I did it!

[dean_h00]

Originally posted by SHvar
Yes a water can get 6-10 ft plus

lol
find me a 10 foot water in captivity... No wait find me more than 1.
Yes thats a pretty hard mission...

[jungleshadows]

What happened to?

Originally posted by BoidsUnlimited
Not good

I'm not gonna rush into something like a Water though. So it will be awhile, and when it comes, it will be a CBB Baby.

Originally posted by BoidsUnlimited
As do I Jeff.

Not only are Water Monitors a LARGE animal that needs GREAT care. But if we can stop supporting the WC industry, then it will be alot harder for people to attain such animals.

IE - The Nile Monitor

Thanks,

B.U.

[SHvar]

99% of monitors die in their first 1-12 months in captivity, whats left is the slightly healthier animals that never seem to grow normal (8 inch to 2 ft boscs, 12 inch to 3 ft niles, 12 inch to 3 ft waters, etc etc, some at 2-3 years old). There are many examples of large monitors in captivity but the majority of those get sold or given to someone who would have one of the former sized or aged hatchlings because they want a big monitor without out spending all of the blood, sweat, tears, effort, money, to grow them that big. They end up never getting that big anyways because now the owner that put the effort into it needs the room so gets rid of them unloads them on someone who cant keep them alive for 3 months. Why do you think the 10 footers were caught in the wild? Bad husbandry, and impulse buying causes them to stay small, and never grow old. Yes they can grow to 10ft long or more, thats proven. Just because a few grow big and most grow very little doesnt mean that the big ones were cared for wrong, it obviously indicates the opposite. I still think buying price directly effects 90% of monitors options and quality of care in captivity, if not we would be tripping on bosc and nile monitors every time we took a step in this country.

[kap10cavy]

I plan on buying him/her a nice 20 gallong tank (its only a baby) just temporarily, while I fix up the custom 4x2x2 I have from my Burms.

I wouldn't put a baby sav in anything smaller tham a 40 gallon breeder. That 4X2X2 is going to be too small. My savs live in a 12X4X3. Maybe I'm just spoiling them.

Scott

[jungleshadows]

Shvar,

do you think all waters in the wild get 10 foot or have that potential? Clearly that is not the case.

If 10 foot is the record then it is the exception not the rule.

However it is true most in captivity do not reach their potential due to poor husbandry. But to put a size on them for a certain date, whether that be a yearling, or adult and say it is the rule. (i.e. they must be 7 foot at 2 years of age, or 10 foot as adult or they are un healthy). Well that is nonsense and silly.

[SHvar]

Some waters just never grow no matter what. Normal growth from (blank) size to (blank) size is one thing, but to say that its normal for 8 inch 2 yr old savannah, etc etc is just plain not wanting to face the facts that there are serious problems. Yes examples of smaller subspecies, local varieties etc happen (banded WTs, smaller island varities of waters, mangroves, and all of that jazz), but theres a difference between normal growth and " hey, serious changes are needed fast". Im not putting a date on how fast they can grow to 10ft am I, I said that they can normally grow from 6ft to over 10ft if kept properly. I have a dwarf albig cross that was 2ft long at 2 years old and 2lbs, in one years time he grew to 4ft and 10lbs, does that mean I was doing something wrong? In fact the guy who bred him and raised him to that point told me he couldnt get him to grow no matter what, but I did, why, I just offered him a bit better husbandry or choices I guess. Im in no way taking anything away from the Faust as hes a very very knowledgeable and experienced breeder of monitors. If they can do it in the wild, they can do it faster and better in captivity, common sense, right?

[Steeve B]

Sins you guys are talking about size! Id like to share something interesting that iv experienced in the last 3 years, I raised groups of ornatus and salvator’s from hatchlings, these animals are destined to be genitors for my leather production and not for the pet trade, as expected we provided the waters with larger caging as they are supposed to grow bigger, well not the case! All my ornatus grew larger then any of my waters.
This was totally unexpected for several reasons, first literature says they are smaller then waters, next studies have shown that most TL monitors to be in the range 140m with few exceptions 190m-2m. I was puzzled about why my monitors grew bigger then all that was documented, therefore a friend (Biologist) and I investigated the possible cause, it became quit clear that African monitors are subjected to seasonal temperature variation and therefore feed accordingly and quit often will either aestivate or hibernate, this in turns slows growth considerably, its not rare for captives to mature in the 5-6 year range and common for wild to do so, however if provided with heat and food they grow like weed none stop attaining record size in a year time. As captive they have a stronger feeding response and will bask at much higher temps then waters, this alone promote rapid growth. Today if someone asked me witch of these species grew bigger, id have to say ornatus, furthermore I believe Tanzanian niloticus will be even larger, this I will see soon enough.

[BoidsUnlimited]

Well I was gone for awhile.

Upon reading a reply here, I checked into the status of the monitor I ordered.

They are infact, WC/CH imports.

I canceled my order, and will be getting a CB Salvator somewhere else, or a CH Nile.

I notice alot of ?'ing posts.....I understand people are concernced for the animal and all. But I assure you, I WAS one of those who bought not knowing/reading on what they were getting. That time has passed and is not returning. Anything I buy, has or HAD extensive research put into it.

Thanks for the concerns though!

PS - Cute pic Steeve!