Meet Monster

[chadk]

Background info here:
http://tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Another-rescue-sort-of?highlight=monster

Monster is settling in fine. I'll post pics of his new home I'm building in my garage in a month or 2. For now, he is in one of my large tort tables, enhanced to meet his needs as best I can for now.

He loves eating my slugs and snails. We have tons of them available here in the PNW, so my boxies and Monster will have free fresh meat most of the year. He also eats Dubia Roaches, rabbit, mice, rats, fish, chicken, and sometimes a little cat or dog food. But I try to stick with whole food items as much as possible.

 

[Missy]

Wow monster is handsome.

 

[TylerStewart]

Sexy beast.... Black throats are eventually on my "to-do" list.

 

[chadk]

He's definately a cool critter.

At the pet store, he was much more layed back. But I think that was because (not sure, just theory) that they did not have hot enough basking spot for him. Now that I have a good hot basking spot for him, he has much more of an attidude and random bad temper you expect from your typical monitor. Nothing terrible, just some hissing, puffing, and once in a while a good tail slap to the side of the enclosure when I walk by. He's used to being handled, but with his new found attitude (also attributed to the stress of a new home!), I treat him with extra respect and handle as little as possible for now.

The new home will be built in to my home office that will be in the 3rd bay of my garage. He'll have run of the office while I'm gone, and can hang out with me while I work in there. But I'll have an area I can lock him in if he is naughty...

 

[jensgotfaith]

What a beauty!

 

[wpk]

Beautiful animal. That would definitely keep my mother from dropping by my place!

 

[ChiKat]

What a cool dude!

 

[Isa]

Monster is very cute

 

[Madortoise]

I want to be licked by his blue tongue! Ha!

 

[Tom]

CHAD!!! I completely missed this the first time around. Congrats. You know I have seven of these around that size, right? My friends have two more. We must keep in touch about this. I'm trying to put together some breeding pairs, but I only know the sex of three males out of the nine. Have you seen hemipene eversion during defacation yet? So are you keeping him? You can send him down here to me, if not. I'll have my second set of cages set up in the next couple of weeks. I think you've seen the first set:
http://tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Finished-Giant-Lizard-Cage-Pics
Second set will be three feet narrower, but eight feet longer.

About his behavior. Totally normal for the species. They usually stay a little hissy like that forever. Strangely, they are very bite inhibited. Sunshine supercharges them and tends to make them "hotter" and so does freedom to roam around. Maggie visited this weekend and my biggest one bapped me upside the head while I was showing them to her.

 

[chadk]

I don't know the sex for sure. Just what the guys at the store told me. And they probably have no clue... And then from what I've read, there can be some confusing things popping out that might look like a hemipene, so I don't know how much that will help... Have yet to see any pics online that can help with sexing. If you know of any, let me know

I haven't been tail whipped yet, but I"m sure the day is coming. He has never shown an interest in biting. I test him now and them - when hissing and puffing i'll stick a glove finger in, with no actual finger in there, and he never shows interest. Also, when feeding, often I'll barely have the door open and he'll rush me trying to get the food and just attack it. Then he tries to 'kill' it by smacking it around and shaking it for a while. I just chuckle... But then with that crazy feeding response, I test him again by putting a glove in there and he stops, smells it, and backs off. So he clearly knows what is food and what is not. He has a strong feeding response, but he's not stupid or careless. At the pet store, nobody even bothered wearing gloves when handling him. I don't always, but feel better when I do - and those claws are sharp and he can hold on tight...

Anyway, I'm probably going to keep him.

Yes, I saw your cages. They are awesome. Can't do that here, since we don't have enough of a summer to justify it, but he'll do fine indoors most of the time in a nice big room. A few tweaks to the tort yard, and he'll have a place to explore under supervision during warm summer days.

 

[Tom]

Free tip: grab him/her by the base of the tail and carefully drag him backwards on some flat concrete. Files down all 20 nails in seconds, with no fuss and no hassle.

If you've seen a couple of mushroom lookin' things pop out during defacation, then he's a male. Problem is, if you don't see hemipenes, it could be a female OR just a male that didn't evert. It happens so fast that I've never been able to capture it on film (or digital storage device). I've heard they can be x-ray sexed as adults by viewing the lack or presence of hemipenal spicules, but that's questionable too.

The general consensus that I've gotten is that until you see eggs or hemipenes, its a mystery.