Small monitor

[sesa-sayin]

Varanus caudolineatus (max TL = 0.32 m), V. eremius (max TL = 0.46 m) and V. pilbarensis (max TL = 0.5 m) would also be suitable for a desert style set up of that size.

V. gouldii attain a max total length of around 1.6 m while V. spenceri reaches 1.2 m and has a stockier build.

Blue

I think this posting might be tongue-in-cheek.......the 3 mons. mentioned in the former par. are almost unprocurable....or am i missing the latest "for sale " ads. they sa y, not to say even "moisture ", in the presence of a caud, or it will drop down dead

 

[Bluetongue1]

julespython,
Unfortunately the only small monitors on the Victorian keeping list are Ridge-tailed (V. acanthurus), Pygmy Mulga (V. gilleni) and Storr's Monitor (V. storri). I do not know about availability.

sesa-sayin,
I was not thinking clearly at the time and did not take into account keeping lists or availability – which renders the information prented of no use. My error.

You are correct that caudos do not like moist conditions and it important to keep the enclosure dry. The other critical area of husbandry is a high temperature basking spot = 60[SUP]o[/SUP]C. Everything else is pretty standard. They do very well in captivity in Perth.

Crocdoc,
Thanks for posting the Lacie photos. It sure is a good size. I can visualise the slow, lumbering gait of such a large animal. It certainly shows no fear of humans. A sure sign it is being regularly fed by people in my opinion.

Blue

 

[crocdoc]

It certainly shows no fear of humans. A sure sign it is being regularly fed by people in my opinion.

It is now, yes. That hasn't always been the case, though. It lives on a very large property owned by good friends, whom I've been visiting once or twice a year for the past 8 years. I have hundreds of photographs of lace monitors taken on their property and it is one of two places for which I keep a photographic record of individual monitors based on their facial markings, so I am very familiar with 'the regulars'.

This is the first year I (and the owners of the property) have seen this particular monitor anywhere near the house. Apparently it has become accustomed to people over the course of the past year or so, when it started foraging near (and then in) the yard of their daughter who has a cabin on the same property. The people that own the property, in whose yard these photographs were taken, do not normally feed lace monitors because they have small dogs that are silly enough to run out and chase them. In this particular instance they fed the monitor because I was out at lunch when it first entered the yard and they knew I would have loved to have seen it, so they were keen to keep it hanging around.

These photographs don't tell the whole story, either, for much of the time I was photographing it, it was still being distracted by morsels of food thrown out to it (that's how I got the photographs of it near my boot and next to the ruler and also explains its full belly). Being a monitor, it learned fairly quickly and made a few more hopeful visits to the house looking for food. I tried to approach it on a couple of other occasions when there was no food around and it was much warier, heading up a tree if I got within a certain distance. It isn't that size because it's had constant food from people, it's that size because it comes from the south of lace monitor range (and consequently has the genetic potential to get large) and has clearly been able to find enough food to eat over the years.

 

[richardsc]

in vic we can keep tristis to,both black heads and freckleds,not to mention storri ocreatus along with storri storri,kingorum used to be on our list but is gone now,not sure why,perhaps no one kept any so they took it off,not sure,seems odd to remove species from the list

 

[Bluetongue1]

V. tritis is a very active monitor and highly arboreal. I would want a lot more elevation in the cage to keep them. Both subspecies of storri would be highly suited to the set-up. A shame about kingorum. They are an awesome small monitor.

Crocdoc,
I did wonder if the feeding was short term or long term. I have not had a lot of experience with varius in the field but I do know them to be very wary and likely to head straight up the nearest tree if you start to approach too fast or too near. In heavy forest they tend to be heard, crashing through the undergrowth, before being seen, shimmying up a sizeable tree. It seems the only thing that attracts them to human habitat is a feed. But as you say, they are adaptable animals that do learn fast.

Blue