Giant lizard discovered in the Philippines

[ScatMan]

Wouldnt it be possible to switch it a bit to more comon fruits, I bet they would acept stuff like mango, papaya, prinkly pear, etc.

yeah they'll eat tons of other fruits but noboy can get them to breed (regularly anyway), they suspect it might have something to do with their diet. they have been bred twice so far (as far as i know) but each time only one egg hatched and only one of the two babys that hatched survived. the surviving baby was born in the philippines where the parents had access to their natural fruit (and other fruits), this would suggest to me that it has something to do with the diet, but it's far from solid proof.

i'm talking about varanus olivaceus but the newly discovered monitor, i assume, would have similar requirements because they are very closely related.

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4yeG67st8E[/YT]
if that video won't play, here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4yeG67st8E

 

[coura]

I see and yes it is very important to think outside the box and go study what the animals eat in the wild. Some times it turns out to be something easy to provide, but untill we know for shure it only possible to gess. If I had one I would try a huge variety of foods, from snails to bread fruit and from mice to figs

 

[Jox]

I get worried everytime I hear something about a new animal in the Philippines. A lot of the people are not educated themselves about some of the animals. I'm not making a blunt comment, coming from the Philippines myself I have seen it.

 

[sauroid]

I get worried everytime I hear something about a new animal in the Philippines. A lot of the people are not educated themselves about some of the animals. I'm not making a blunt comment, coming from the Philippines myself I have seen it.

quite true. once the natives found out that there's keen interest on the animals from the "outside world", exploitation starts. youngs of those animals will find their way into black market pet traders' shops (under the counter of course). i guess this is true in most third world countries where poverty is very high.