Parthenogenesis in an Ornate Nile Monitor

[simpleyork]

I was doing some research for a class of mine and came across this article, thought it of some interest

http://www.varanidae.org/Vol4_No1_Hennessy.pdf

[infernalis]

I recommend any fan of monitor lizards to read all the available Biawak issues.

[murrindindi]

I`m not sure if that monitor is still alive today, but if so I hope the captive conditions have improved in the last 5 years, then again, if she was 10yrs old in 2008, perhaps "they" thought the conditions were supportive!? :eek:
This species hasn`t been bred too often in captivity anywhere.....

[simpleyork]

I do agree on the up keeping, poor girl. As far as Ornates go they are my Favorite, one of the reasons this article caught my eye in the first place.
My wife and I are now in the market of adding a few more to our collection in the hopes we will be able to have the chance of getting them to breed in the future.

[murrindindi]

I do agree on the up keeping, poor girl. As far as Ornates go they are my Favorite, one of the reasons this article caught my eye in the first place.
My wife and I are now in the market of adding a few more to our collection in the hopes we will be able to have the chance of getting them to breed in the future.


Can you put a few photos up of your Ornate monitors?
I kept one for 14 years, he died of a throat tumour 3 years ago.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5458/8952346979_f55e3b71e3_z.jpg

[simpleyork]

see what I can do this weekend,
I've been very envyious of that photo since I saw it, the only time my ornate will have anything to do with me is in the morning it'll wait at the glass till I bring the food to it. once the feeding is over it's off to basking, digging burrows, and wallowing in the water.
may I ask how long it took to reach that size, if you have any notes on it's growth that would be great.
I've got a rep show coming this weekend so I'll hopefing some more ornates there, if not I have found a place online to order some from.

[Vegasarah]

Can you put a few photos up of your Ornate monitors?
I kept one for 14 years, he died of a throat tumour 3 years ago.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5458/8952346979_f55e3b71e3_z.jpg

I know Django will never be tolerant of any kind of hands- on interaction like this, but a girl can dream... I can't wait till he's this big.

[simpleyork]

hows Django doing?
Just picked up a nile two weeks ago, and he is finally staying out when I come into the room. The day I bought him he inverted on me among other things. I do assume that the love hate relationship Godzilla my ornate and I have will be the same with Gigan my nile monitor and I

[murrindindi]

see what I can do this weekend,
I've been very envyious of that photo since I saw it, the only time my ornate will have anything to do with me is in the morning it'll wait at the glass till I bring the food to it. once the feeding is over it's off to basking, digging burrows, and wallowing in the water.
may I ask how long it took to reach that size, if you have any notes on it's growth that would be great.
I've got a rep show coming this weekend so I'll hopefing some more ornates there, if not I have found a place online to order some from.


I do have a growth record of the Ornate monitor, it was up in another forum but I can`t find it, the website was overhauled a while back, maybe it was deleted? I still have the complete record on paper, but it would take me forever to type it all out here, so to make it easier (for me), here`s a few details:

12th October 1996: 32.5cm ToL; SV= 125mm, TL (tail)= 200mm. I estimate he was just a few weeks old as the umbilical scar was still slightly visible.
12th Oct.. 1997: 122.5cm ToL
12th " " 1998: 183cm ToL
12th " " 1999: 202.5cm ToL
12th " " 2000: 214cm ToL
From here on his growth slowed right down, but it did still increase slightly each year until he reached 8 years old, then it all but stopped (225cmToL with approx. 4cm missing from his tail, which would have made him 7.5 feet).

