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VaranusLover 2003 -、

Thanks Chris! Yeah, I've been meaning to post an updated video soon. I just moved, so he's been having to adjust to a new environment. He's larger now, and I'm 100% certain he is a male at this point (I've seen his naughty parts protruding). I've been planning a larger enclosure for him, so I will definitely post a video of the setup once I build it. He's at the size where he's starting to test me a little bit. In very subtle ways, he'll push the boundaries and see what I do. He likes to climb, and he gashed my ear pretty good last night from doing that. How big is yours? How long have you had him? The most important thing is patience, above all else! Always be gentle with the animal, no matter how rough he/she is to you. One thing I'm learning is to never get them used to eating in the enclosure. I'm actually in the process of training my guy out of that habit. The reason is that they pick up on feeding cues very quickly, and feeding him in the enclosure creates a feeding response that is immediately triggered every time you approach the enclosure. It's cute when they're small, but not so much as they get older..... A 5-foot lizard charging the glass isn't so cute anymore. Mine is almost 3 feet now. They grow very quickly their first year!

Ich Herp definitely keen to see how hes doing. My little guy is nearly three months old now and ive had him for about 2 weeks. roughly id say he'd be about 15-18cm snout to vent. during the past 2 weeks we have gone from him freaking out any time someone would enter the room, to just chilling on his basking spot when i clean his enclosure or changing his water and (cautiously) sitting on the back of my hand when i tong feed him. i haven't tried to touch or hold him since i put him in his enclosure as i dont think he would be too happy about that just yet haha.

Well, he'll never be happy to be handled for the first few times. It goes against all their natural instincts, especially at such a small size. The entire world is a potential predator to them. When you get him to a comfort level where you feel he would tolerate you, you can try a little handling. There's a difference between force handling and firm handling. You will always need to be a little firm with this species, even for a tame one. Just pay attention to how he responds. They are very intelligent, and will learn very quickly how to act to get you to put them down. If you decide to handle him, be sure he is completely calm before you put him down. If you put him down as he's struggling, he will always struggle.

Hey Morten. It's actually cypress mulch that turned out to not be very "mulchy".... lol! When it gets dry, it just becomes like wood chips, which disappointed me. I have actually mixed the cypress mulch with coconut fiber to soil it up a bit, but the coconut just settles underneath the cypress and I end up back at square one. I was thinking of replacing it entirely with coconut fiber, as it would probably be cleaner than actual soil. What do you think?

for my monitors I use a soilmix that consits of 50% unfertilized peat moss, 25% clean soil and 25% sand that will turn into a great compact soilmix that will natually maintain their claws because of the sand mixed in,and keeping a humidity at 60-70% is also waaay easier :) and you dont risk them eating to much clean sand or woodchips, (wich are the most normal reason for monitor deaths) :) (sorry for my English, my spelling aint the best ) I also have 2 panoptes egg in the incubator, they are due here for december :)

Awesome! Thanks for the tip! What other species do you breed?

no problem, most ppl in the EU are using soilmix for most reptiles know, because almost all you can buy, aint good for the animals. so please spread the word about soilmix :) they are the only one, but when i get a bigger home, im thinking of breeding V. Cummingis. but they need 5 square meters of floorspace and a pool and climping posebilities :)

Ich Herp What do you feed him? he is so beautiful.

Thanks Harry! He's definitely a fun little animal with lots of character. I like to share those antics with the world.

Thanks man! I really do the best I can to read his behaviors, and I learn something new each day. I'll update as often as I can.