Holy cow that's a strong tail! (and pics)

[Toothless]

Wish I would have gotten it on camera, but today Toothless wrapped the end of his tail around a fixed plant on his basking platform, and using just his tail lowered himself two feet onto the ladder below very gently. This is the first time I've seen him use his tail like that, and it was amazing to watch. I'm so glad I built his enclosure with lots of climbing opportunities and he seems to really use up all that space.
Anywho, here are a few photos I shot today. I just measured him and he's 15 inches SV and about 28-29 inches ToL (could get an exact measurement on the ToL). I never realized his tail was so long!
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/IMG-20130426-00875_zpse096597b.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/IMG-20130426-00875_zpse096597b.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/IMG-20130426-00870_zps6dad71ca.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/IMG-20130426-00870_zps6dad71ca.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/IMG-20130426-00868_zps434e47b7.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/IMG-20130426-00868_zps434e47b7.jpg.html)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/IMG-20130426-00867_zps6ac420a3.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/IMG-20130426-00867_zps6ac420a3.jpg.html)
And one from last week...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e310/gothicangel_69/IMG-20130420-00866_zps992fbaf6.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/gothicangel_69/media/IMG-20130420-00866_zps992fbaf6.jpg.html)

[infernalis]

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/varanid/98165-prehensility-tails-varanids-monitor-lizards.html

Glad you shared...

[Toothless]

I read that thread a little while back and found it very interesting- that thread was actually why I built my new enclosure with climbing oportunities. I wanted to see how much they actually would use the vertical space. My guy seems much more active and regularly uses all three levels in the enclosure.
It was amazing to watch when he lowered himself down. He stood at the edge of the ledge for a few moments and you could almost see his brain working on how to safely get down from there. He finally wrapped most of his tail around the base of the large fixed plant, and began lowering his body down from the ramp slowely by sliding his tail bit by bit off the plant. He must have been suspended by just his tail for at least 20-30 seconds while he manuvered his body into a good position to set down on the ladder below.
Scared the crap out of me at first because I thought he was going to jump down and hurt himself (its a 3 foot drop from that ledge-two feet if you hit the ladder). I should really give him more credit than that. He's much too smart to blindly jump off a 3 foot ledge.