The Perentie

[bulletproofkid]

Australias biggest monitor. How many people keep them and in what sort of enclosures? Also how much do u look at paying for one and does anyone on here breed them?

Thank you.

 

[cris]

There are a few around, i think they cost around $2000 for hatchlings. You would want a large dry enclosure that gets full sun all day and/or provide baskings spots over 50C. An average size room is ok if being kept indoors. They dig, so the enclsoure should allow for that too.

 

[Boney]

are perenties really the biggest lizard in australia on average or was there just a couple they found to be bigger then say a average size lacie ? just ive never seen a really big perentie i know it could just be because i live in lacie territory:lol: ive seen some pretty heavy bodied lacies . i just dont picture perenties as big could be wrong would like to know more but ..

 

[redbellybite]

yes it is our biggest lizard...

 

[cris]

are perenties really the biggest lizard in australia on average or was there just a couple they found to be bigger then say a average size lacie ?

I dont really think its known for sure what species has obtained the largest size, perenties are probably the longest although both yellow spotted monitors and lacies are also very big. Also what is the biggest lizard? The longest one, the heaviest one or something else? is it average adult size or maximum recorded size? I have read that perenties and yellow spotted monitors can get over 15kg.

 

[Boney]

OK. yeh i probly would like to know average length and weights of both as adults of co**** there is going to be a really big one in both cases its just you here how if you want to keep a perentie people go on about the huge space they need more so then a lacie . i guess that could be because they are more or a ground dwelling animal . that is probly the answer just there.... ive seen some articals on the lacie research going on at the moment . but the ones ive seen on that look alot smaller then the ones around here so it could be hard to get a true average ?

also the above pic of the perentie looks like a real nice big one but hardly any bigger then the lacies around my area thats my point could be just the pic might be bigger in real life.?

 

[redbellybite]

well recorded sizes are perentie 2.4m,yellow spotted 1.4 and lace2.1m....as with any species you can get freaks ...but its is recorded that the perentie is Australia's biggest lizard ...but the lacies arent small either ..

 

[crocdoc]

also the above pic of the perentie looks like a real nice big one but hardly any bigger then the lacies around my area thats my point could be just the pic might be bigger in real life.?

Okay, I need to see photos of your local animals, now!* The ones in the study currently being done west of Sydney are big boys - some of their wild males are weighing 9kg (which, for a slim, wild lacie is huge). I'd put money on your local animals being smaller than that. The only lacies in Australia that reach this size on a regular basis are the Gipsland animals.

Looking at total length when comparing species is misleading, for lacies have an unusually long tail. We have an adult male perentie where I work whose snout-vent length is probablyl a good 15cm longer than the SVL of the biggest lace monitors I've ever seen. The only thing with perenties, though, is that the wild ones are particularly long and thin, so weight-wise they'd be similar to a really large panoptes or lace monitor.

To the original poster - are you still considering getting one for your nephew? I'd ask how old is he and where would he keep it, for perenties do need a large area. Larger than lace monitors because you can't go as vertical as you can with lace monitors.

*I should add here that almost everyone I have ever met has overestimated the size of the wild lace monitors they have seen. I spend a fair bit of time out looking at and for wild ones and you'd be surprised at how uncommon it is for them to exceed 1.8 metres, yet everyone I speak to says they have seen them up to 3m (I kid you not).

 

[Boney]

crocdoc , i had one when put on the scales at AAE weighed 13kgs plastic box and packing would of weighed 2 kgs max . . either AAE need to get the scales fixed or im lying :lol: which im not .. but anyway i seen and caught a bells lacie in a pig trap out at Manilla that dwarfed my one .no i didnt weigh it as we where catching pigs and didnt have the scales .. also seen a few big ones out at a place called rocks crossing past mount george hell of alot bigger then any i have owned from captive breed stock . and a hell of alot bigger then any in that lacie project . also i got a few other spots where i see lacies that are at least as big as the ones in the lacie project .. make of it what you will thats just why i question the fact on average that perenties are bigger then lacies . but i have no experience with perentie just pics and recorded info . ect . . but i can understand why they should have more floorspace then a lacie .

also crocdoc can you put up some pics of the perentie you work with and cage ect ..

 

[crocdoc]

This is not really an indication of adult size, but one thing I can say is that perenties have the biggest eggs and babies of any other monitor that I know of, with the one exception of Komodo dragons.

