I’ve always been a sucker for a big lizard. Like many reptile people from the 80s and 90s, my love of keeping started with a pair of green iguanas back in 1994. I originally wanted a Nile monitor because they were, in my best kid voice, “big and cool.” My mom felt like a Nile was a bit much for a 7 year old because of their history of being wild-caught and mean. Read: she didn’t want to have to take care of it if her seven year old daughter didn’t. So for my 7th birthday we ventured to the pet store for my first pair of reptiles.
My parents encouraged my herping hobby even though neither of them kept reptiles in captivity. My father was a K9 patrol dog trainer for the Houston Police Department specializing in aggressive cases. So naturally, I grew up with some “unfriendly” dogs. Compared to a 120 lb German shepherd, big lizards just didn’t rate high on the Scare-O-Meter and my want for a monitor never went away. Twenty-five plus years later… reptiles are still at the core of my being. Finally, I have the opportunity to keep my true dream animal – the Asian water monitor, Varanus salvator.
Fully grown salvators can reach 5-7 ft long on average, weighing in at 15-50+ pounds. That cute little bug-eyed hatchling will grow big, and with an attitude to match if left unsocialized. Fortunately, water monitors are highly intelligent. That intelligence eclipses the majority of other animal life, not just reptiles.
Even though water monitors have been bred in captivity for years, these reptiles are still very much wild animals at heart. Learn to speak their language and watch your relationship with these amazing lizards flourish.
Building Blocks
Part of the allure of owning water monitors is building trust. The best way to start your journey is with a captive-bred and born (CBB) hatchling. Wild-caught, juveniles, and adults are more likely to come with unwanted behavioral (not to mention parasitic) baggage. If you do find yourself owning a cantankerous adult monitor, these methods still work, just use more caution.
Ok – so you have your CBB hatchling. Now what? Baby salvators will likely fall into three main categories – fearful (flight), aggressive (fight), or rarely, curious (super rad) right out of the egg. Every individual has a different personality of course, but these basic types will point you in the right direction.
Fearful
Think like a lizard. You emerged out of an egg just a few weeks or months ago, giant scaleless creatures keep staring at you and trying to pick you up. Holy $h!t – RUN HIDE BURROW CLIMB AHHHH!
Hatchlings are low on the food chain and naturally fearful. It is your job to continually reinforce that you are not a threat by limiting your own predatory behaviors. No, this has nothing to do with white, unmarked vans and everything to do with body language. Avoid leaning forward or towering over your monitor, baring your teeth, staring at or facing directly, and making swift movements. All of these communicate, “I want to eat or challenge you.” Top tip: you can leave an item of your clothing in your new monitor’s enclosure to get them familiar with your scent.
Start the handling process by being present in the room and assume a neutral body position for 10-15 minutes each time. Sit next to the enclosure, preferably with your side or back facing your monitor. If space allows and they can still see you, use a submissive body position by lowering yourself under them while avoiding facing them directly. This communicates you are not a threat. You can then place your arm in the enclosure, taking care not to grab at the monitor. It needs to be the animal’s choice to climb on you.
Beyond just being present and using body language, food is an excellent motivator for an opportunistic feeder like your water monitor. If your animal is healthy and in a proper habitat, it’ll likely have a good appetite. Use that to your advantage and let the lizard associate food (good) with you (good).
When introducing food, start with simply being present when they eat. Many monitors will not eat in front of people at first; eating distracts them from being able to watch for predators or defend themselves. So don’t be discouraged if your monitor refuses food while you’re around. Sometimes wiggling the insect or rodent with tongs helps stimulate a feeding response.
Try to get your monitor to take feeders off of tongs from a distance. Once they are comfortable with that, try using the tongs to lure them near your outstretched hand. The goal is to make your monitor realize you are not a threat. Using food helps distract them enough they do not realize they’re touching you. Be sure to limit hiding places in case they bolt. Keep dogs, kids, background noise, etc. to a minimum.
Keep a close eye on your monitor’s body language to gauge your progress. Good signs a monitor is starting to calm down are tongue flicks, licking along the side of the mouth, and fluid movements instead of quick, jerky ones.