[simpleyork]

thanks so much for taking the time, thats great information as is stands

[Vegasarah]

hows Django doing?
Just picked up a nile two weeks ago, and he is finally staying out when I come into the room. The day I bought him he inverted on me among other things. I do assume that the love hate relationship Godzilla my ornate and I have will be the same with Gigan my nile monitor and I

He's doing great. He's such a terror still. I moved him into a new enclosure and he' still cross with me for moving him out of his comfort zone. But he'll calm down and adjust soon I'm sure. Refusing to eat from tongs, every time I reach in the new tank he goes all defensive on me. I throw the feeders in there and come back five minutes later and they are all gone. He's such a pain :P

[simpleyork]

lol, know that feeling all too well, Godzilla has done it in the past during his enclosure moves.

building a 10'W 5' D 4' T for my ornate in the next week before the ground freezes (need to haul in a ton of dirt from the backyard) so I can move him out of his currant enclosure (as it is going to be for my nile, Gigan,poor fellow is quickly growing too large for his cage as well).

[Vegasarah]

lol, know that feeling all too well, Godzilla has done it in the past during his enclosure moves.

building a 10'W 5' D 4' T for my ornate in the next week before the ground freezes (need to haul in a ton of dirt from the backyard) so I can move him out of his currant enclosure (as it is going to be for my nile, Gigan,poor fellow is quickly growing too large for his cage as well).

PICS PLEASE! I love seeing new ideas for housing monitors! I had this crazy idea the other day of using a huge metal shipping container as an enclosure... now THAT would be cool... haha.

[simpleyork]

here's is one cage I built, Godzilla is housed in it right now. the larger will just be a larger version, maybe with a bathtub for water
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/varanid/94416-hootinanny-tinkerbell-updates-often-6.html

[Vegasarah]

here's is one cage I built, Godzilla is housed in it right now. the larger will just be a larger version, maybe with a bathtub for water
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/varanid/94416-hootinanny-tinkerbell-updates-often-6.html

My plan exactly!Bathtubs are awesome water features. I saw pics of Godzilla. He's a pretty!

[simpleyork]

he's doing great, though while smaller whipped and damaged the tip of his tail and some came off so I will never know his exact length.

here's some photos taken today
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/simpleyork/P1020763_zpsabdb5246.jpg (http://s1015.photobucket.com/user/simpleyork/media/P1020763_zpsabdb5246.jpg.html)

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/simpleyork/P1020764_zpsa5b1468a.jpg (http://s1015.photobucket.com/user/simpleyork/media/P1020764_zpsa5b1468a.jpg.html)

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/simpleyork/P1020765_zpsdefce36e.jpg (http://s1015.photobucket.com/user/simpleyork/media/P1020765_zpsdefce36e.jpg.html)

where the new cage will go
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/simpleyork/P1020767_zps27d76d20.jpg (http://s1015.photobucket.com/user/simpleyork/media/P1020767_zps27d76d20.jpg.html)

[Vegasarah]

He looks like he's ready to take you on!!! I swear I can never get a picture of Django where he's not sleeping or huffed up ready to do damage! No middle ground! Haha. I love it, though. Like I've always said- If I wanted to rescue something I could love and hold then I would have rescued a puppy not a Nile! :D

[simpleyork]

i've taken arm length bruises from him while cleaning his water out , hence the need for a large space for him.

[Vegasarah]

SPEAKING OF CUDDLY ANIMALS vs NON CUDDLY ANIMALS.....

CNN Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/09/27/dnt-nile-monitor-lizard-suspected-of-eating-cat.wftx)

Am I the only one that was like "Welllll...... a lizard's gotta eat...."?

[marvelfreak]

SPEAKING OF CUDDLY ANIMALS vs NON CUDDLY ANIMALS.....

CNN Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/09/27/dnt-nile-monitor-lizard-suspected-of-eating-cat.wftx)

Am I the only one that was like "Welllll...... a lizard's gotta eat...."?
I don't she seen a Nile that was big enough to eat a cat. If it was that big she would have been calling animal control. My guess is a gator got a hold of it.

[Pirarucu]

Godzilla's looking great, can't wait to see the cage completed.

