Black Throat Monitor

I just adopted a black throat monitor. He is my first. I have other reptiles (ornate flying snake, sand boas, brown basilisk, armadillo lizard, etc.) I have him in a 55 gal right now. He is a baby about 6-8 inches long. He has been really aggressive and I asked if they fed him live pinkies in his tank but they said no. He hasn't tried to bite just hiss and tail whip. He did open his mouth once but I calmed him down. They had him on a diet super worms and crickets. All the care sheets I have looked at said to feed him crickets and worms, once to twice a week feed meat. I am just looking into some tips or techniques to break him of the aggressiveness while he is still small. Any information or experiences or tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I don't have any personal experience, but one of my friends has a 5 foot nile monitor that he has had since a baby. He said they only thing that proved to calm him down was A LOT of hands on time, and trust building, he would sit and do his Home Work in the bath tub (empty of course) and let the baby run around in there with him, any time he was watching TV he had him on the couch or on the floor with him. He says that it required more attention then a dog in order to get him as calm as he is now.

Thank you. I've been trying to handle him as much as possible. I haven't even had him for a week yet. I've been trying to let him get adjusted but when I put my hands in the tank for anything (change water, clean, etc.) Thats what triggers his aggressiveness. I dont want to keep provoking him and he have a fear or feel threatened.

With monitors its actually the exact opposite (in my experience). You do not build trust with constant "forced" handling. Honestly, I would take a hands off approach when he is young. Continue with your daily cage maintanence of course. The best way to build trust in my opinion is feeding from tongs. Continuously showing him daily that you mean no harm to him will slowly but SURELY build/win his trust. You'll know when he is ready for handling. Be patient because the reward will be second to none!! Best of luck! ;)

I had water monitor for 2 years or so, they are very lovely creature! Except for one fact where mine always were in defensive mode..regardless....

"Snakes don't bite. Just humans."

Well I would start by ditching the fish tank, and build a real enclosure, I would also suggest contacting infernalis on this forum, he is very knowledgeable about monitors, could probably give you some good pointers and some good websites to do some more research.

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Originally Posted by eatgoodfood

Well I would start by ditching the fish tank, and build a real enclosure, I would also suggest contacting infernalis on this forum, he is very knowledgeable about monitors, could probably give you some good pointers and some good websites to do some more research.

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Agreed!!!!!

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.

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Originally Posted by thinkbig317

With monitors its actually the exact opposite (in my experience). You do not build trust with constant "forced" handling. Honestly, I would take a hands off approach when he is young. Continue with your daily cage maintanence of course. The best way to build trust in my opinion is feeding from tongs. Continuously showing him daily that you mean no harm to him will slowly but SURELY build/win his trust. You'll know when he is ready for handling. Be patient because the reward will be second to none!! Best of luck! ;)

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I guess I should have clarified, in no way does he "force" handle his monitor. He lets it come to him, if it doesn't want to be held he leaves it alone. All I was saying was once it became comfortable with him, he handled it as much as it would let him, and he interacts with it often, and it is puppy dog gentle.

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Originally Posted by bigcat131

Thank you. I've been trying to handle him as much as possible. I haven't even had him for a week yet. I've been trying to let him get adjusted but when I put my hands in the tank for anything (change water, clean, etc.) Thats what triggers his aggressiveness. I dont want to keep provoking him and he have a fear or feel threatened.

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

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Originally Posted by thinkbig317

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

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

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

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.

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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.