Finally! :)

[Markus]

After 4 years of having a licence, and many more wishing and wanting, ive finally got ......



3 stripe tailed monitors.

Liking them so far, settling in well. They are all wild caught so not very comfortable being handled yet. Im suprised how active they are, very fast and agile. Looking forward to more time with them as they settle in more.

 

[bohdi13]

You lucky bugger! May I ask where you acquired them? Bet your stoked. If you ever consider selling them let us know :lol:

 

[BigWillieStyles]

Looks great. Any chance you can post up some pictures of the enclosure?

 

[Markus]

Was hard to find these, although they are around. The rest of this batch was exported, so IDK where they ended up. I did get the best out of the 15 available as the taker/dealer was considering breading them himself before deciding to sell them, and had my 3 seperated out ( 1 M 2 F ). All i can suggest is to keep asking around, I know theres a couple of us in WA planning on breeding, so hopefully they will be more readilly available. They where quite expensive, more than ive seen them advertised for in previous years.

The enclosure is a work in progress, ive already had to make changes, these things are amazing in thier attempts at escape, even a standard rep enclosure is proving inadequate. Ive had to tape up EVERY hole, even in the ceiling where cables go though, and press folded newspaper into to gap between the glass sliding door! I would not have thought such a small monitor was capable of pushing so hard on the lid of an enclosure while hanging from the ceiling, I may have to change the mesh lid for something more solid yet,but for now ive put tape and a couple of decent rocks on there. Ill post some pics later.

The only other sugestion regarding enclosures is, mine a very active, and probably need a bigger enclosure than most would expect, mine is 800 * 450 * 500 and im glad I didnt get anything smaller, they are very fast, especially when feeding, and do need the room I think.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Barrett]

Beautiful lizard you have there. When I have the correct license I hope to get on of these gorgeous kids

 

[pseudechis4740]

Not a species you see every day, so good luck with your future breeding attempts.

 

[Markus]

Still enjoying them, trying to sort some more pics now. My only real concern is they have a habit of walking around the mesh ceiling of the enclosure and im not sure this is a good thing. Although they dont get stuck and dont seem to have any problems it cant be good for their claws.
Only solution I can see is to replace it with glass or perspex, but that would reduce the circulation.
Anyone have opinions on this??

 

[Markus]

Just an update.

Alls going well, all feeding, although 1 less than the others. Some chasing and biting going on between them, but nothing serious, I added some extra hiding places atm so they can hide from each other if they want.

Im going to have to redo my home made background, its failed. I havnt got pics yet but im amazed how small holes these monitors can get into.
They are very hard to handle, and im not really trying to hold them yet, giving them more time to settle down first, but being so strong and agile combined with the ability to squeeze through the smallest gap means they are a handfull. They arnt bad at jumping either!. Had some anctious(?) moments chasing one around the loungeroom floor untill I managed to recapture it.
They do seem to like a secure hide area to sleep in, and seem to prefer being away from each other at night.
Suprisingly they havn't found the way into the sand box Ive put in there yet, they are so inquisitive about everything else though, and check out any changes I make to the enclosure within minutes.

I havn't been able to contact anyone who has bread these monitors yet, If there is anyone around with experience with striped tailed monitors id love to get in touch with them prior to next breeding season!

Ill post more pics soon, includng a new and improved backround once its done.

Cheers

 

[Markus]

The latest update isn't a positive one,

Although they have been going well to date and no real problems, my wife left the door open while feeding them when I was away, and two have now escaped. No luck finding them yet, although the house has been pretty well sealed. I'm hoping they will turn up once they get hungry, its been cooler the last few days too, so I expect they have found a warm spot to hide. These monitors really are adept at escaping and hiding, so i'm not sure of my chances of finding them again if they want to stay hidden.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions ill try just about anything.

 

[Planky]

Could try the flour trick at every door way and see if anything moves across it

 

[zulu]

The latest update isn't a positive one,

Although they have been going well to date and no real problems, my wife left the door open while feeding them when I was away, and two have now escaped. No luck finding them yet, although the house has been pretty well sealed. I'm hoping they will turn up once they get hungry, its been cooler the last few days too, so I expect they have found a warm spot to hide. These monitors really are adept at escaping and hiding, so i'm not sure of my chances of finding them again if they want to stay hidden.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions ill try just about anything.

I keep little monitors in fish tanks for the escape reasons ,heaps enough ventilation from above. Glass is easily cleaned and looks good etc ,if you want to colour the back put something on the back side. Hope you find them anyway, goodluck.

 

[Markus]

Found!!

Got one a few days after, and the last missing one today after keeping the house closed up for nearly a month. None the worse for wear, in fact they where both quite happy and even well fed. They have all been quite active since being reunited.

Not keen for that to happen again, although I am quite confident they wont really go far, they really are imposable to find until they are ready to be caught.

 

[DeadlyDanny80]

Found!!

Got one a few days after, and the last missing one today after keeping the house closed up for nearly a month. None the worse for wear, in fact they where both quite happy and even well fed. They have all been quite active since being reunited.

Not keen for that to happen again, although I am quite confident they wont really go far, they really are imposable to find until they are ready to be caught.

Wow you are very lucky... Glad to hear you got them back... What a relief...

 

[Markus]

A further not so happy update,
One of my females died Friday morning

I'm not sure what the cause was, both females have been pretty quite recently, but suspected(hoped) they where gravid. The male has been pursuing both females quite a lot, and I was going to arrange a second enclosure this weekend to separate them, however I'm not sure what to do now until I find a cause.

And to top it off, had an inspection today as well, talk about timing. THey where pretty good about it, although we hadn't reported the death yet.

 

[Beans]

I didn't think you were allowed to take wildlife from the wild?

 

[Rogue5861]

I didn't think you were allowed to take wildlife from the wild?

I would assume they were caught on permit, this doesnt happen every day but it isnt as uncommon as it seems.


Rick

 

[Markus]

I didn't think you were allowed to take wildlife from the wild?

They where taken under licence, there aren't many captive bread ones available, or not that I could find for ages anyway.

 

[jbest]

inspected by whom?

A further not so happy update,
One of my females died Friday morning

I'm not sure what the cause was, both females have been pretty quite recently, but suspected(hoped) they where gravid. The male has been pursuing both females quite a lot, and I was going to arrange a second enclosure this weekend to separate them, however I'm not sure what to do now until I find a cause.

And to top it off, had an inspection today as well, talk about timing. THey where pretty good about it, although we hadn't reported the death yet.

 

[pinefamily]

I wouldn't be too worried about them climbing on the mesh. Our geckos do the same, and have had no issues, although they don't have the claws of monitors.

 

[Native_EWD]

nvm