Negative body language signs are inflating the throat, standing tall, recoiling the tail, and sharp intake or exhale of breath. Also watch for freezing. This is when emotionally overloaded (flooded) monitors become so afraid they stop moving. No breathing, no movement, no tongue flicks…stiff as a board…eyes wide. A keeper could mistake this as “oh look, my baby is starting to like me because they aren’t running away!” Nope. That monitor is so afraid it stops functioning. So be careful not to push too far, too fast.
Repeat positive interactions daily until you see distrust develop into curiosity. Some monitors will come around over weeks or months, some might take years, some may never tolerate handling. I have a captive-born double het hatchling who to this day hates me, and would probably spit on my grave if given the chance. Time can be your friend, it breeds familiarity and sometimes you just have to wait until your monitor gets big enough that you do not seem so scary. Generally the bigger monitors get, the slower and more confident they get. Patience.
Aggressive
Often the difference between a fearful lizard and an aggressive one is the use of fight vs. flight. Biting and scratching throws a big ‘ol wrench into the taming process especially if you are working with a larger juvenile or adult.
Aggression comes in several flavors – puffing or inflating the neck and body to make themselves look bigger, hissing, front or side bluff charging, tail recoiling and whipping, scratching, and biting all to make you (the predator) go away. Top tip: try not to recoil. Once you give that inch, you open the door for an emboldened monitor to take a mile.
There seem to be two camps within the large reptile community – gloves or no gloves. I prefer not to use gloves in most cases, especially with hatchlings because gloves make your hands look bigger and more menacing, which in turn breeds more fear in the monitor.
On the flip side, monitor nails are naturally sharp for climbing and shredding prey. Scratches are a real issue. Mid-arm and elbow-length gauntlet gloves help to tremendously reduce having the “cutter” look. Where gloves can, and should, be used are with an aggressive monitor. One who not only hisses, puffs, and tail whips, but bites. Welders gloves are great for detering biting since they are so thick that you will feel bite pressure, but usually no teeth.
A water monitor bite on bare skin is no joke even from a hatchling! Their teeth are made for ripping flesh; unprotected fingers and hands stand little chance. If you do get bitten without gloves, *try* not to jerk your hand (or whatever body part) away from the bite. Your recoil will not only probably rip your skin further, but teach the smart little lizard brain that, “hey, biting makes this scary creature leave, maybe I should do it more…”
Curious
The lucky few of us will land a fairly bold, curious hatchling right out of the egg. Some breeders work with their CBB animals before sending them to you. Yes, for a first-time big lizard owner, socialized CBB hatchlings are worth the extra money to not have to trudge through some of the taming process yourself. And still potentially fail.
Always keep in mind that even with the best intentions, you’ll have setbacks. When working with monitors there is such a fine line between doing the right thing to show you are not a threat, and scaring the animal further. That’s why the process takes so long. Just remember, when you see a positive response, repeat, repeat, repeat! Make patience your best friend.
School is in Session
Now that you’ve tamed the beast the world is your oyster! Some keepers stop at this point and just enjoy the animal as it is. Or you can step into behavior modification and enrichment where the real fun of keeping salvators begins. Their intelligence is astounding. While there are entire books on animal behavior written by people far more learned than myself, I’d like to share some of my monitor behavior and enrichment methods to spur your own creativity with your monitor.
You’re Not My Mom! – Monitors have the ability to distinguish one person from another. Like dogs, they get used to certain people based on experiences and vary behaviors accordingly. Call me a crazy lizard lady, but I talk to my monitors not only because I enjoy calling them stinky-butts, but because science!
The last thing you want to do is make your monitor feel like prey. How do predators hunt prey? Silently. Don’t be silent. Surprises might be good for gift-giving, but not for a 7 foot salvator. Over time my endless chatter caused my monitors to associate my voice with the appearance of my body. I bring the food, I clean, and I let them explore new areas. All positive interactions which cultivate curiosity.
On the other hand, people who do not regularly interact with my skittish monitors get mostly negative behaviors out of them. Like a dog barking at an outsider, Jax greets others with a hiss or tail flick while Dex usually scurries off to hide.
