i have a 6month old savannah monitor named duke... we recently introduced him to our two cats. They get allong great. Duke is very tame and social and loves any attention he can get. He is roughly 27 inches long (even opponent with the cats) and i was wondering about the process of house training (letting him roam free). my main concern is, wnen i go to pick him up after "play time" with the other pets, he hisses at me very loudly but wont bite (at least not yet). i have many questions so pleas tell me any helpful information regarding my troubles. Thanks! -tyler PS. i dont come in here very frequently, you may e-mail me at dragonmann7@hotmail.com. I greatly appriciate it
sorry, to lazy to email you. if you want something solved, there's the opportunity cost, so come here again i think he's just a playful lil lizard. i think that you might be shock him a lil bit when you go pick him. should do it softer, rub him first a few times, then handle him. and i think h will get used to it that his time is up lol and i dont think that house training is a good idea. anyone can accidentaly step up and crush him, so better not. hope this helps
House roaming isn't healthy for monitors. They need the certain temperatures and humidity to function properly.
I totally agree. We had a recent case on here of a sav dying of severe kidney failure and liver problems. Due to the fact it was allowed to "free roam" and didnt get the correct temperatures for digesting it's food etc. It needs to be caged 99.9% of the time in a suitable size tank with digging facilities and hides. You are also putting it AT RISK as well as the cats of cross infections. Your lizard can cope naturally with such things as Salmonella, E-Coli in small quantities and much less, Cryptoporidia, Camylabacter, Coccodia, your cats cant either. Sav's are solitary animals and do not need playmates. The behaviour he is displaying is STRESS and will only get worse if you continue allowing them to mix. By all means allow it some free roam time but on it's own. You really must stop thinking about what YOU want it to do and think about what the Sav NEEDS, if you dont then expect a sick sav down the road. Do not expect many emails, the object of a forum is to share experiences and suggestions and advice with everyone. I'm also moving this topic down into the correct forum, you may get a few more replies on here.
Hi Tyler, just as Wearentfree and Bruno suggest the idea of houseroaming/ friendly savs is very outdated and frequent/prolonged exposure to unsuitable temps/humidity can drastically reduce their life span. When you stroke your cats they will lean into your hand and close their eyes because they enjoy it and sometimes it appears the same when you stroke say an iguana or monitor but is actually the lizard protecting its eyes and kind of "playing dead " because its stressed and wants to be left alone .The "puppydogtame " sav myth comes from the days of usually short lived savs being kept at low basking temps (maybe 90-110 f ) which makes them easy to handle but causes serious health problems . Bipolar savs ? Yeah , pretty much ! By just doing regular maintenance/feeding etc and acting as erm "unpredatorlike" as possible (like not grabbing him or digging him from his hides ) your sav will learn that you are just a big stupid but harmless animal and -may - ignore you, tolerate you (usually while theres food ),and possibly occassionally use you as a convenient object to climb on ! Great. Then if you accidently startle him/her your sav may go into a mad panic and revert to hating you and giving you " that sav look " and you have to start all over again .Of course it takes something quite extreme to startle them - like your shadow or someone who smells different entering the room .Savs are awesome at sulking lol . For good realistic examples of monitors interacting with humans look on youtube and type in- Crocdoc - and check out his lace monitors using his arm to climb from their cage , and - MdfMonitor - to see sav/human interaction during feeding . Hope some of this info is useful , all the best, Andy
Regarding my previous post about good youtube sav/monitor videos ,if you do watch them be aware that clueless morons who know nothing about monitor care are only one mouseclick away ! Loads of unhealthy "dogtame" savs on youtube !haha Andy
Monitors need to have certain levels of humidity and higher temps. I don't recommend letting it walk around the house all day. I let my monitor walk around supervised for an hour or so when I am around, but there are several areas he could get into and hurt, or get stuck or lost. I also wouldn't allow your cats and monitor to play together. Monitors don't need play mates and both your cats and monitor could hurt each other if they wanted. Cats claws are so filthy that even a scratch can kill by infection and well a monitors mouth is so packed with bacteria, it could be like wise if it got a hold of a cat. The hissing is normal when picking it up to put it away. It's excited to be out of it's enclosure and doesn't want to go back. Your monitor doesn't want to be disturbed, you may experience tail whipping if it begins to get stressed out. It's your monitors way of warning you to leave it alone. Plus, your monitor is still young and going through a "teenage" phase where...its moody and more aggressive. Again, very normal, just like a changing and hormonal teenager. With proper handling and care your monitor should grow out of this phase within another year or so. But brief, supervised times walking around the house with your monitor (especially if you live up north where winters too cold to go outside) are a very good form of exercise and healthy mind stimulation.
Personally I agree with everyone so far. Loki is allowed out of his tank during feeding and bath time and I often let him have a wander around my room supervised. Sometimes if it is a nice day even in the garden. Unfortunately at the moment we are moving house and I'm in a temporary house where his 6x4x4 enclosure will not fit so he is in his old slightly smaller tank so I have been allowing him out a little more than usual for exercise. Soon our house will be sorted and he will be back in his large tank chilling around and plotting ways to escape! However I do not keep him out longer than half an hour due to temps. He may be getting the exercise but the heat is an important part in their digestive system. As for the hissing, it is a warning. Loki rarely hisses anymore, occasionally when something spooks him like a loud noise he will puff out, hiss and if you approach him hiss louder. I leave him to it let him calm down and offer him some food and he is back to friendly enquisitive Loki again! Take the hissing as a blessing, last time Loki was at the vets for his check up I had to try and hold him still. Once they get to 3 feet that gets quite tricky!. Loki decided he would show me one of his other lovely defense mechanisms, releasing his anal gland, not a very pleasant smell I tell you!
