Monitor enclosure discussion thread

[crocdoc]

Lankyrob and Korbin, if you were to look at my original post on this topic, you'd see that it wasn't an all out bash but simply me trying to set Moe straight on whether deep substrate was something that's simply useful in captivity vs used by all monitors in the wild yet only observed by 'some'.

The post is at the top of this page:
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/varan...thread-11.html

Here's the original quote:

Originally Posted by crocdoc

Hmmm.... yes, no and maybe. A lot of husbandry has been based on what works in captivity and then extrapolated to the wild, rather than just being left at 'works in captivity'. Despite the claims of 'certain' people, a lot of people (including, dare I say it, scientists) have always known that some monitors burrow in the wild. The reality is that some monitors burrow in the wild, others don't. Others roost in trees, or in rock crevices. In captivity some of these will still happily sleep in burrows provided it meets their needs.

That was in response to this post by Moe:

Originally Posted by mo9e64

...alot of husbandry was based on was observations of monitors in the wild.The very fact you can't observe monitors underground,a large percentage of many monitors lives in the wild was ignored.A fault of humans is basing things on what they see,if they don't see it it's not important.Deep substrate is important not because it's just one approach but because it's a tool monitors use in the wild,even species people like to label as aquatic or arboreal.It's a tool for a monitor whether there from the desert or tropical forest.

It turned into a bashing because it simply didn't stop there. My attacks aren't against Moe - I think he's an alright guy, even if a bit misguided - but I don't even think he's aware that he's repeating someone else's nonsense, which is why I felt the need to point it out. I know that Moe has never seen monitors in the wild and I know which other forum he hangs around at and who the one person on that forum is that has actually seen monitors in the wild, so it's not hard to figure out where Moe got the idea that all monitors burrow in the wild, even the aquatic and arboreal species.

If not, then this is Moe's opportunity to set the record straight by listing online sources/publications/books/journals/or any-other-source from which he got that idea, as well as the idea that this burrowing by all species of monitor was observed by 'someone' after being ignored for so long because of an inbuilt fault in other humans.

I should also point out that, as much as I am bashing someone behind their back here, I have no qualms about confronting that same person on the one forum of which we are both members and have done so fairly recently.