My Collection Post Leaving Venomous Hobby

[Najakeeper]

Let's start with #1 Varanus sp. "samarensis" from Philippines

I have been researching for a large pet lizard since about 2003 but I have never had the space and/or time for one due to my venomous hobby.

Well, since I had to "mostly" give up on venomous (Related thread here) my collection got reduced to 1/3 of it's former size and on top of that I have this huge cage that I prepared for the King Cobra, I went for it.

The animal I got is a male Philippine Water Monitor. It is from the Varanus salvator complex but taxonomy here is a mess so some call it Varanus cummingi, others Varanus samarensis etc. Regardless of what he is, this is a captive bred male and one of the two first legal imports to Europe. I didn't get the female as I only have space and time for one.

Captive bred large monitors are very nice animals to work with as due to their intelligence, they get "tame" very easily. Normally they start skittish but get more docile with daily interaction however this boy already started quite docile and I hand feed him so he is super comfortable with me as you can see in the photos (middle of the day, animal quite warm.)

This is a different mindset from snakes as they require more care. Almost daily feeding, daily interaction, keeping an intelligent and curious animal entertained etc. I think this is something that can grow up with my family...

Let's see...

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Striking colors, man.

 

[JAG2469]

He is beautiful

 

[awiec]

Saddened to hear that we won't get more updates on the King but this guy is just as cute.

 

[Travis K]

What's the max size an that guy and how much did you have to lay down for him?

 

[Najakeeper]

Striking colors, man.

He is beautiful

Agreed guys!

Saddened to hear that we won't get more updates on the King but this guy is just as cute.

Yeah, I have missed the little guy already.

What's the max size an that guy and how much did you have to lay down for him?

I would say he can grow to be around 150cm full grown max. with the tail but this is one of the smaller subspecies so I am hoping 100-120cm. About a €1000 in trade value as he is quite rare coming from Leyte, Philippines.

 

[Najakeeper]

Here is a longer video of him:

 

[Sajaha]

He's a handsome guy! Having a monitor hopefully will take up a good chunk of time you're used to giving to your collection. Closing one door let's open a new realm of possibilities and beginnings, look forward to seeing your post venomous collection!

 

[viper69]

Naja..wow, nice acquisition! Nice to see young monitor, they are all so cute at that size. If only they stayed small.

Does their juvi coloring remain into adulthood, the yellow is quite NICE!

 

[Najakeeper]

Naja..wow, nice acquisition! Nice to see young monitor, they are all so cute at that size. If only they stayed small.

Does their juvi coloring remain into adulthood, the yellow is quite NICE!

I am glad he will grow up to be a giant, that's when they are so impressive .

The thing with these is the yellow intensifies.

 

[pannaking22]

Beautiful creature! Hope you enjoy having the little guy around and that he grows up into a gorgeous adult!

 

[Najakeeper]

Beautiful creature! Hope you enjoy having the little guy around and that he grows up into a gorgeous adult!

Thanks!

Big step today as he climbed up my hand from his cage without food.

 

[Najakeeper]

Post venomous collection items #2 and #3

1.1 Morelia viridis from Kofiau Island, Indonesia

Male: Yellow individual, 2016 import, farm product. Has sub-dermal bumps due to parasites, which are dead now. Apparently these bumps will stay unless they are surgically removed but gets barely noticeable when the animal is full grown. He is small now and should be ready to breed 17/18 with decent feeding I assume. I hope he stays yellow

...

Female: Green individual with yellow belly scales. She was supposed to be yellow most of her life but changed color but no photos so who knows. 2015 import, has been in captivity for over a year.

Both fed immediately and have been feeding since I got them on frozen/thawed mice and rats so no feeding problems at all. I am excited for these guys.

Male just shed so here are some post shed photos as well:


With flash

Without flash:

 

[Najakeeper]

I have called and cancelled my venomous snake permit today. It still was difficult...

To take away the tension, I filmed a quick Monitor Taming video:

 

[schmiggle]

Very nice! I thought green tree python juveniles were yellow (or sometimes maroon), and turned green as they reached adulthood. But either way, gorgeous animals.

 

[Najakeeper]

Very nice! I thought green tree python juveniles were yellow (or sometimes maroon), and turned green as they reached adulthood. But either way, gorgeous animals.

Normally yes but some locales produce animals with high yellow remaining after the color change and only the Kofiau Island produces totally yellow animals in some cases, which can incidentally turn green anytime in their adult life.

 

[Najakeeper]

Fed them yesterday, great eaters. I will have a nice video next week.

In the meantime:

A couple more stills from next week's video:

And here is the other new addition, a hypomelanistic Black headed python, Aspidites melanocephalus:

 

[Najakeeper]

So much progress with this guy...

He is eating great as most monitors do but he is super friendly as long as you don't have jerky movements, climbs on you when you open the cage door etc. I am amazed with the progress we had with daily interaction.

I have to be away for 7 days, let's see how he reacts when I come back...

 

[schmiggle]

Out of curiosity--does he always look for food when you're around? Or just sort of climb on you because of a "why not"?

 

[Najakeeper]

Out of curiosity--does he always look for food when you're around? Or just sort of climb on you because of a "why not"?

If he is close to the cage door, he climbs on me just to get out and about but I think a part of the Varanus brain is always looking for food anyway ....