info please....

[nguyen_inc]

I am planning on buying myself a new monitor after I come back from vacation. I narrowed my list down, blue tail or a mangrove monitor. For the past few weeks or so I been reading tons of care sheets about both species, but I would like to hear what you guys think about them. Has anyone worked with blue tails and/or mangroves before? Well, I would like to know which one of these would YOU guys recommend, and pros and cons of owning either of these species. Right now I am stuck between these two. Thanks in advance

[crocdoc]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think if you aren't really experienced with monitors (and the need for care sheets would suggest that), go for something captive bred rather than a wild caught animal. The two species you mention will almost be guaranteed to be wild caught and are flighty and nervous at the best of times. Have you considered a gouldii or acanthurus?

There are moral issues to consider, too. If you buy a single wild caught animal and keep it as a pet, you are just supporting the trade in wild caught animals. If you buy two and attempt to breed them, at least you have a chance to do your bit at reducing the trade (even if by a fraction) by producing captive bred animals. Consequently, if I were to get only one, I'd go for something that is already captive bred. That way I wouldn't be removing yet another animal from the wild gene pool.

[V.hb]

Go with a nice CB ackie!

[kap10cavy]

Care sheets, care sheets , care sheets!! Does anyone ever do any real research? Maybe read a book, not the kind you find in your local bookstore but, by people that accually study the animals in the wild and in captivaty! Too many beginner keepers write caresheets and post them online, the write what "they" use and think is right. It's not hard, figure out what animal you want to know about and do a search. The internet is a wonderful thing if you use it.

Scott

[nguyen_inc]

yea, I am looking for cb ones, if I don't find any I'll just wait till I find some. Most of the care sheets I was reading are from people who own some. I did think of getting ackies, but don't they live better in groups or something? I think I am very experienced for my age, and I know when I am going over my limits. This is what I am planning on doing, first buy one untill I get the use of taken care of the species then I'll buy another so its a pair then the breeding starts. That is what I did with my sav. monitors.... the gouldiis I see for sell are going for like 500 u.s. dollars, so I'm not sure if I will be planning on buying them.

[Lrptls]

(just an idea/suggestion) if you want to breed a species of monitor why dont you breed ackies, if they do infact do better in a group then you could have like a male and 2 females and that could be your small breeding group.

also, theres a show in Hamburg coming up (the 24th i believe) those shows always have EVERY THING, i realise its coming up fast but if you decide what to get by then you could go and probably find it cheap there.

[nguyen_inc]

I will think about it.... I am planning on buying the new addition after I come back from vacation because I really don't want my animals to be uncared for because I have so much animals for my pet sitter to take care of. I will be away for a month so yea...... yes the hamburg show is on the 24, are you going? I will most likey be going. If you see vietnames people there one of them will be me : )

[crocdoc]

Getting back to the captive bred/wild caught issue, the chances of you seeing any captive bred indicus or doreanus is going to be very slim (don't believe most dealers) and they certainly wouldn't be cheap if you did find any. That's why the gouldii you saw were expensive: they aren't wild caught.

The other issue with biggish active monitors is that the initial cost of the monitor itself will be a fraction of the cost of keeping it. By the time you set it up in a proper large enclosure and start feeding it regularly, whatever you paid for the monitor is going to pale by comparison. In other words, if cost is an issue, think beyond the price of the monitor itself, for even a cheap large monitor will cost a lot in housing and food.

Ackies can live on their own, but you'd miss out on most of the fun if you didn't try to breed them. The good thing about acanthurus is that you can keep a pair in an enclosure much smaller than you'd keep a single indicus or doreanus in and they'd be cheaper to keep and feed long term.

[nguyen_inc]

how about timors? I found some cb ones for a okay price. These people that is selling them are really well known and I bought from them before. ok now I will be reresearching on herps lol. I havnt seen any cb blues and mongroves so yea...

[crocdoc]

get ackies instead of timors. Are you absolutely sure the timors are captive bred? It's likely they aren't. Ackies are less shy, too

[V.hb]

Timors are very shy, you wont see them much. and if you do chances are you're stressing them out.. not my first choice, thats for sure.

[nguyen_inc]

oh ok, the sellers which I buy from says they are cb, but I'm not sure. I will ask them again. When I was at a pet store near my house, I checked out there monitors. I was holding a timor and a mangrove. Their mangrove was clawing my hand like crazy lol. This store is the best pet store here in Lancaster. The only thing I don't like about them is that they keep too much animals in one cage. Are ackies ground dwellers? hum.... I will do a search on them. Is there any difference between a red and yellow ackies, exp. for their color?

[crocdoc]

Colour is the main difference between red and yellow ackies.

I'd say the chances of the Timors being wild caught are high if they are in a petshop, even if the seller tells you otherwise. Can he supply the name of the person that bred them?

[nguyen_inc]

I emailed the people and this is what they said "We have had them for at least 4 months, we travel to many shows and buy from 100,s of breeders... As for them it would be impossible to figure out righ tnow" What do you think? I am most lilkly going to buy atlease a pair of ackies. Hopfully their prices will go down alittle..... Thanks for very thing everyone! You guys opened my mind to ackies.....lol.... How small are baby ackies btw?

[nguyen_inc]

hmmm peach thoats.. what do you guys think of them? how shy are they? someone said blue tails are pretty shy but i was holding one like it was one of my sav..... I was holding a blue tail yesterday, it was pretty cool.

[nguyen_inc]

im keeping my options open right now so for now any opinions are nice to know.

[dave68]

What about nile's, I myself love mine. If you luck out as we did they can make great pets. Ours is very gentle- except in his feeding frenzy-when he's suddenly a thrashing eating machine-
he's been around my 2 kids their whole lives as well as my cat and dog, and like I said earlier, he is very gentle and mellow.
Just my opinion though, one more suggestion for you. Good luck.

[nguyen_inc]

I love niles, what is a okay size for a cage? I am mostly looking for an aboral (speilling) or desert specis which doesnt need such a big enclosure. I see you like tokays too... Do you have any "tame" tokays?