nile monitor questions

lol ok thats good, he didnt bite very hard which i as glad about because there has been times when he has clamped down lol but thank you for letting me know, is it best to keep holding him when he does this? because thats what ive been doing. he eventually acts behaved after about 5 min or so

Me personally I will put them down if they start to squirm. Some say this enforces 'bad behavior' but I disagree. The reason is at the point the monitor starts biting you the trust is already gone. With most monitors, in my experiences, the trust is gone with the animal when you attempt to pick it up, it takes off running and /or tries to hide and it's keepers still reaches down and picks it up anyway.
To the animal that's an instant breach of trust. Imagine someone coming at you, you try to run away and they snatch you up anyway. Think of it that way.

i see exactly what you mean but unless i wake miles up in the morning by holding him he runs every time, i shouldnt just not hold him ever right? what should i do, i want him to trust me

Everyone has a different opinion on this. I will put the monitor back if they go into hysterics if they are just squirmy and calm after a couple of minutes I encourage you to continue to handle it to show you are not a predator and am not going to harm it. That's just IMHO.

Originally Posted by TailsWithScales

Yours is a 'normal'. Just a locality color. It's funny in a sense that a true blue nile IS different is rare and the place in Africa they're collected from is top secret just like with the sulfur water monitors.

My Light phase locality:


True Blue. Yes he really is that bright:



High yellow ornate. In shed when photo was taken:



BIG ornate. Takes up the whole bathtub:

Yes I know this is digging into the graveyard of posts but I think I have a bit of info that is of value to add to this post.

A few of the monitors in the quoted post above have husbandry related issues, the thermal burn on the ornate monitor is well healed but strikingly obvious, and typical in setups that use spot lamps directed straight down. Placing basking lamps at an angle helps to distribute heat over a larger area and reduces the chance of such Burns.

The blue nile I'd love to see in person, mainly to check out some of the scales close up, a few seem not quite right.

I'm not wanting to imply that your husbandry caused these issues, I've no way of knowing the source of the problems. I also can't tell as much from a couple pictures as I could in person, and I could be 100% wrong in my assessment of the monitors above.

To the original poster and anyone reading this, your nile should be housed in an enclosure that is at least as deep as the monitor is long and twice that in length. Height should be no less than SVL above the substrate. I prefer cypress mulch as bedding in simulating the wet seasons and sanichips in dryer season months. Regardless it needs to be changed if it gets voided on. Bacteria spreads very quickly in warm damp environmental conditions.

As for taming, you need a huge area to accomplish that. A large room that is monitor safe and warmed to the mid 80s to very low 90s can be used with good results. Allow this space to be your interaction area and pretty much let the monitor guide things. Sooner or later the nile will want to check you out, your job is to make the experience as non threatening as possible. If your nile is one of those few that can tolerate human interaction, you'll be able teach it to trust you. It takes time and small steps.

Maurice Pudlo

Originally Posted by MauricesExoticPets

Yes I know this is digging into the graveyard of posts but I think I have a bit of info that is of value to add to this post.

A few of the monitors in the quoted post above have husbandry related issues, the thermal burn on the ornate monitor is well healed but strikingly obvious, and typical in setups that use spot lamps directed straight down. Placing basking lamps at an angle helps to distribute heat over a larger area and reduces the chance of such Burns.

The blue nile I'd love to see in person, mainly to check out some of the scales close up, a few seem not quite right.

I'm not wanting to imply that your husbandry caused these issues, I've no way of knowing the source of the problems. I also can't tell as much from a couple pictures as I could in person, and I could be 100% wrong in my assessment of the monitors above.

Maurice Pudlo

Yes you are 100% incorrect in your assessment of my monitors. So instead of making a comment maybe asking questions would have been more prudent??

The big ornate had those burns when I got her. I got her back to health to the point of the burns being fully healed and she put weight on and she lived a happy life with me I then sold her to a really good friend of mine who from when I last heard still has her.

I do not and have not ever used spot lights in my enclosures only flood lights. So wrong on that one also.

The true blue Nile sadly I also do not own anymore. I was placed in the hospital for a longer period of time then planned and so all the large monitors were sold. This happened mainly because my recovery time was to long and I seriously needed the money. There was a six foot female sold to a reptile shop almost a year or so ago who was also a true blue. These animals, including pattern are different then the common, ornatus and Tanzanian Niles. The location from which they're caught from is also kept extremely secret just like the sulphur water monitor, cumingi and other such animals.

So again maybe asking would have been more prudent then just stating and assuming you know what's going on by looking at a photo.

I mentioned no insult to you directly, the ornate monitor burns did appear well healed as I noted, I mentioned that because the cause is easy to avoid and bears mentioning.

The blue nile if you look closely at the picture appears to have a few discolored scales, this could be nothing, and I totally understand a few stuck shed areas here and there is normal, but in that picture it looks very similar to the beginnings of a bacterial infection.

I'm not saying that you had any involvement or claiming your care is sub-par, only pointing out what it looks like in the pictures. I'm not even claiming (and this is just being safe on my part) that what I see in the pictures is in actuality what exists with those animals.

But in a picture, that is what I see. I'm surely not trying to insult you in any way. Just pointing out what others may happen to see in person and not be able to identify.

I very much love my own niles, and am lucky enough to have one that is uncommonly personable, the other not so much. Claudia is 10 going on 11, Sapphire our male blue nile is around 5 1/2 but unlike Claudia (my baby) who has been with us her entire life Sapphire (the typical behavior challenged nile) has been with us just 2 years now.

While Ihigh do keep a number of other reptiles, niles are my first and true love. I don't buy into 99% of the current monitor care methodology, but my own experience with them is in excess of 20 years constantly having them as pets. I've not had all that many, my first was what was once called an ornate nile that are now known as ornate monitors, he died after 13 years of my care, and now Claudia and Sapphire which I fully expect to live much longer.

Niles aren't for everyone, I myself see the days drawing near where I will nolonger consider owning another. I'm going on 40 this year, and can't quite see myself at 60 owning such a high maintenance reptile with years and years of life left in it.

So readers please understand that niles come into expert care more often than not nearly on deaths door. They are stout willed and often recover from the worst, I thought I was communicating that the issues I saw needed in person inspection and that the current owner might not be the cause, for that failure in communication I hope my current post clears things up. I commend Tails With Scales on knowing what she is doing and her love of niles. I ment no insult at all, and intended no discredit to befall her.

Maurice Pudlo

A couple of typos exist in my post above, the first mentioned should have been meant, auto fill-in typing sometimes does not help my bad spelling just makes things worse.

In the 6th paragraph Ihigh should just be I. No idea how that slipped in there.

Maurice Pudlo

can you post some pics of your two niles?

Sure can, I'll get a couple picks this evening and post them up.

Maurice Pudlo