(Varanus ornatus) Ornate "Nile" Monitor

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that_fish_Guy

that_fish_Guy

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Jul 29, 2013
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Just picked up an Ornate Nile Monitor! Can't wait till he grows! I know they are one of the lesser kept monitors out there and I was just curious to see if anyone here kept them ...any experiences or thoughts ?
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Beautiful little beast,I've read and heard that Niles get very aggressive as they age and grow.Yours looks to be very calm and hand tame so maybe that is not true with the ornate species?
 
I think Nile monitors are the most commonly kept of the monitors and most arnt cared for correctly.
 
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I had a customer with a full size Nile that wrestled him to the ground and he had to escape by losing his pants to it.
 
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Ornate are not necessarily niles. They are a different species closely related as far as my knowledge goes. I also don't even think they are a subspecies. I'm not quite sure there is a lot of controversial information. I've been researching and sitting through info for a while now so I've seen various opinions and information on this matter. I also am going to be taking very good care of this guy .....I have him in a 4x2x2 for now although as we speak I'm working on blueprints for a
8 feet long x 4feet wide x8 feet tall and that may even be temporary if he goows into a real monster!(7 feet+) But I have plans to make the enclosure multi leveled and with a filtered hard lined pond along with a mister rope lining the perimeter of the tank .... Also will have him on a diet of ground turkey, raw eggs (shell and all), and calcium and vitamin powder as a staple along with dubia roaches hissing roaches hornworms and and the occasional frozen mouse.

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monkeybike said:
I had a customer with a full size Nile that wrestled him to the ground and he had to escape by losing his pants to it.
Click to expand...

Hahaha ROFL!!! :D:D

When they are big they are a handfull!
Yea a 6 footer can take a finger off easily....not an easy animal to keep.

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Any other keepers want to show their experiences?

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Ornates are definitely a type of Nile. The only differences really are that Ornates have a blunt about instead of the skinny narrow snout commons have and they have a pink tongue instead of a blue. They supposedly get larger than common miles but not by much but they do get thicker. Make sure to handle him a lot because, like common niles, they are one of the harder ones to tame down. It's all about trust with them so if you're able to get it to trust you, it'll be easier to get him to tolerate handling better. I forgot what they call it but one of the best hides you can have for any monitor is to have them layered under the hot spot. That way they have a variety of different temps to choose from but still put a hide on the cool side as well. Also feeding it is gonna get super expensive if you stick to just rats. I fed all my monitors hissing cockroaches, ground turkey ground beef, fish, shrimp, etc. pretty much anything you want. It'll save you a lot more on feeding in the long run and anything that didn't have bones in it like the ground beef or turkey, I always mixed in ground bone powder. If you still have my number, feel free to text me with any more questions. I'm not entirely sure what else you're looking for.


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The best way I found to tame our savannah monitors was to lay in the bathtub (clothes on obviously) and let it crawl around. I would walk around the neighborhood with the female clinging onto my shirt. We also had a large iguana that was free range. All tub trained

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