Just need some input on what's the best way to tame one of these guys. I've had him for a few months with which I have spent some time taming him. He is still agressive towards me. He probably could use more time put in handling him, which I am now able to do. Any thoughts would be gladly appreciated.
Need help taming my 12" Savanah Monitor
- Thread starter PatrickTheArowana
- Start date
if you tease feed him, bring him out of your tank and have him run over your hand while he chases the food. eventually, you can get him to sit in your hand and then pick him up without a struggle. Or, you could just pick him up and handle him every day, this tends to work more quickly but you run a much higher chance of him biting you.
snakeguy101;4005599; said:
Yeah, the thing with just handling him by itself is that he seems to be so scared of that he most always ****s on me.
Well, he actually just let me hold him in my lap without any problems. But as soon as i put him back in his cage he ran off an started hissing!
I don't have a great deal of experience with most common monitor species but I do know they are very intelligent animals that need to gain your trust before they will be comfortable with you holding them. Remember they view you as a large, scary predator who is reaching down to grab and eat them for dinner.
I rarely if ever hold my Ackie Monitors but I can pick them up without an issues because they trust me. I keep the tank high off the ground at eye level to the Ackies. Now I don't look like a big predator hovering over them. I can work in and around their enclosure as well as hand feed them. It didn't take them long to learn that I am nothing to fear because I'm the bringer of food!
I rarely if ever hold my Ackie Monitors but I can pick them up without an issues because they trust me. I keep the tank high off the ground at eye level to the Ackies. Now I don't look like a big predator hovering over them. I can work in and around their enclosure as well as hand feed them. It didn't take them long to learn that I am nothing to fear because I'm the bringer of food!
You should join the moniter forum on Kingsnake.com, and ask there.. I'm more than sure some of the experts and breeders there can tell you what to do.
Vicious_Fish;4005904; said:
This is a very good point. I would try to if possible keep your sav in a high-traffic area with his enclosure high enough so he can see what you're doing when you work around him. If they're afraid of you it's very difficult to overcome that, I had a water monitor that was very flighty and really never overcame it while I had him (he may have since, not sure).
If he'll eat from your hand that will help overcome some of his fear. My old sav had no fear of people at all. That made him very easy to "tame" but he was very likely to bite me when he was small (attempting to eat my fingers/hand).
You are very wrong. Some get as tame as dogs.I'm talking from experiance,not just talking like some people do.
Savs can become very tame. I haven't had alot of them, maybe 4 in my life and my son has had 4. The first two that I had and the first one that my son had, were tame almost from the get go. But we've both worked and worked with the flightier ones and it didn't seem like anything much could be done. Of course, they do get better the more that you handle them, but it just seems like some of them, no matter what you do will snap at you. Have you ever tried walking them on a reptile leash? Sounds a little weird, I know, but some of them really enjoy it and the exercise may tire them out.