foreign lacie fan and reptile noob

[laciefan]

Hello,
I live in America and currently we are experiencing a rise in the amount of lace monitors being bred. I currently am not planning on having one since they are expensive and I understand that they are dangerous reptiles.

However, I would like to get one in a few years when I get more experience and they hopefully decrease in price. (Bells phase are typically 10000 now, normal phase are 5000)

How would I prepare for one? I currently keep 3 ackies and a blue tongue skink and I am getting a boa.

Would the boa and ackie experience be enough?

Also how would the danger a lace monitor pose compare to the danger of a water or a crocodile monitor.
What other lizard would you recommend to gain experience on the lacie? would a tegu work?

 

[Bl69aze]

Also how would the danger a lace monitor pose compare to the danger of a water or a crocodile monitor.
What other lizard would you recommend to gain experience on the lacie? would a tegu work?

Lacies from what i have seen can be tolerable with enough time and patience, as can most monitors... however they can have their days where they want to be left alone and will whip anything that comes near.

I cant say much for crocodile monitors, but ive seen a pretty nasty bite where the monitors were pretty friendly but they were fighting and the dude intervened and ended up having one of them jump at his finger

tegu are nowhere near that of a lace monitor

 

[laciefan]

ohh i see, cuz I'd imagine water monitors are worse since they have the same teeth and are larger with more proportionally more powerful jaws. I guess they aren't as aggresive though.

So what monitor species would you reccomend to be prepared for a lacie, would ackies be enough?

 

[Imported_tuatara]

black throated or possibly a savannah monitor would probably be the medium of dwarf monitors and larger moniters, and well- as an australian don't have any experience with them either, so couldn't touch on that

 

[laciefan]

so would they compare in terms of danger with a water monitor. I know plenty of people with a water monitor as their first large monitor

 

[Richard Biffin]

Water monitors on the whole seem an easier captive and would give you a good idea on basic husbandry techniques for keeping larger monitors, like enclosure size, heating and feeding, though Lacies require vertical dimensions in the mix. If I were in the States, I'd start with one of those. Croc Monitors, I'd hazard guess, are on par with Lace monitors, certainly in terms of the potential for things to go pear shaped and the consequences of such a happenstance, should it occur. I imagine, most expert monitor keepers Stateside would suggest a Water over a Croc as an introduction into the world of large monitor keeping? Hope this helps

 

[tx_shooter]

To the OP; do you have access to someone with a large monitor you can go get some hands on time with the monitor? That will be the biggest help in deciding what you do next. I am pulling in some favors to get some one-on-one time with a black throat monitor in Houston in the next few months. It is a four hour drive but worth it to me for the hands on experience.

 

[laciefan]

Thank you very much for the advice, a mutual friend owns a water monitor that I could have some interaction with. How would water monitors compare with lacies in term of danger, I am aware that they have similar jaw structures and are both massive lizards