Be My Tree – Along with being able to distinguish certain people, monitors seek out interactions with approved humans. As monitor keepers we capitalize on their natural curiosity for our own benefit and entertainment. Love and emotion in reptiles is a subject that gets tossed around a lot on the Internet. Do they actually feel love toward their keeper? Whether humans like it or not, a monitor’s interaction with us is likely to fulfill needs like hunger and exploration.
For example: My boy Dexter will roam around his room, come over to me, and climb up just to perch on my head or shoulders to get a better view of the room. He doesn’t want to spend time with me out of love, he wants to explore. I become more of a moving tree at that point, and I’m fine with being upgraded from predator to tree!
The Conditioned Lizard – Monitors can recognize and use humans for their benefit, now it is time to put that curiosity into practice. The key with such instinctual reptiles is to base your training off of natural behaviors like climbing, feeding, etc.
I’ve had success teaching my water monitors that offering my hand means they get to come out of the enclosure. This target training technique draws on operant conditioning, which is the practice of associating a behavior with a reward (or punishment). My end goal was for the monitor to come out of the enclosure to explore (reward) when they placed a foot in my hand (target).
I started the training process by tapping on the door frame to get their attention. The sound in itself meant nothing at first, just a tap. As their natural curiosity took over, they’d come over and investigate. Each time I offered my hand for them to climb on. Only when they put a foot in my open hand were they allowed out of the enclosure. If they walked past my hand I wouldn’t let them come out (easier said than done).
At first, putting their foot in my hand was a convenient accident. After many repetitions of tap + foot in hand = out, tap + foot in hand = out, and so on, the monitors associated my open hand with the only way to get out of their enclosure. Find what your salvator wants, and have them perform a behavior to get it. Does your monitor lunge at you thinking you have food every time it sees you (beware if you are a rat)? You can use target training to quell a monitor’s strong feeding response.
Secure a ball (large enough the animal can’t swallow or break) on the end of a dowel. This is the target. Introduce the ball on a stick every time you feed. The goal is to get your monitor to touch their face to the ball to be fed. No ball, no food. Like the foot-in-hand to get out of the enclosure, nose-to-ball equals food.
This kind of behavior modification is always a work in progress and must continually be repeated. I’ve had my share of setbacks and you will too; nothing worth working towards is easy. Keep going!
Time for Recess – If behavior modification training feels too complicated at first, maybe dip your toe in by adding in enrichment to their environment. This can take the form of objects or structures the animal can interact with inside of the enclosure. After all, captive monitors spend most of their time in their enclosure. Habitat enrichment lets them use their natural curiosity. Similar to children who do not get recess, a bored monitor can be foul-tempered and destructive.
Interior Decorating – I use both reptile safe fake plants and pesticide-free processed live plants for my water monitors to lay amongst, or more often, pick at and dig up. Plants give natural hiding spots while keeping up humidity and generally liven up the enclosure. Speaking of digging, substrate for your monitor to root and dig in is a great, cheap way to enhance their habitat. Having an area to dig is especially important for females who can lay infertile eggs as they reach breeding age.
Add in sturdy, but thin natural branches leading to key places within the enclosure. These skinny branches force the monitors to use more muscle groups to balance and grip. Natural branches, with the help of cement blocks, bricks, and rocks, can keep wicked sharp monitor claws filed down.
Toy Time – Us monitor keepers generally aren’t a squeamish crew, so I think you’ll find the following true scenario quite humorous. Imagine having a treat ball made for dogs. Yep, the big rubbery ones with holes. Instead of cramming it full of boring, hard dog treats, you get the opportunity to shove insects, chicken giblets, or frozen thawed feeders inside for your monitor to discover and eat. How fun!
All joking aside, supervised play time with treat balls and other dog toys is a great way for your water monitor to exercise instinctual hunting and foraging behaviors. Play toys force monitors to engage both mind and body to discover how to free their food by rolling, clawing, or shaking the object. Always use toys larger than your monitor can swallow, and tough enough to withstand their hungry fury.
With patience and time, the possibilities are endless. Water monitors are highly rewarding to keep and can be an absolute joy as long as you work on properly socializing them from the start. Remember consistency is key and patience is crucial.
After all – big doesn’t have to be bad.
