Monitor price

ydnic · 10-19-04, 05:25 PM

I am considdering purchasing a ornate monitor
is 100.00 a good price? Would you suggest male or female

burmese maniac · 10-19-04, 06:13 PM

were are you from, in montreal they go for 60$.

burmese maniac · 10-19-04, 06:14 PM

no diff. in a male or a female you can't sex them when they are babies.

ydnic · 10-19-04, 06:45 PM

they are almost a year and they are male and female - I am wondering if one is better than the other - most reptiles like chameleons it is better to get a male so I am just wondering if that is the case in monitors as well

I am in saskatoon saskatchewan

we don`t have this available usually
but I think it may be better to ship

V.hb · 10-19-04, 07:28 PM

guarentee the person selling them has no idea what the sex is, and it sounds like you need to do MUCH more research before you buy this lizard, because right now all it is, is an impulse buy. Every reptile you buy should be considered greatly before purchase and a nile is no exception, they're a bloody handful.

dean_h00 · 10-20-04, 06:58 PM

well said V.hb

ydnic · 10-20-04, 07:06 PM

Actually the person I would be buying it from has a lot of experiance with reptile he owns a pet store in my city and has a lot of his own reptiles - I don`t know what would make you say he doesn`t know what he has - as far as this being an impulse buy - you couldn`t be more incorrect - I have been researching monitors for over a year now. I have been looking for one respectively for the entire time. As I stated they aren`t readily available where I live so I thought of this as an opprotunity to save on the hassles that go a long with shipping.

I was wondering a price because I have seen everything from 12.00$ to 120.00 -

Thanx for your imput though - I do realize that - I have just spent 6 months getting my iguana I adopted settled in she is a real terror,

dean_h00 · 10-20-04, 07:23 PM

so i take it you have researched niles?
and are awaer of what you may potentially be dealing a couple moinths down the line?
and how large r these year old ornates anyways?

chuck911jeep · 10-20-04, 07:25 PM

Ornatus is one of my favorite monitor. The only advice i can tell you is go for it and watch your fingers. Take your time, respect him and let him lot of time to settle down. But be aware, some will stay real monster for all life. In my opinion, you can't regret it.

ydnic · 10-20-04, 08:07 PM

Yes I am quite aware of what I will be dealing with not only as of a couple months down the line but patentially the next 12-15 years. I know that they are highly agressive and need a lot of room. I have a room in my house that is Lucy`s(my iguana) with a pool branches various lights UV and not, and a window.
That is the same plan for my monitor.
I did not measure it, but it is close to a meter from what I can remember.

I know they can be up to 2 meters but usually just under 2 meters and stalky

I also know they are a very aggresive breed because they are very defensive. They like to whip their tails and bite. Even with a lot of attension there is no likeliness of them becomming 'tame'.

However I do know that they can be very rewarding just like many reptiles with the right care.
My iguana is a beast, only I can go in her room no one else , she is just beginning to allow me to handle her (after not handling her for months) without digging in her claws and she accepts food from my hand graciously now.
However, I can just sit in her room and watch her for hours just because she is one beautiful beast. At the same time they aren`t for everyone and an igauna is certainly the last reptile I would recommend to anyone. In fact I would do my best to persuade anyone to take on that type of responsibility.

I feel the same about monitors. I grew up with iguanas, monitors, and a giant tokay geko that was more than a hand full. I guess now that my father has passed away I feel this is a way to be close to him still, even though I have always had and will always love all reptiles

chuck911jeep · 10-20-04, 08:28 PM

My male let me touch him for the first time few weeks ago. Now i can almost handle him. They need to trust you. With this nile i try the ''leave him came to you'' technique and it seem to work well. Anyway, they don't like to bite and they will always warn you before they bite.

ydnic · 10-20-04, 08:31 PM

Yeah thanx chuck - that will be my approach as it is with all reptiles. All I can hope is he is great to watch and full of real life learning experiances

Scales Zoo · 10-22-04, 10:03 AM

The petstore owner doesn't know the sex of anything in that store, and If I were you, I would not take any advice from him on anything reptile related. Just a friendly peice of advice from me to you.

Have you found a cheap supply of food? You are gonna require lots of mice, rats, fish and other seafood - monitors eat a whole lot of food. If you are looking for a monitor you can handle, Nile's or Ornates would not be my first pick. Personally, I think handling stresses all monitors, I don't "handle" any of ours, they make really good animals you can watch through the glass, feed copius amounts of food, and watch them grow into beasts, and build very large enclosures for. Kind of like tropical fish - where the goal is to keep the cage requirements to suit the animal, so you can watch a healthy animal for many years (and maybe even breed it).

Ryan

ydnic · 10-22-04, 10:27 AM

Really - Thanx Ryan -

Yeah we are looking at creating an order of mice next week because we are running out on what we bought at the TARAS show - we are going to start ordering from Mice and Things regaurdless because with our 11 snakes we already have its probably the best way to go

as far as the seafood bit - we are going to have to just purchase that stuff on our own at the store since we don`t have any other way to get that

YEah I agree with you on the nile. I`ve just really wanted a monitor for awhile now and saw an opportunity (i worry about shipping) I thought I might jump at it.

The last couple days I done some real thinking ( i was going to buy it yesterday) and decided to go with what I really wanted - a White Throat Monitor

Thank for your advise though

Steeve B · 10-22-04, 11:56 AM

I agree WT/BT are more easy to manage then niloticus and ornatus, all of the African monitors are quit easy to accurately sex from day one, then it only gets easier.
Personally I much prefer my ornatus then all my other varanids combined, I guess it’s a matter of taste. If you want I will post similar sex determination photo with niloticus or ornatus.