I held Toothless today!!!

[Toothless]

YAY!!! I'm so excited I finally got to hold the big guy!
He was scratching at the doors, so I figured I'd open them up and see what would happen. He crawled right onto my hand and up my arm :D. Unfortunately I was wearing a T-shirt, so now I have claw marks up my arms, but it was well worth it!!
Man though- that guy is heavier than I thought! I have to get a scale to see how much he weighs.

I've decided I want a pair of rabies glove for christmass :).

[infernalis]

congrats.... the patience is paying off.

[murrindindi]

Hi, it would be great if you can get a length and mass measurement. I take it you didn`t film/photograph him climbing on you, can you take a pic of the scratches on your arm so we all know you weren`t dreaming?? :D
Keep it up, it will hopefully get easier and easier to have some physical contact (and yes it is important the animal knows that that isn`t going to cause any harm), there are times when handling may be very necessary.

[Toothless]

Unfortunately I didn't get a video or pic. Both my hands were occupied and I was the only one home (besides the baby but he hasn't quite mastered photo taking yet:wacky:).
I'll take a photo of the scratches tonight. They're not bad, but if he would have actually dug his nails in it would have hurt alot more. I was a bit nervous as I didn't have my usual over mitts on, but he was very well behaved and even let me lower him down into his enclosure afterwards and calmly walked off my arm.

I'm going to make a point to try interacting with him at least a few times a week if he wants to. I'd like to get him into the vet next year, so would like him to become a bit more comfortable with handling.

I'll leave the camera by the enclosure so I can hopefully get a pic next time :). I'll try to get an up to date length measurement and maybe pick up a scale in the next few weeks.

[Toothless]

Here's a photo of my arm :). As you can see, the scratches arn't that bad, but this was just from him sitting on my arm.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3296_zps5f0a8c8a.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3296_zps5f0a8c8a.jpg.html)

And some more photos just for fun. I was hoping to get him out again, but he didn't want to be touched so we had our usual conversation instead.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3293_zpsb873b799.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3293_zpsb873b799.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3294_zpsac98192c.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3294_zpsac98192c.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3299_zps447b0634.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3299_zps447b0634.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3300_zps4cb964d7.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3300_zps4cb964d7.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3301_zps6e62a9d1.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3301_zps6e62a9d1.jpg.html)

[mdfmonitor]

i know what that 2nd pic was telling you!! :)

keep it going!! :)

[Toothless]

i know what that 2nd pic was telling you!! :)

keep it going!! :)

Haha!! You're right. That's his 'back off or i'll wack you' look. He doesn't like the camera.

[Toothless]

Not as good as the other day, but I got a foot on my hand :).
DSCF3317_zps3d4233b9.mp4 Video by gothicangel_69 | Photobucket (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3317_zps3d4233b9.mp4.html)
I sprayed the enclosure down today- which means Toothless is now playing in the mud. I also noticed I need to seal up a gap at the top of the ladder as roaches keep getting in there and hiding. Anything I can possibly use without having to remove Toothless and vent the enclosure? I could try to plug it up with chunks of wood :).
I also grabbed a few clippings of my mother's fig-tree yesterday. Hoping to grow them up and stick them in pots around the enclosure. I'd like to get at least two that grow to a decent size for when I build a bigger enclosure. My place is not bright enough for anything to grow, so hoping they fair ok inside the enclosure.
DSCF3325_zps926a42ce.mp4 Video by gothicangel_69 | Photobucket (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3325_zps926a42ce.mp4.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3318_zps07051f4d.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3318_zps07051f4d.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3319_zps4068381b.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3319_zps4068381b.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3320_zps120d2ec3.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3320_zps120d2ec3.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/DSCF3322_zps82f91d26.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/DSCF3322_zps82f91d26.jpg.html)

Still havn't gotten a length measurement. Hoping to get one when I feed him today.

[Toothless]

I got a semi-acurate measurement today of a touch over 3 feet. I think he's only grown an inch max in the past few months. I had to take a mental picture of where his head and tail were in the enclosure while he was stretched out, then come back later to measure so it may be a bit off.
His shed rate has decreased quite a bit, so I am thinking he may be almost done growing??

[murrindindi]

I got a semi-acurate measurement today of a touch over 3 feet. I think he's only grown an inch max in the past few months. I had to take a mental picture of where his head and tail were in the enclosure while he was stretched out, then come back later to measure so it may be a bit off.
His shed rate has decreased quite a bit, so I am thinking he may be almost done growing??


Hi, I think I mentioned either here or on one of the other forums that if you can measure either the SV or tail length then double either of those it will be quite close to the ToL.
I don`t think the monitor has finished growing just yet, they do slow right down at times then start to increase again after a few months. Perhaps they carry over what would happen in the wild during periods of lesser activity (even though they`re usually kept at "optimum" levels on a daily basis in captivity).