(Varanus ornatus) Ornate "Nile" Monitor

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TATF stands for Tanzanian African tiger fish.
 
Frank Castle said:
C Chicxulub I have owned them and they don't ALL tame down, Bro. I agree mostly what you are saying, but the same could be said for my Anacondas......I had 2 females tamed and docile, and had my male for 10 years he NEVER tamed down. He would bite you and that was guaranteed. I worked with large constrictors for better than 25 years and I'm not too shabby at it, and this one just would NOT stop being psychotic.

Just like my Nile, just like a vast majority or Spectacled Caimans, Cuban Crocodiles, many Kingsnakes and so on. Everyone who has kept a variety of different reptiles or even had a mean one that was supposed to be nice can fairly agree that just like people, there's always some bad apples out there.

My recommendations were for the safety of the owner and I was covering all bases because people who own animals that are large, aggressive and potentially dangerous need to understand the capabilities of the Forces of Mother Nature. You can't tame everything, especially cold-blooded animals. Dude, we haven't even technically domesticated CATS.

I speak from the stand-point of someone who has taken every precaution and spent my entire life working with animals like monitors, crocodilians, constrictors, venomous snakes, and too much more to list in a post - and many of the thoughts I have typed are hindsight while I'm in the hospital getting stitched up or worse. You can not go into something like owning an animal like that without understanding the risk and what it can do to you. To do so otherwise would be foolish, reckless, and possibly even dangerous, Sir.

Cheers.

What is TAFT stand for?
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Aye, they can be dangerous. However, advocating this type of husbandry to someone who has recently acquired a neonate GUARANTEES that as it grows, the animal will become dangerous, plain and simple.

One needs to socialize with the animal and develop a trusting relationship with it. Should that fail, then the methods you've advocated become a necessity. However, with a neonate, time and patience, there is absolutely no reason to believe that it is an inevitability.

EDIT- also, please note that at the time that this thread was created, the polyphyletic nature wasn't understood; the paper was only published a couple of months ago. While Varanus ornatus was rendered invalid, there are still two undescribed races that could potentially qualify for speciation via allopatry included in this species complex along side of Varanus niloticus sensu stricto.
 
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C Chicxulub ya, I definitely told him to handle it everday as a juveNILE lol (reptile humor), so I thought I covered all the angles, my point was though, that nothing will uarantee it WON'T become nasty, as all the Niles I ever seen were. I had a juvenile that was always mean, and a rescue at 32" that was only calm when he was fully submerged (except the head), and he still bit me anyway while in the water! I worked with him for several years until his death at about 15 years old, and nothing seemed to work. I had better luck taming my Alligator and Spectacled Caiman than that miniature Kaiju.

As far as classification, I must have missed several revisions because Varanus niloticus ornatus was already classed back in 1999-2000 when we started seeing them for sale, so feel free to enlighten me on the nomenclature changes and updates, as I wasn't aware there were changes in the past 15 years.......which apparently changed right back to what it was in the beginning lol


Cheers.
 
I should probably have specified that the restraints won't be necessary UNLESS it becomes large and aggressive. There's no reason for them in it's younger years.

My mistake, I dind't realize I left that a grey area.
 
Frank Castle said:
As far as classification, I must have missed several revisions because Varanus niloticus ornatus was already classed back in 1999-2000 when we started seeing them for sale, so feel free to enlighten me on the nomenclature changes and updates, as I wasn't aware there were changes in the past 15 years.......which apparently changed right back to what it was in the beginning lol


Cheers.
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V. niloticus ornatus became V. ornatus, based on sympatric niche selection. There was later a molecular DNA study done that showed that V. ornatus was in fact a junior synonym of V. niloticus. Interestingly though, this study also showed through molecular studies that V. ornatus wasn't valid in it's previous distinction of niche based sympatry, there are in fact three distinct lineages currently under the niloticus/ornatus clade that are about eight million years divergent, distinct enough for speciation via allopatry.


Frank Castle said:
I should probably have specified that the restraints won't be necessary UNLESS it becomes large and aggressive. There's no reason for them in it's younger years.

My mistake, I dind't realize I left that a grey area.
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That was the reason I called you out. It sounded like you were advocating treating the animal like that straight out of the egg.

You're still an unknown factor here, and I'll admit that I'm feeling you out.
 
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Chicxulub said:
V. niloticus ornatus became V. ornatus, based on sympatric niche selection. There was later a molecular DNA study done that showed that V. ornatus was in fact a junior synonym of V. niloticus. Interestingly though, this study also showed through molecular studies that V. ornatus wasn't valid in it's previous distinction of niche based sympatry, there are in fact three distinct lineages currently under the niloticus/ornatus clade that are about eight million years divergent, distinct enough for speciation via allopatry.




That was the reason I called you out. It sounded like you were advocating treating the animal like that straight out of the egg.

You're still an unknown factor here, and I'll admit that I'm feeling you out.
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It's all good, brother....I noticed it AS I posted the one prior to the quoted #35, so I wanted to clarify. Sorry for the confusion. lol I'm loyal to a fault.

davenmandy said:
Better he feels you out than feels you up, am I right?
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How do you know I already haven't lol :D
 
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The monitor has since been traded....didn't have time for it's as I had a full grow Savannah Monitor at the time and multiple tanks over 200 gallons. My new plans are to get a Varanus salvator or a blackthroat Now that I have more time to care for them properly.
 
that_fish_Guy said:
The monitor has since been traded....didn't have time for it's as I had a full grow Savannah Monitor at the time and multiple tanks over 200 gallons. My new plans are to get a Varanus salvator or a blackthroat Now that I have more time to care for them properly.
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Both of those are much more easily managed than niloticus or ex-ornatus. FWIW, spend the money and get a CBB neonate. It's truly worth the money IMO.
 
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