar 7, 2018)

Bl69aze said:


> Friend found this guy on a beach just chilling, didn’t know what it was (in terms of weapons) and was sitting beside him like a dog
> 
> View attachment 323554
> 
> ...


Lacey. Lucky guy. I’m jealous.


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## SpottedPythons (Mar 7, 2018)

Actually... I believe that it could be a Rosenberg's Monitor, or a Heath Monitor. It's front legs are spotted rather than striped as lacies' generally are, and the head pattern as well as the bands under the chin also suggest this isn't a lace monitor. It also has smaller spots.


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## Stompsy (Mar 7, 2018)

SpottedPythons said:


> Actually... I believe that it could be a Rosenberg's Monitor, or a Heath Monitor. It's front legs are spotted rather than striped as lacies' generally are, and the head pattern as well as the bands under the chin also suggest this isn't a lace monitor. It also has smaller spots.


I was thinking that but the bands under the chin look too big for a heath. The spots threw me off though. Sometimes they are very hard to tell apart!


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## Nero Egernia (Mar 7, 2018)

It's most certainly not a Heath Monitor. They don't occur that far north and it doesn't have the telltale even banding along the tail.


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## SpottedPythons (Mar 8, 2018)

Nero Egernia said:


> It's most certainly not a Heath Monitor. They don't occur that far north and it doesn't have the telltale even banding along the tail.


Didn't read the location carefully, sorry.


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## Bl69aze (Mar 8, 2018)

Thanks guys  she feels like the new Steve Irwin now  she said she was laying down next to it reading a book


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## Bluetongue1 (Mar 8, 2018)

As a generalisation, it seems to me that the banding on Lace Monitors tends to transform into a series of blotches or dots from the top of NSW to the northern section of their range. It certainly makes for a different looking animal.

With respect to head markings, I reckon _varius_ tends to have three or four broad black bands vertically across the lower jaw, with those on the front usually extending over the top of the snout. In _rosenbergi_, there tends to be at least five and they are narrower (as Stompsy indicated) and do not tend to encircle the front of the snout. How far these marks extend onto the throat varies but they seem to do so more often in _varius_. Another feature I look for is the dark eye band. In _rosenbergi_ this passes through the eye and is edged above and below with a continuous thin pale line for at least the first half. Note that the edging tends to fade in old specimens and can be difficult to detect in these specimens coming when coming into shed. In _varius _the eye streak starts behind the eye and lacks the edging.
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Bl69aze said:


> Thanks guys  she feels like the new Steve Irwin now  she said she was laying down next to it reading a book


Bl69aze, it seems your friend has changed gender since the opening post…
Wild lace monitor monitors are normally extremely wary of humans but can be habituated to their presence where food is concerned. They often start by raiding open bins and soon learn to associate people with more food available and so tend to hang around when people are present. This is often further reinforced by people deliberately feeding them. So please tell your friend not to produce food in front of the monitor and certainly do not attempt to hand feed or pet it, should she be tempted to take the Steve Irwin thing a step further, otherwise she may find herself inadvertently saving money on nail polish.


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