Yo DK

[kap10cavy]

I have been looking for pics of wild argus and saw the pics of your trip. I bet it would have been better without the damn canetoads. Now for my question.
Do most argus live in lush vegetation?
The reason I am asking is because I just aquired a baby argus and want to do what I can to the cage I have to build to make it right.

Scott

[V.hb]

Hey Scott,
Don't most of the pet-trade argus come from new guinea? I think (not sure) there is a difference in the two methods of husbandry. I can recall reading on other forums about the various types of methods to keep argus's.. I am sure DK can clarify.

For my argus i keep him on leaf litter and dirt with tons of climbing aids, he seems to be pretty arboreal, but that may be due to his age, he's still young. They've gotta be hands down the funnest monitor ive ever kept! super active and inquisit. Always checking things out.

[crocdoc]

Originally posted by kap10cavy
I have been looking for pics of wild argus and saw the pics of your trip. I bet it would have been better without the damn canetoads. Now for my question.
Do most argus live in lush vegetation?
The reason I am asking is because I just aquired a baby argus and want to do what I can to the cage I have to build to make it right.

Scott

Actually, Scott, cane toads were the reason for the trip: They haven't yet reached the area we were visiting. So it was better without the cane toads. We drove through cane toad infested areas on the way and they were devoid of V panoptes , whereas in the area without toads we were seeing at least two or three a day without looking for them. In fact, on most days we weren't driving around during their most active period so if we did we'd have seen more.

Vhb was correct in that your monitors will be from PNG, not Australia, so I can't vouch for the habitat there. The ones in northern Australia are found in a wide variety of habitat, but if I had to pick a particular habitat that I have seen more in than any other, it would be grassy floodplains with the odd Pandanus stand.

They sure are comical animals in the wild. Full of character. Almost everyone one we saw was out in the open in the hottest part of the hottest days. When I say hot, I mean 38-44C. They'd often walk across the hot pavement on the tips of their toes, with their back arched and their tail held clear off the ground with the tip curled upward. Every now and then one would tripod in the distance to check out our approaching vehicle.

The V panoptes holes I found were in firm, sandy dirt near large tree roots or logs.