No breakthroughs, but a few interesting observations so I thought it may be worth sharing. It's generally accepted that most Black Headed Monitors (Varanus tristis tristis) are particularly flighty, and mine is no exception. At the time of this post, I've had her for just over a month.
It was perhaps a week before she decided to show herself while in my presence. There was plenty of evidence that she would waste no time emerging from her designated hide to explore, bask, and carry on with her regular business while I was not in the room. The first time she decided to show herself while I was there was a slow process. She would poke her head out of her hide while I was quietly reading, and it took over an hour for her to become confident enough to emerge and bask. I have stumbled in the room many times while she was carrying on with her business before, and, depending on whether she was basking or exploring, her reactions were different. If she was basking, she would freeze and rely on camouflage. If she was exploring at ground level, she would shoot into her hide or under the stack. A few weeks later she has slowly become more confident and generally has no problems basking and exploring while I'm around, provided that I'm quiet and make no sudden movements. Recently, however, she now carries on with her business even while the TV or radio are on. When I now stumble in the room she doesn't retreat into the hide or stack, she now just freezes. But sometimes on her "off" days she may retreat into the hide or stack. In general, she appears to be more confident while perched high, while on the base of the enclosure, however, she appears to feel more vulnerable.
On the topic of feeding, slow progress is also being made. At first she would point blank refuse to feed from the tongs and would often flinch her head sideways when food was offered. When this happened I would leave the food item in the food bowl and while I was away it would "disappear". Perhaps two weeks later from receiving her, when offered food via the tongs she would still refuse, but now she would tongue flick at the food item and no longer flinched. I would then leave the food item in the food bowl. This was also approximately the same time I had first observed her feed in my presence. Perhaps a week or two later after this, when offering food tongue flickering was prevalent, but still would not feed from the tongs, but now I left the food close to her (such as on the perch she was on) and then I would back away and quietly read or something of the such. If she was hungry, she would feed after she was convinced I was doing my own thing. It is also worth noting that I would only offer food while she was perched high where she was most comfortable. Just recently (about a week ago), however, she has begun feeding from the tongs, so you could only imagine my excitement when that happened. However, tong feeding is sporadic. I am going to try and slowly transition to only tong feeding.
Another observation that I have found interesting is that there is evidence that the monitor can quickly discern between different species and different people. My monitor now has no problem feeding in my presence, however, she will refuse to eat while other people are around, such as family members or friends. An example would be I tried to offer a food item to her while Nanna was watching, but the monitor did not feed, even though we both sat quietly for over 30 minutes. When Nanna left, however, the monitor accepted the food item within the span of perhaps 10 minutes. Another example was when a friend and I were watching a movie in the same room, the monitor remained hiding. When I watch movies or TV by myself, however, she tends to carry on with her business. On the topic of animals she tends to accept the presence of my cat (yes, I have a cat, cat haters get over it, this is about the monitors) even when he meows or runs around like a maniac. However, when family bring their dogs over (these are chihuahuas and are in fact smaller than my cat) and the dogs come in the room the monitor will retreat into the hide or under the stack.
I hope these observations will prove useful to other members and provide insight to the school of thought "let it come to you". I have not touched her since the time I have first received her. While the progress is slow, there is progress nevertheless. Hopefully things will continue to get better as I really do enjoy watching her carry on with her business and I really loved it when she tong fed. It is also worth noting that this particular specimen is a wild-caught adult, although she has been in captivity for a number of years. Apologies for the mini essay, was just trying to provide some amount of detail.