Check out the size difference with similar aged lace monitor hatchlings

These next two shots were taken on different years, but in same size container.

This photo was taken the day these two hatched

 

[Boney]

wow not everyday you see pics like that . that is a huge difference in size as hatchies .

whats the longest monitor in the word . my mate that lived in the jungle png thinks its his alligator lizard how true is that crocdoc?

 

[crocdoc]

crocdoc , i had one when put on the scales at AAE weighed 13kgs plastic box and packing would of weighed 2 kgs max . . either AAE need to get the scales fixed or im lying :lol: which im not

1 2kg of box and packing would be pretty flimsy to hold in an 11kg monitor. The little plastic boxes I use to send hatchlings end up weighing close to 1kg with packing. As you didn't weigh the box itself we are only guessing the weight of the container and still don't know the weight of the monitor.

2. Were you packing a wild caught monitor and shipping it via AAE? If not, and it was a captive, its weight can't really be compared to a wild monitor. Captives carry a lot more excess. That's why I emphasised that the ones in that study were wild animals weighing 9kg. That's a lot for a wild male, as they are much leaner than captives.

3. The photos you've seen of the study may be misleading as Jason, one of the researchers, is a big unit and would make most lacies look relatively small.

4. Without photos, all we have to go on with the wild ones you've seen was how huge they looked. That's why I was asking for photos.If you had to guess the length and weight of these animals, what would you estimate them at?

also crocdoc can you put up some pics of the perentie you work with and cage ect ..

no problem.
enclosure, roughtly 10m x 10m

boy

pair mating. Check out the size difference in their heads. This female has roughly the same snout-vent length as my adult male lace monitor at home, but due to the different builds she would weigh half as much as him.

 

[crocdoc]

whats the longest monitor in the word . my mate that lived in the jungle png thinks its his alligator lizard how true is that crocdoc?

The record is currently held by a Sri Lankan water monitor, Varanus salvator salvator. Apparently it was 3.2 m. Komodo dragons, of course, are next in length but by far the largest monitor in overall size.

Tree crocodiles, Varanus salvadorii, are associated with a lot of urban myths (14ft), but in terms of actual maximum length no one has seen one greater than 3m. In terms of average length, though, they'd probably be the longest because they have a phenomenally long tail and even averaged sized adults usually reach 2.4 metres easily.

 

[walpole_reptiles]

i have some and i also am breeding them. i love them yes they need a big area and need alot of food and yes i would say tame them. they are a very good pet

 

[Boney]

thankyou for the pics crocdoc . just unreal ... do you think all perentie look the same ? thats what i like about lacies i think they look so different from each other .

also mate when i pack my lacie for AAE black underbed from super cheap was used 40l tub weighs 1.5 kgs put lacies in a calico bag with shreaded paper under the monitor . and no it wasnt flimsey . and you are right captive breed lizards would carry more body fat . but yeh like i say some of the wild animals i have seen are just huge i would say 15 kgs + and about 2.5 metres ..yeh ,yeh its a guess i no . if you want mate ill take you out show you in person some big lizards. dead roo and a pig trap is a good way to bring them down from the trees ...


my mate from png was also saying the crocodile lizards made good drum skins. also said he was scared of all the green tree pythons everywhere dont know how true that is ..:lol:

 

[crocdoc]

2.5m and no camera. Real shame, as that's world record material.

 

[Boney]

i expected a response like that:lol: over 2 meters is no big deal even cogger suggests that . 2.5 metres yeh thats what i think . see i live where they have things called trees grass, forests,scrub , the bush . no concrete jungle here .

 

[crocdoc]

What do you mean 'response like that'? If I saw a world record lacie, I know I'd want to have my camera with me.

 

[serpenttongue]

some of the wild animals i have seen are just huge i would say 15 kgs + and about 2.5 metres ..

Don't suppose you have any pics of these or any other wild lacies from your area?? They would be awesome to see.

 

[Boney]

i mean i dont see it as a world record animal because every time we go to this area you see big red banded (not cream)... bells lacies that are huge . i was suprised when i bothered to get out the cogger today to find out they suggest lacies average 1.5 and 1.6 for perentie . thats why i question the whole perentie being the biggest lizard in australia . considering cogger suggests there is only 10cm in it and suggests both animals get over 2metres when i already knew that about lacies . i take pics of my animals not wild stuff .. but i will take the camera next time . i guess i just took seeing these big lizards for granted as i see them all the time. no probs just another fishing story :lol: