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Aggression in savannah monitor

herpgirl2510

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999
I took in a 3 foot savannah monitor 6 weeks or so ago. The last few weeks she has been becoming extremely aggressive towards me.I had her eating off tongs and I was able to take care of her cage and soak her without problems until the last few weeks. When I come into the room se starts hissing and puffing up as I approach the enclosure she gets into tail whip position. I have welts on my legs and arm from her striking me when I feed, clean her cage, fill her water dish. She is quite big over 3 feet. I was told now that she is in the proper enclosure etc she is beoming healthier and acting more like a monitor she was very mellow before. The problem is it is getting worse and I dread going in there it hurt like hell and she is so fast she just stands her ground and waits for me to open the door. I have no idea what to do I was hoping somene hee had an adult savannah and had some advice I am pretty small so it really hurts when she comes at me. I m a nervous wreck if she got out someone like my son could get hurt.

Her enclosure is 7x3x3.5. 130 basking cool side in the 80's 16" dirt/sand mix.
 

james.w

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I'm not sure if congratulations is the right word, but you have a healthy monitor in a very well set up enclosure. Time is all there is, and she may never calm down. She is a wild caught, wild animal defending herself and her territory. Rehoming may be your only option if you are worried about the safety of your kids and yourself.
 

herpgirl2510

Member
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999
She was someone else's pet for over a year but I figure she was probably not kept inthe rightcnditions. She is definitely ating like she is wild :). As soon as I walk in her eyes get to be little slits and she puffs up twice her size. I wonder if she senses my hesitation when I approach her. She is like a cobra I an be a foot away and somehow she can strike me it is so fas I am amazed. My problem with rehoming is most people don't take ae of them properly and she has alot of special dietary needs that are expensive. Plus they are illegal in mass I have a permit. I am going to try being brave I wonder if sternly speaking or me kind of puffing up to look bigger. Sound stupid but but I have to find a way to clean her cage etc.
 

herpgirl2510

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999
Good idea she gets my thighs her tail wraps around the front and the snap is the worst on the inside of my thigh. It is pretty impressive the way she strikes so fast.
 

Kebechet

New Member
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240
If it's that bad when she whips you, on top of the welding gloves, I would also try thick sweat pants. Depending on how bad it is, you might want to layer it. Reptiles can tell when their "tactics" to keep us away, are working on us. It sounds like you're definitely exhibiting the fact that the monitor has harmed you when you're whipped. The standard reptilian responses seem to be freeze, run, intimidate, and attack, when it comes to confrontation. They will try all of these methods to keep a predator away. You have to figure out how you can protect yourself from being harmed by the more aggressive tactics, before they decide "those don't work, I need to try something else" and they should start to tame down.
 

CrankbaitJedi

New Member
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75
I have had a large savannah and large Blackthroats, both tail whip like the dickens!!! I got cracked by my BT one time so hard that it left perfectly straight lines across both my shins that both started streaming blood in the exact same way. It was awesome. But it did make me say some bad words my wife was not pleased with (I have small children). Anyway, advice already given is the approach I took. I layered up and I kept doing what I was doing. I never rushed and I wouldn't leave until they calmed down. Of course, they had pretty big enclosures (BT was 8x8x8) so they had space to get out of my way if they chose. I just didn't want them to think that their attack tactic was going to work on me. Eventually, they stopped with the aggression and tolerated me. BT finally allowed me to handle, savannah never really got into my company ever. Win some and don't win some... but with kick butt reptiles, we never lose. Again, I see these natural behaviors as an indicator they are healthy enough to care. Silver linings baby!!!
 

herpgirl2510

Member
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999
I was wondering if she could tell I was intimidated. I would kneel in front of her cage she stands her ground right at the door. I will take the advice about layering up and not being afraid. It is weird though if I try to tong feed her she scrunches her eyes and closes them and turns away almost like she is very afraid of me all of a sudden.

Some of the spots she has tagged on my legs are in an area she would kind of have to jump to reach.
 

CrankbaitJedi

New Member
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They are talented in their abilities to inflict pain. My 18 lb Argus was up on a shelf one day and my brother and I were in the cage checking him out, just being friendly he reached out to climb on me and I kind of turned away and his nails dug in and scratched all the way down my back. If you have ever met an Argus and know what kind back-hoe, excavating shovels their claws are... I was in some serious hurt. My brother thought it was funny though. Argus was probably mad he had to clean my DNA out of his nails.
 

herpgirl2510

Member
Messages
999
My set up is a 7x3xx3.5 enclosure. 16" sand/dirt mixture. I had to dig her a burrow amnd cover it in fieldstone because she never digs she prefers to lay on top of the substrate. Her basking spot is 130 degrees 2 45 watt halogen bubs and 1 100 watt UVB bulb. Cool sides low 80's she is very active on the days I mist the enclosure. Her diet is mainly bugs but I also feed mice, turkey, eggs, fish shrimp etc. I vey rarely handle her I do admot though a few times she curls under the blankets and lays across my stomach. I was tong feeding her now she is afraid of the tongs. Se really wanted to be misted today maybe she is going to shed s
usually she sheds different areas she is pretty full grown so not very often.

I was also advised to layer up and not at afraid especially if she whips me because if she sees it works she will keep doing it. I am sure she will be fine maybe this is a weird time of year for female savannah monitors.
 

james.w

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Is it possible she laid eggs down in her burrow and is now protecting them??
 

herpgirl2510

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999
She goes for me on her hot side. The burrow is on the other side when do they lay eggs. She has alot of diggable area because knew that they can sometimes have eggs.
 

Jefroka

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Basking spot of 130F sounds awfully extreme to me, shouldn't really be higher than 110, 100-105 would be better.

Set up sure seems great otherwise.

Suit up to the hilt, talk to your kids about never opening his cage under any circumstance, make sure you lock the cage as well and at this point all you can do is put in the time and hopefully you will gain trust, but first, please bring that basking spot down in the safe range.


...Jefroka
 

james.w

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130 is fine, some keepers even offer a basking spot up to 150 degrees for different varanid species.
 

Jefroka

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james.w said:
130 is fine, some keepers even offer a basking spot up to 150 degrees for different varanid species.

God bless 130-150 seems quite warm to me but after looking into it a bit, you are correct.


...Jefroka
 

herpgirl2510

Member
Messages
999
I know I was surprised when I read about the basking spot. She will lay to the side of the area if she gets to warm then she will move back. When it gets over 130 she retreats to the cool side. I lower or raise the lights with different temp changes.
 

james.w

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I'm not sure if monitors have a set time of the year that they lay eggs. I know some breeders can get 2-3 clutches a year from their females.
 

new2tegus

New Member
Messages
277
Okay, best bet, get your rear over to a sporting goods store, and grab a pair of shin guards for soccer,get sweat pants and the welding gloves. Other than that, I'd be brave and take her out more, see if that helps, mimicking her might provoke her more.
 

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