Black Throat Monitor

[jclaiborne]

Hey jclaiborne - It was actually the statement above that prompted me to say "stop the forced handling" comment. Nothing that you said.....

Oh haha ok, I re-read my post and thought maybe it could have been taken that way.

[bigcat131]

Ok, first as others have said, STOP FORCE HANDLING. You may get a reaction where you think he is calming down, but in reality that will be him giving up and hoping the "giant scary thing" will go away and not eat him. At this size, everything it sees is a potential predator and your not going to change it's mind right away. It's going to take time and a lot of effort, but it will be well worth it for the end result.Food is your best tool for taming a monitor, they are literally slaves to their stomachs.
Best plan I can suggest for you will be to start off by leaving alone for a week or so, do nothing but light maintenance, like cleaning his water bowl, putting in his food dish, etc. then once he stops running for cover the second he sees you, you can start trying to feed off tongs and see how that goes.
Now as for the current setup, it will probably be OK for a month or two as long as it's setup properly. However, you need to start on the adult enclosure as soon as you have the setup in the tank stabilized. Properly supported monitors grow incredibly fast, at least for the first few months, and yours will quickly be too large for a "tank" setup. Please post what your temps are, basking site, cool end, what your humidity is at, and how your measuring these, and if at all possible pictures or your setup and the animal itself if possible. And welcome, by the way.

Thanks to everyone for the information. Sorry I meant I've NOT been trying to handle him. I would post pictures here if I knew how but when I first got him he was in a 30 gal with sand as substrate and some rocks. Smelled like crap and looked like it was never cleaned. I moved him to a 50 and used some soil substrate. I put a basking spot, a big water dish for him to soak, a heat rock, a shaded tree area and an open area. Under the basking spot I have an area he can burrow under rocks. I took his food dish out and only put it in for a short time at the same time every day. The temps on the cool side with the water is at 74 deg. The temp around there is 78-80. The basking area is 89-91 usually. Then the other side I have the heat rock and a shaded tree area. The shade is at 80. I use a Ryobi infrared thermometer for taking the temps.

Me any my brother and law are were already talking about a set up outside for him. We have been drafting up some plans to make a nice enclosure. Like I said before I didn't plan on getting this guy, he was just going to get dumped off, so I took him in. So I'm working with what I have available at the moment until I can get better setups and more equipment.

I was thinking about using the same approach I used with my Ornate Flying Snake. When I first got her she would strike at everything. Everyday I would be in the cage either cleaning or just rearranging the vine. I would just slowly move stuff closer and closer until she would let me touch her. Now she comes out up my arm, sits on my shoulders and I can get her to "fly" from my hand across the room into her cage. Do you think this approach will work with the monitor? Please advise, thank you.