Blue tail mointors - I want to hear your experiences

I've recently acquired a blue tail. My boss took him/her in on a trade and I fell in love. Hes very sweet and gentle. I've had reptiles all my life, and this one in particular grabbed my attention. Never once tried to bite hiss roll or whip me. He's eating fresh killed mice, roaches, canned snails, boiled chicken, hard boiled eggs, tuna. I'm working with him on harness training so he can get out side once the weather warms up. And he loves swimming. Im looking for your guys input. Feeding, temperment, stories or ideas.
Thanks in advance, Alissa

Every doreanus I've ever owned has turned unhandleable by two years old. The males were extremely aggressive with the females not much behind that.
With proper care they get to be pretty good sized animals hitting a good five foot long. The need very large cages with high humidity as these rain forest monitor are serious climbers and burrowers. At least all mine have been.

The diet you're feeding is only partially healthy and the eggs are nothing but useless proteins and fats. Doreanus is a species that needs to be fed everyday! Juvenile monitors can be raised on a diet of insects dusted with vitamin and mineral powder and appropriately sized rodents everyday, RAW whole sea foods chopped to appropriate sizes. Adult monitors should be fed a staple diet of frozen-thawed mice, rats, chicks, bunny kits and raw whole sea food including shellfish every day and appropriate sized portions. Whole prey items only simply because they draw ALL the nutrients from the whole animal and process everything.

And you have a monitor not a puppy. 99.9% of my monitors NEVER leash trained. Being "outside" is a VERY scary place and most under three foot couldn't be out without potential harm to me. I've had seeming calm and placid monitors turned into freaked out biters within a minute or two of being outside. I've had them try to claw, bite, defecate and even regurgitate on me or near me out of the pure fear. Once they hit over three foot some could only take being outside before something they saw, heard or smelled scare them and they quickly made it known. And trust me there's nothing worse then taking a bite, tail whip etc etc from a 5' plus animal.

This is just all in my experiences.

Others I know who keep doreanus share in these sames issues especially once they pass sexual maturity.

I am new to forums, and looking back at my post it makes me sound pretty terrible. I've dealt with many large and aggressive reptiles. I do not expect this one to ever become like a puppy. My thought on leash training was hoping that maybe it would be a safe idea to transport him from inside to out side. not one uvb bulb on the market will ever compare to real sun rays. And I'm trying to think of a safe way to take him from his enclosure to a screen enclosure outside for a few hours a week.

A far as his temperment, he is gentle for what he is and what I expected. I'm not saying that they should be nasty, but I've dealt with a lot and expect them to be fearful of people and try to protect them selves.

Would you suggest caned, fresh or frozen seafood? As far as eggs, I feed maybe two a month, but I include the shell for calcium. Once again I didn't think to post this, but I use eggs from quails that I have at work, not eggs from the super market.

I'm just looking for any or all opinions in feeding, natural light, behavior, and so forth. Once again Ive never used forums and didn't think to explain everything in detail.

Honestly if you've not owned a large species of monitor before you're in for a surprise in how different they are compared to any other large species of reptile. They're nothing like snakes or iguanas.

If you're going to have an outdoor enclosure you need to do several things. Make sure the "screen" is EXTREMELY strong and is well secured otherwise you animal will not be there the next time you come outside. Either dig it deep into the ground or make sure there is a bottom thats heavily secured to it. Monitors of that size are extremely strong and will even injure themselves attempting to escape.

A good transportation method I've always use is a pet carrier or a Rubbermaid container with a locking lid. None clear is best with this. I use these for any time I have to move one.

Fresh sea food or thawed. Asian markets have the cheapest. I get smelt and healthy fishes like that and really small crabs and whole uncooked shrimp. Mine LOVED shrimp.

Feeing I laid out already.

What's the setup for the animal?

Every doreanus I've ever owned has turned unhandleable by two years old. The males were extremely aggressive. same here we have several over the years and the male do get pretty aggressive in time.Good luck they arte beautiful animals

Medusa Reptiles

For now his enclosure is four by three by four. The top is mesh, wooden sides coated with a non toxic water proof finish, and plexi glass front. The temperature is between 81 and 86. The bashing spot with uvb is 101. At night the low temp is 78. His tank is filled with, but not crowded, with chola wood, cork bark halves large enough for him to hide under some have a later of moss unger them and some do not, and a few smooth stones on the bottom. All the wood is cut and fit snuggly together so there is no where for it to move or fall. I have a medium sized litter pan for water. It is large enough that he can fit to soak himself. The substrate is a mix of spagnum moss and coconut fiber. I mist twice daily and run a homemade fogger three times a day at ten minute intervals. Everything stays moist but never saturated. The humidity runs between 60 and 70 percent.The lights are run on dimmers and are on 12 off 12.

You need to bump the temps way up. Basking should be about 135o, ambient 88-90o and cool 78-82o.
Humidity 75-80%.

Seal the top off as screen tops let out a ton of heat and humidity.

How's the lighting mounted?

The lighting is hung from the ceiling about a half inch above the screen. I think I'm going to add another foot of wood.above the screen and drill holes for the cords in it to keep the barrier between him and the lights.

To add a few more points, doreanus is generally quite shy - furthermore their skull structure and teeth are quite similar to Varanus salvadorii, meaning they can inflict serious damage with a bite. Very interesting species, however low rated as captives. Best of luck with your charge.