Sheldoncooper
Well-Known Member
Just dig a hole. Thats were id be no good ( to lazy )
Monitor pictures-Thread
- Thread starter Callopistes
- Start date
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- Tags
- aspidites melanocephalus aspidites ramsayi morelia carinata morelia spilota mcdowelli morelia viridis varanus acanthurus varanus brevicauda varanus eremius varanus giganteus varanus glauerti varanus gouldii varanus gouldii flavirufus varanus gouldii gouldii varanus pilbarensis varanus prasinus varanus rosenbergi varanus scalaris varanus storri varanus tristis varanus varius
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Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
They're amazing. I'd kill for another one. No shortage of places to hide the bodies either
Perhaps the victims can be chopped up and fed to your goannas? Saves on having to buy them food at least.
Murph_BTK
Well-Known Member
My yellow spotted monitor.. hates me up in his grill... never takes a eye off me if i am anywhere near the enclosure... hahaha trust issues much [emoji6]
add me on instagram murph_BTK
Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
Growing and getting darker in colour . . . and mood. I know, terrible pun.
Smittiferous
Well-Known Member
Took Hades the blind Mertens out for a supervised exploration of my ensuite. Then this happened...
He looks like a bag of bones here but I assure you it's just the lighting. I feed him bucket loads.
He looks like a bag of bones here but I assure you it's just the lighting. I feed him bucket loads.
pinefamily
Very Well-Known Member
Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
Thanks pinefamily. They're just ordinary phone shots. I wish I had a proper camera that the professionals used. That would be awesome.
Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
An adult Heath Monitor (Varanus rosenbergi) at approximately 45cm SVL. Apologies if some find this offensive. Always a terrible thing seeing such a beautiful animal as road kill. This specimen was found near Frankland. A shot of the whole animal, and a shot of its dental structure. Definitely wouldn't be fun getting bitten by one.
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Smittiferous
Well-Known Member
That's remarkably intact for roadkill. All the smooshed monitors I've seen while working up in the Pilbara were a lot worse off than that. Would have been an impressive beast to see alive.
Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
I know what you mean. Some road kill animals can be an absolute mess while some look relatively unharmed. It would have been preferable by far to see it alive. I find that monitor lizards aren't very common as road kill, at least, from my experience anyway. Although snakes and Bobtail Lizards are a different story unfortunately.
Despite it all, it was interesting being able to see such a beautiful lizard up-close. The way I was gushing to friends and family, in awe of its beauty and angered that it had been hit, they must have thought I was an absolute nutter.
pinefamily
Very Well-Known Member
I think we all feel the same on here Oshkii. We saw a lacie on the road just down ftom our house.it looked a lot worse than your Rosenberg.
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Shaggz
Active Member
Unfortunately in Kangaroo Island Rosenberg's are a very common roadkill On my last trip over there I couldn't believe the amount of them on the sides of the road. I was lucky enough to get up close to one very alive example though.
On my last trip over there I couldn't believe the amount of them on the sides of the road. I was lucky enough to get up close to one very alive example though.
Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
Hmm, seem to be having a bit of a down time in my reptile keeping experience. Still very worried about my largest tristis and just today I noticed my female had escaped and was hiding behind the fridge. Was able to recover her but it was quite stressful for us both. I'm just feeling awful at the moment. Well, since she was out I decided to weigh her, and she's now 286 grams. Also took a quick photo.
Shaggz
Active Member
is it that your enclosure isn't very secure or are they just real escape artists?
pinefamily
Very Well-Known Member
Another great photo, Oshkii.
Don't be down on yourself, we've had 2 runs of pythons and monitors escaping. True, you do have a moment of doubt about your skills as a keeper, but remember, some reptiles are just escape artists. Just ask Smittiferous about his Mertens.
Don't be down on yourself, we've had 2 runs of pythons and monitors escaping. True, you do have a moment of doubt about your skills as a keeper, but remember, some reptiles are just escape artists. Just ask Smittiferous about his Mertens.
Nero Egernia
Well-Known Member
Both. They can squeeze through just about anything. At the moment we're in the process of building a sturdier, more secure enclosure. It's almost done, and I think it should be more suitable for them. Was building it while keeping in mind with some tips from a monitor breeder's care sheet.
Another great photo, Oshkii.
Don't be down on yourself, we've had 2 runs of pythons and monitors escaping. True, you do have a moment of doubt about your skills as a keeper, but remember, some reptiles are just escape artists. Just ask Smittiferous about his Mertens.
I guess. It just makes me think that they're not happy with them trying to escape all the time.
Murph_BTK
Well-Known Member
@Oshkii... i think the same thing with them constantly scanning for cracks to make a run for it.. so in some small way i guess i change the inside of the enclosure.. diff rocks, logs tubes and plants... not sure if it helps but with different smells etc i feel it helps with exploring and the same ol scenes everyday..
add me on instagram murph_BTK
add me on instagram murph_BTK
Smittiferous
Well-Known Member
@Oshkii being wide-ranging hunters and foragers you could provide an entire house to roam around in and they'll still try to get out. The sandies always want out, but soon as the door opens they poke their heads out and scuttle back to safety. Not sure what to do with all the freedom!
One of the Mertens got out once, tore the house apart looking for him only to notice after half an hour he'd been relaxing on the couch watching me stress the whole time.
My indicus also got out recently due to a faulty lock on the enclosure, unfortunately she didn't survive the excursion. Never buying a URS enclosure again.
Monitors seem to easily find weak points in enclosure security or design. I've even had air vents ripped off for an escape route. Now they're all tek-screwed in place. All you can do is learn from the first time round and hopefully be there to catch them when they find any new flaws or things you've overlooked.
One of the Mertens got out once, tore the house apart looking for him only to notice after half an hour he'd been relaxing on the couch watching me stress the whole time.
My indicus also got out recently due to a faulty lock on the enclosure, unfortunately she didn't survive the excursion. Never buying a URS enclosure again.
Monitors seem to easily find weak points in enclosure security or design. I've even had air vents ripped off for an escape route. Now they're all tek-screwed in place. All you can do is learn from the first time round and hopefully be there to catch them when they find any new flaws or things you've overlooked.
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Sheldoncooper
Well-Known Member
There all bloody escape artists. Ive had 3 tristis tristis escape, took me a week to find one of them, he was hanging from a shirt in my cupboard. Orientalis was hanging from the wall behind an 8 bank enclosure. Got a hernia moving that. Mertens was over a metre long took me a week to find, id actually given up. Until i heard scratching, gotten into a box which had the top closed. Water dragon shot out like a bullet when i opened enclosure to feed it. The bloody thing shot around the garage like a pin ball machine, about a 3 hour catch. My fault for not cleaning my garage. And lost my first bearded dragon for 3 mths y he was catching some sun. Turned up in the back yard in june. However ive recovered every one. I'm sorry to hear about you indicus smitti it was a beautiful monitor
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Evil_Birdy
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Yeah my Ackie got out a few months after I bought him. He was so tiny I didn't even bother looking, but about a week later I heard him scratching around under my bed. I did a victory lap with him in my hand when I caught him shouting 'I FOUND THE LIZARD!' over and over again, which probably didn't help his stress levels, but I was rather excited. It amazes you what they can squeeze through. Don't feel too bad Oshkii. It happens to everyone by the sounds of things, and I doubt it has anything to do with poor husbandry on your side. All of your animals seem beautifully cared for.