[simpleyork]

thinking of trying to plant the cage he is in once I move him out of it to the larger one.
Been growing banana plants for awhile(only house plant that has made it in our home)
They grow like weeds, send off shoots and are quite robust, figure with the baby monitors they'll have time to grow and get established before the monitors trample them down. One can only hope. Besides I have more of these than I know what to do with.
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af276/simpleyork/Pic-09272013-001_zps50ba7ee7.jpg (http://s1015.photobucket.com/user/simpleyork/media/Pic-09272013-001_zps50ba7ee7.jpg.html)

[Pirarucu]

Definitely try it, it can be done despite what many people say. I have quite a few plants waiting to go... And I've gotten a few more since I took this picture.
http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p653/A-gigas/P1040423_zps8ce13296.jpg[/URL]

For what it's worth, I'd recommend looking into Lady and Bamboo Palms, Dracaena, Schefflera, and Philodendron bipinnatifidum. All get large and sturdy, and I would say they stand a good chance against a large varanid, once established. A large pothos or a Monstera deliciosa could work too.

[murrindindi]

he's doing great, though while smaller whipped and damaged the tip of his tail and some came off so I will never know his exact length.


Hi, can you take some pics of the tailbase in profile (not resting on anything), plus a couple of head shots,(from the side and top), and have you any idea how old the monitor is (and a "reasonable" estimate of ToL)?
Thanks!
If you show me his tail in closeup (towards the end, perhaps the last 6 inches) I might be able to say how much is missing (no promises).... ;)

[simpleyork]

I'll shoot some tomorrow if he lets me. He's around two years and as far as length somewhere around 43", grew like mad for the first year and had tapered off for some reason or another, even with daily feedings of the variety rats, chicks, snails, crawdads, and trout. may be that I just can't tell with the tail tip missing or not.

was up at the show today, and had a hand full of ornates to pick and choose from, left with two great looking buggers.

[infernalis]

I don't she seen a Nile that was big enough to eat a cat. If it was that big she would have been calling animal control. My guess is a gator got a hold of it.

This has been a discussion on the Varanidae groups and opinions are divided.

Firstly, the animal shown in the news clip is not the suspected animal, it is shown as "drama factor" (the reporter says "like this one" in the clip)

secondly, a fully grown Varanus niloticus that has been eating well, would have swallowed the cat whole unless it was an obese blob of a cat, and chances are if this woman has been letting her cat run outside all these years, it was likely trim and fit, so maybe a blood stain on the lawn or a splat on the side of the house would be far more indicative of a death shake.

Scattered bits on the lawn reek of another predatory animal, a lot of assumptions are being made and in this case, media sensationalism is likely present.

Video or it didn't happen.

[Vegasarah]

This has been a discussion on the Varanidae groups and opinions are divided.

Firstly, the animal shown in the news clip is not the suspected animal, it is shown as "drama factor" (the reporter says "like this one" in the clip)

secondly, a fully grown Varanus niloticus that has been eating well, would have swallowed the cat whole unless it was an obese blob of a cat, and chances are if this woman has been letting her cat run outside all these years, it was likely trim and fit, so maybe a blood stain on the lawn or a splat on the side of the house would be far more indicative of a death shake.

Scattered bits on the lawn reek of another predatory animal, a lot of assumptions are being made and in this case, media sensationalism is likely present.

Video or it didn't happen.

I laughed and agreed with all of this. Wayne- you are awesome. Hahahaha <3

[murrindindi]

I'll shoot some tomorrow if he lets me. He's around two years and as far as length somewhere around 43", grew like mad for the first year and had tapered off for some reason or another, even with daily feedings of the variety rats, chicks, snails, crawdads, and trout. may be that I just can't tell with the tail tip missing or not.

was up at the show today, and had a hand full of ornates to pick and choose from, left with two great looking buggers.


I have a feeling this may be a female? Obviously I`m only judging by a couple of photos, more shots of the head in profile (also from the top) might help, as will the tailbase pics.
This is only one individual animal, but mine was 6feet ToL at 24months, and quite often females can be slower growing as with yours.