Took a break from fish and got a tree monitor

INDK617

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 8, 2008
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Portland, ME
I've been keeping fish for over 20 years, some of my first memories are my grandmother taking me to the lfs in the early 90s. I sold fish for 7 years or so before giving it up and getting a job that (temporarily) sucks up most of my time. I was a little burnt out on the hobby after making it a job.

With the limited time I've had the past 2 years I've focused on keeping my green tree monitor. I initially wanted a varanus melinus monitor so I built a 5'x3'x3' enclosure with intentions to double the height and then expand further once it got bigger.

In the mean time I fell in love with tree monitors. My female captive bred green tree monitor lives in the 5x3x3 enclosure now and I'm currently making plans to build a taller enclosure for her.

Keeping this monitor has been very rewarding. She was handled daily as a hatchling which has made all the difference in the world. Tree monitors are notoriously flighty. My female hand feeds, climbs onto me enthusiastically and is awesome to interact with. I work with her every day to build trust and it has paid off.

Here are some pictures of her and the enclosure I built. Anybody else on here keeping monitors?

I'm also getting my 150g running again with a renewed enthusiasm. I'll be lurking the pages of mfk regularly again!FB_IMG_1519960249708.jpg FB_IMG_1519960249708.jpg IMG_20180308_184205.jpg FB_IMG_1519960249708.jpg IMG_20180308_184205.jpg IMG_20180803_124203.jpg IMG_20180925_094114.jpg IMG_20180925_094129.jpg IMG_20180925_094031.jpg FB_IMG_1519960249708.jpg IMG_20180308_184205.jpg IMG_20180803_124203.jpg IMG_20180925_094114.jpg IMG_20180925_094129.jpg IMG_20180925_094031.jpg
 

twentyleagues

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Apr 5, 2017
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Flint town!
Very cool! Ive kept a few in the past. Not that species but monitors. I've kept a Timor, Argus and a Spiny tail. The Argus was way to intelligent. The Timor I named Aries appropriately because she kicked my butt many times and only wanted to make war. The spiny tail (forgive me I dont remember the other names it goes by) was my buddy and fed quite the same as yours and was very personable. I worked hard with all our reptiles some it works out with and is sooooo rewarding and others will never tame. You are very lucky.
 

cwindless

Exodon
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2016
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Virginia
I used to have a pair of V. Prasinus. Mine were farm raised. We were building trust. The male would tong feed. The female was better about hand taming.

Unfortunately the female passed away, out of the blue a few months after i got them. I kept the male for a year after that with no issues.

I ended up selling the male to a kid (22yo) with a female who was tyring to breed. I kept mine in a 7x4x4 I built.

She is beautiful, great job! I would love to work with V. Macrei in the future.
 
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Deadliestviper7

The Necromancer
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Aug 6, 2016
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Nice ! Honestly I always thought this species got a bad rap as "untamable" I've seen to many that became very tame, very quickly
 
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