Monitor Setups

[jason haskins]

hi monitor lovers was wondering if people would upload some pics of there monitor setups,
im hopefully looking at getting a juvenile blackheaded monitor in the new year and would love to see some setups for some tips. I've seen a couple of very experience monitor breeders that tend to keep the setups almost completely bare for juveniles to help taming them to the point the monitor comes to you rather then you trying to catch them everytime it comes to handling them. anyone got any thoughts on this way or different opinions.

 

[Nero Egernia]

Who are these experienced monitor breeders?

I can tell you that if my Black Headed Monitors were set up in such a way you described they just might die of stress. In fact, I'm fairly certain that's what happened to my emaciated pair before acquiring them. But perhaps they were more prone to stress because they were wild caught. It's worth considering that Black Headed Monitors by nature are quite secretive and they tend to view anything bigger than them as potential predators. My tip would be to provide hides and to leave the monitor alone until it is comfortable with you and its environment. Research as much as you can. Give them a reason not to fear you. Locating the enclosure in a room with lots of activity can help them become accustomed to humans.

A poor photo, but here's my setup for my two largest. It's not current as I tweak it every now and then. Not particularly fancy but it gets the job done.

 

[Murph_BTK]

Agreed... trust is key... and i have many hides for my snakes and monitors.. on all diff sections of their enclosures...my black headed now sits out basking most days and doesn't fuss with all the traffic now.. i can even slide open the doors and get some fresh air in there move stuff around and spor clean.. all while he just sits there.. i brsuhed his tail yesterday and while he got jumpy and hissed.. all was good.. breif touch and left alone... more and more should see hom settle even better [emoji6]

add me on instagram murph_BTK

 

[jason haskins]

The breeder has a YouTube page called New England reptiles. He breeds amazing morphs of retics and other snakes and also some stunning monitors. Watch some of his videos on monitors and how he tames them. He has lots of massive monitors and lots of young monitors that are completely dog tam. Really interesting

 

[pinefamily]

No offence Jason but Yanks aren't necessarily the best for husbandry practices. They will tell you don't put your bearded dragon on sand.
Agree with Oshkii and Murph. Let the monitor settle in and become used to you.
Our freckled monitor (currently in a tub) would never show himself if I was around. Now if I sit next to the tub he comes out roaming. He even pops out now for crickets.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Nero Egernia]

The breeder has a YouTube page called New England reptiles. He breeds amazing morphs of retics and other snakes and also some stunning monitors. Watch some of his videos on monitors and how he tames them. He has lots of massive monitors and lots of young monitors that are completely dog tam. Really interesting

I've seen some videos of New England Reptile Distributors and some of their monitors do appear to be tame. But you need to keep in mind that their method only appears to work with their Asian Water Monitors. You don't see them with dog tame small monitor species, do you? Asian Water Monitors are large lizarrds and in their natural habitat they would have few predators to fear and this contributes to their natural confidence. On top of that many populations choose to live near human settlements to take advantage of the abundance of food in our garbage. Over the generations natural selection may have created a group of monitors that would have lost most of their wariness of humans in favour of easy pickings. New England Reptile Distributors also appear to be selectively breeding for their monitors to be bold and outgoing.

Black Headed Monitors on the other hand feature on the menu of many predators and as a result are naturally wary of their surroundings. They have to be, otherwise they would not exist in the wild. An over confident Black Headed Monitor would quickly become food for something else such as a hawk or a larger varanid. While some do live in close proximity with humans, they often do not reveal themselves. If they think a human has noticed them, they usually flee the scene at high speed.

It would also be worth considering the personality of an individual lizard. It seems that handling is important to you, what if by some chance you acquire a Black Headed Monitor that is extremely wary of people? It could take a very long time to tame it down, years perhaps. Even then there's no guarantee that it will become dog tame.

No offence Jason but Yanks aren't necessarily the best for husbandry practices. They will tell you don't put your bearded dragon on sand.
Agree with Oshkii and Murph. Let the monitor settle in and become used to you.
Our freckled monitor (currently in a tub) would never show himself if I was around. Now if I sit next to the tub he comes out roaming. He even pops out now for crickets.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

I've always wondered about the American anathema in the use of sand for Bearded Dragons. There's also the notion that Bearded Dragons need to take daily baths to remain healthy.

 

[Smittiferous]

Behind glass my black-headed monitors are usually quite calm and almost completely disregard human observers. Open the door though, and it's a different story. My male black headed monitor is the only monitor I have who will actively chase and try to bite me if I get too close. My female is at the opposite end of the spectrum, and will freeze on the spot and bolt like a lunatic for cover.

As stated above, most smaller species can be really quite skittish. Not enough cover to hide behind and they freak out. If that situation is prolonged they'll suffer from extreme stress, possibly expire or their general behaviour will deteriorate permanently, and you may end up with an animal that will never have a bar of you at all. They're really pretty, active and interesting to watch but are definitely a look-and-don't-touch species.

 

[pinefamily]

By starting out with your hand in the enclosure to change water, clean up monitor poop and feed it, your blackhead will get used to your hand over time, and not see it as a threat. I believe Oshkii can tong feed hers, after a long period of trying.
And without derailing this informative thread, @Oshkii the Americans almost universally use calci-sand, which when ingested by a dragon will certainly cause impaction.

 

[Bushfire]

I agree with some of what is said above and disagree with other points. Whether you agree or not with some aspects of amercian husbandry practices one thing you cant deny and that is many amercian monitor breeders are by far more successful than aussie keepers in breeding monitors including the majority of aussie monitors which would not happen if they were all stressed out.

To say calci sand is universally or almost used is completely wrong and false. I think generally with monitor keepers its probably a case of being on the outside looking in and making assumptions without asking questions or knowing the processes used or the knowledge behind it.

Dont be so quick to write off things just because it doesnt fit your mode of thinking, you just might walk away with a greater understanding than before.

 

[pinefamily]

Bushfire, I agree that monitor breeding overseas has been more successful than here, both in the US and Germany mainly.
I was referring to bearded dragons, not monitors, when I mentioned the calci-sand. I do believe that a few beardie keepers are starting to use other sand now, but the calci-sand has been widely used in the past.

 

[Nero Egernia]

Behind glass my black-headed monitors are usually quite calm and almost completely disregard human observers. Open the door though, and it's a different story. My male black headed monitor is the only monitor I have who will actively chase and try to bite me if I get too close. My female is at the opposite end of the spectrum, and will freeze on the spot and bolt like a lunatic for cover.

My monitors are practically this. Although none of them actively try and bite me. My large male might try if you're really annoying him. Likewise, my female is the most nuts. As soon as you so much as twitch she's gone. But oddly enough, she's the best feeder.

By starting out with your hand in the enclosure to change water, clean up monitor poop and feed it, your blackhead will get used to your hand over time, and not see it as a threat. I believe Oshkii can tong feed hers, after a long period of trying.
And without derailing this informative thread, @Oshkii the Americans almost universally use calci-sand, which when ingested by a dragon will certainly cause impaction.

Tong feeding my three is a rather sporadic event and most times they prefer to eat food that's simply left in the enclosure. Some days they seem to be getting more accustomed in the human environment and other days they're completely nuts. They're very finicky and simple things can set them into sulk mode quite easily. But that's wild caught for you. Probably my smallest monitor is the most "easy going".