My Little Monsters

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Wiggles92 said:
I think that their competition with each other for food, territory, & so on made them focus more on each other than on me; there isn't really anything else to focus on now that it's just the one in there.

I highly doubt that it was given very good care by the vendor that I got it from, but I doubt that would have a major effect a little over four months later.

I forget what I said their original lengths were, but I believe this one was in the 10-12" range when I got it, so it's been growing at a rate of around 1.5-2" a month when it should be growing at a rate of 2-3" a month; if it had grown at the optimal rate, then it would've been in the 18-24" range by now. My goal is to have it to a size that will allow me to determine the gender before the end of the year, so it needs to cooperate & hit a big growth spurt!
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I'm guessing you're right, and another possibility is that the presence of other baby niles may have kept them reassured that they were in a safe area. Similar to how hunters put out decoy ducks to draw in the real ones.

I was of the same opinion, usually sellers don't care for them exceptionally well. It depends on how long it was in the seller's care, if they had it for a very long time, it may have gotten past the age of the initial explosion of growth, and is at the age that it puts on growth spurts instead.

You've had them what, five months? That's not too bad as far as growth goes, not sure I'd call him a runt.. He may not be a really big guy, but I think he'll still get plenty big.
 
Wiggles92 said:
It's still pretty defensive in the enclosure, but it gets pretty tame during & a little bit after bath time. I'm thinking about making this a weekly thing to hopefully tame it down more while giving it some enrichment.

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wow. he has grown a lot
 
crayfishguy said:
wow. he has grown a lot
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Yes, it has grown a little bit since my last update; it's around 24" long now give or take an inch or two. I'm starting to wonder if it's actually a female as I have yet to be able to "pop" it or get it to evert a hemipene; that might also partly explain its smaller size & slower growth rate that what I expected & was aiming for.
 
"Popping" a monitor is not a good idea.. Almost as bad as probing one. They are not snakes, however similar they seem to be. Also, I wouldn't count on that whole water taming thing. Maybe you'll get lucky, but I still have yet to see an example of it being successful. By successful, I mean that the baby grows into a tolerant adult using this technique, not that the baby is "tolerant".

This is one of the very few tolerant niles I have seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SJKlTXfOF0&feature=plcp
 
A. gigas said:
"Popping" a monitor is not a good idea.. Almost as bad as probing one. They are not snakes, however similar they seem to be. Also, I wouldn't count on that whole water taming thing. Maybe you'll get lucky, but I still have yet to see an example of it being successful. By successful, I mean that the baby grows into a tolerant adult using this technique, not that the baby is "tolerant".

This is one of the very few tolerant niles I have seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SJKlTXfOF0&feature=plcp
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Not really going to literally "pop" it mind you; more going to try to coax it on out. "Popping" was just the term that the monitor experts used.

I'm not expecting it to be 100% tame, but I'm going to roll with this since it hasn't responded to tong training or anything else yet.
 
Does this count as a step towards getting it to be a little less flighty around me?

20121108_025852.jpg

It sat there for a minute or two then slowly wandered around my bed for another few minutes before trying to escape; however, it still didn't struggle or bite when I picked it back up. Keep in mind that it took about 5-10 minutes of dealing with it being squirmy & spewing feces before it finally calmed down.

20121108_025852.jpg
 
Not really. They'll seem plenty tame when they're little, but keep that up and you'll be lucky to not end up with a monitor that wants nothing to do with you. The only real reason he calmed down would be a buildup of lactic acid. I really think you should go with the methods I've told you, they're the only ones I've ever known to work long term. It takes a LONG time and it will really put your patience to the test, but it will be worth it. Size is the biggest factor, once he's a bit bigger he'll seem to grow a pair overnight, and will stop hiding. Trust me, you don't want a six foot adult monitor that squirms and spews feces (Plus clawing, biting, and tail whipping) for 5-10 minutes before it "calms down"...

On a more positive note, he looks fantastic. Great body condition on that little guy, with a nice thick tail. You're about to see him hit a growth spurt..
 
I haven't had any luck with tong feeding & target feeding despite trying daily for the past few months; it is still afraid of the feeding forceps and wants nothing to do with them. I rarely get to see it eat it's F/T mice although I'm usually able to watch it eat crickets & roaches.

Simply sticking my hand in the enclosure & letting it get used to it has been somewhat successful; it came over & sat on my hand for around five minutes a little bit ago without any aggressive or defensive behavior; it also allowed me to lift my hand out of the enclosure with it still on my hand. However, once out of the enclosure, that lasted for all of five minutes before it chomped down on my thumb & wouldn't let go; it is still locked on the plastic rod that I used to get my thumb out and seems to have no intention of letting go despite being placed back in the enclosure. I still see the whole part where it sat on my hand in the enclosure without any issues as a small success since it didn't run away or whip me or anything like; the biting part, well, not so much...
 
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