Gouldii Flavirufus

[blakehose]

G'day all,

The reason I make this thread is that I am interested in how other Gouldii owners have faired in taming their monitors. I've owned mine now for around 7-8months and have done everything by the book when it comes to building their trust and eventually making them amendable to handling, though it has brought me little success!
I do understand they are more skittish of nature than many other species, and know others whom have had a similar situation with their animals, leading me to believe it's not uncommon with the species.

And no, i'm not one of those people who just want to hold their animals 24/7 and give them kisses and cuddles, though it could make things such as a trip to the vet a little bit easier in future.

So feel free to share your experience and any ideas on what could help to hopefully make a bit of progress...

Cheers

 

[SamNabz]

Hey Blake,

You say you have done it 'by the book' but what does this entail?

The reason I ask is different books provide different information, so maybe you will get a better set of responses if you posted the method you've been using so far.

 

[blakehose]

Ha, well in saying that, I haven't used a book at all. What I was trying to get at was that I have adhered to the advice of people such as crocdoc since obtaining the animal using their methods in an attempt to calm it's nerves.
In doing so, i've let the animal make all of the choices, not once have I attempted to handle it since purchase. I started off when it was younger by hand feeding it it's inverts and it would happily take them from me at a very early stage. It then progressed to crawl up my arm to grab it's food, running back and forth to do this until it was content!
It was readily doing so from when it was about 2-3months of age, though since is not willing to make any further advances and this is the stage i'm sort of stuck at... Being older now too, I think it has gained confidence in it's physical ability and doesn't mind giving me the odd tail whip ha. It readily sits out all day lazing about in the enclosure and is far from bothered when I enter the room, though if you get too close without food, see you later!

 

[monitordude]

i thought you were selling him??

 

[blakehose]

i thought you were selling him??

I've tried, but with the suprising lack of interest I thought I may aswell continue to try whilst it's still with me... But yes, it is still for sale.

 

[saximus]

How much? How big is it?

 

[monitordude]

theres adds on here and on RDU

 

[crocdoc]

I've owned mine now for around 7-8months and have done everything by the book when it comes to building their trust and eventually making them amendable to handling, though it has brought me little success!

It sounds like everything is on track regarding your monitor getting used to you. If you were at this stage and the monitor was a few years old that would be a different story, but at 8 months it sounds like it's acting normally. It's all about time and habituation.

 

[blakehose]

It sounds like everything is on track regarding your monitor getting used to you. If you were at this stage and the monitor was a few years old that would be a different story, but at 8 months it sounds like it's acting normally. It's all about time and habituation.

Cheers for the reply Crocdoc. It's definitely a big game of patience with varanus!
In saying that, today it actually made a bit of progress. When I opened it's enclosure it came out and crawled onto my jumper up onto my back. Not wanting to grab at it, I just let it be, and after about 5minutes if sitting there he decided to head back home. Stoked!

 

[crocdoc]

Just keep letting it do that and make sure nothing happens to frighten it when it's out of the enclosure and it'll continue to get bolder and bolder. Now that it's tried that once, it will likely do it again with little hesitation. Progress with monitors seems to be in pulses. They make a big change one day and then plateau for a while, then make another big change.

 

[blakehose]

Just keep letting it do that and make sure nothing happens to frighten it when it's out of the enclosure and it'll continue to get bolder and bolder. Now that it's tried that once, it will likely do it again with little hesitation. Progress with monitors seems to be in pulses. They make a big change one day and then plateau for a while, then make another big change.

Yeah I can definitely see that pattern being evident. I'll try again today with a rat as some enticement and see how things go!
Edit: You were spot on Crocdoc. It was willing to do the exact same thing today, and with less hesitation... on the improve

 

[crocdoc]

Excellent. Keep reinforcing that behaviour until the next leap to a higher plateau.

 

[blakehose]

Thanks alot for the help. I'll keep posting updates as progress is made

 

[richardsc]

thats it,dont forget what they are capable of though,even tame ones,especially if they think something may be food or smell food on you,i find the tame ones that arent scared of you anymore the ones to be more wary of,usually food oriented though,sounds like it is becoming quite comfortable with you

if only it was a female

 

[blakehose]

Yeah they can be quite the handfull when the smell of a meal is in the air... Physically it has developed so much in the past month or two. Claws are now really large relative to body size, and these Sandies have some damn powerfull digging legs!

 

[richardsc]

how big is he now blake,do u have any recent pics,they are amazingly powerful animals,especially big adult males

 

[blakehose]

Ah at a guess I would say a little under 2ft, tail and all. I'll take a couple of snaps tonight and put them up after that.
Amazingly powerful is right, I still can't believe how they just stand on their back legs holding the rest of their body just off the ground. For power to weight, they would have to be right up there!
Edit: Just did a rough measurement. Sits at around 70cm, tail tip to snout.

Here's a few photos. These are a month or two ago, so a little old but he's hiding away digesting at the moment! I'm a bit reluctant to upload these as they take away from the true colours of the animal. Once more progress is made i'll get it outside and get some good ones!

 

[saximus]

Gah he's beautiful. Why are you doing this to me Blake

 

[blakehose]

Gah he's beautiful. Why are you doing this to me Blake

It's all part of my grand plan
There's a few things i'll be willing to swap for... If interested, PM me!

 

[Torah]

So ready to be flamed !

But some of you know I got a tiny monitor (4month old O.J) about a week maybe two ago and hes great , already comes up and takes crickets out of my hand. Ive only handled him once (putting him from chinese container to click-clack thingy)..And he didnt seem worried at all , was rubbing the sand off his face onto me etc..

In saying that I wonder could it just come down to the individual monitor like it does pythons ???