Calming or "Taming" Monitor Lizards

[Aussie_monitors]

Don't get me wrong, I wish I was able to handle them. I just don't see it happening with mine just because of what they are, small sized reptiles. I can usually take out their water bowls and do some spot cleaning without too much of a fuss, but once I try to pick them up then it's game over and I've accepted that. With larger monitors it can be different, I think it just takes time and perseverance. Haha Smittiferous I know the feeling, sometimes I worry if my hand will come back out of the cage with all my fingers! Just to be clear, I'm not arguing or saying it can't be done. Just my thoughts from my own experiences.

 

[Smittiferous]

Interestingly enough the young female tristis I have incoming was quite calm during handling/inspection, as was her sibling, and even spent some time sitting on my head (shaved head seems to make it a nice warm spot for reptiles, it often happens). It'd be awesome if this amicable behaviour persisted with the individual.

 

[BredliFreak]

That would be awesome!

 

[pinefamily]

I'm hearing you Smittiferous a lot of our pythons like to rest their heads on my shaved head.
Are your two tristis unrelated? You might need to keep an eye on them if you keep them together, monitors sometimes can turn on each other.

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[Smittiferous]

Calming or "Taming" Monitor Lizards

[MENTION=38465]pinefamily[/MENTION] yes. My male is also an adult whereas the inbound female is a juvenile, and I'll be housing them separately when she gets here at least until she matures more. I'm acquiring the female with breeding in mind so there'll be interaction at some point.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Is it easier to "calm" / "tame" a smaller insectonivous monitor IF you get it very young than as a larger more mature sub adult or adult ? Just wondering.

 

[Smittiferous]

Calming or "Taming" Monitor Lizards

@kingofnobbys Start with a young one, it will probably start out quite skittish but will settle down over time, but as far as I am aware the smaller species tend to be more flighty anyway, though I've really only had much personal experience with my adult tristis tristis. He was also purchased as an adult. He is very defensive and hisses a great deal if I am accessing his enclosure, and used to put on quite a fierce threat display but that has since ceased. In saying that, last week I went and inspected a prospective girlfriend for him who was a lot younger and she was an absolute sweetheart while being handled and checked over.

I guess you could look out for a sub adult/adult that does indeed show a more relaxed temperament though, the downside would be you likely wouldn't find out much if any of the animal's history unless you acquired it from a keeper rather than a dealer.

That's just my personal experience but I hope that helps.

 

[pinefamily]

The younger the better. It is easier to get a juvenile used to you.

 

[Nero Egernia]

I've noticed that as my largest Tristis has become slowly accepting of tong feeds, which are done mostly while on the perch, that she appears to be climbing up there more often. Once warm she will sit there with her head up, looking at me, and after 5 or 10 minutes she will turn around and look at me again. I'm interested to see if this is a learned behaviour in regards to food, or whether it's just a response to the colder weather. Her feeding response is still nowhere near as enthusiastic as most monitors tend to be, however. Also, whether I'm imaging it or not, there's something about her expression that doesn't appear to be so much as "please go die in a fire, immediately, if you'd be so kind" (Smitti's words, haha), but perhaps there now seems to be a tiny bit of curiosity? But most likely I'm just being too hopeful and I'm just imagining it. Nevertheless, she does seem to be getting more comfortable just wondering around. Mostly just freezes now when I move, and doesn't shoot off into the hide.

 

[CrazyNut]

Nice! Everyone has some nice animals lol. I have one Mertens, one ackie and one storri.

 

[BredliFreak]

Awesome! I love the storr's they are so cute and I'm not sure which spp. it was but one of them have gorgeous pattering! Any pics of the storr's?

 

[CrazyNut]

Was it a dwarf species? And yeh I've uploaded photos before.

 

[pinefamily]

That's a great shot, CN!

 

[Nero Egernia]

Just recently I have begun to observe my largest tristis "dozing", where she'll close her eyes for a couple of minutes when basking or curled up on the stack or on a branch. How a piece of wood can be comfortable, however, is beyond me. It also appears that she has fallen asleep a couple of times with her head poking out of her hide. I'm hoping that this is a result of her becoming more relaxed in her surroundings. Anyone else experience this?

 

[BredliFreak]

Very nice Oshkii! Good to know she's doing ok

CrazyNut I meant sub-species lol. Is yours an ocreatus or storri?

 

[Smittiferous]

[MENTION=41840]Oshkii[/MENTION] I've seen this too, all mine who are used to me do it. George dozes anywhere, head resting on random logs/twigs/rocks, even whilst immersed in his water bowl, or with his head IN the water bowl. Seth (tristis) is almost always dozing in a manner you describe, when he's not crawling all over. If he notices my presence he just slowly opens one eyelid, stares at me balefully and then goes back to his nap. I'd hazard a guess and say your little darling is becoming more comfortable and at-home.

 

[pinefamily]

Our ackies sometimes rest partly in the open. The two flavi's are the funniest; they will sleep/rest in all sorts of positions, sometimes only opening one eye of they hear something. Very chilled. I tong-fed them both on the weekend, which was very enjoyable.

 

[Nero Egernia]

That's good to hear. All three appear to readily feed from the tongs. The smaller ones took to it much quicker in comparison to the largest. Although the largest one appears to be not as secretive or shy.

 

[pinefamily]

Most of our monitors will tong feed, apart from our red ackie and our tristis orientalis. It's just that we don't always have the time to do it, except with our Mertens'.

 

[Nero Egernia]

My largest tristis now appears to be comfortable enough in my presence that she doesn't appear to be too bothered when I spot clean or walk by her enclosure. There's no puffing or a mad dash into the hide. This has been going for a while now. I have also been getting some pretty exciting feeding responses where she'll lunge to seize the food item, still nothing as explosive as some other feeding responses I have seen.

Today, I decided to present my fist to her (sheltered in the sleeve of my thick jumper in case she did decide to bite) while she was basking, to see how she would react. She tilted her head at me and stayed still for a couple of minutes, while occasionally slowly blinking her eyes. She then investigated my fist with her tongue and walked over my fist and down the stack to kind of circulate up a branch and back to the basking spot where she stretched herself out for a bask. It was quick, however, and soon she was back to checking out my fist. This time, the movements were a bit fast and jerky, and when she went down the stack to circulate back to the basking spot I slowly withdrew my arm, as I thought she was beginning to become stressed or excited, I'm not quite sure. I sat back and watched her and for almost ten minutes she continued to pace back and forth checking out the area where my arm was.

I don't really know what to think of this, I think she may have been a bit stressed towards the end of our interaction. Has anyone else experienced something like this?