The outside world

[Dana C]

So far getting to know Kinabo, my Black Throat has been going great. When I got him from Riplee in early March he was about 30" and is currently 43-44" and weighs a ton or so it seems.
I have noticed that his interactions with me are very different depending on his surroundings. For example; if he is allowed to roam the reptile room, he hisses and whips when approached unless I talk to him a lot. In a smaller room like the bath room, he will crawl over me and sometimes come to rest on my legs or chest. In other words he is much less flighty, hisses less, whips less etc.
If I talk to him in his enclosure and stroke him, massage his back, rub his cheeks, he acts like he is in heaven. He will even lay his head my hand and will give a look that says, "wait I am not done" when I stop.

Interestingly, when I pick him up to take him out and carry him to where ever, He is relaxed and perfectly ok riding in my arms.

I suspect that the more I let him roam the larger room the calmer he will be in it.
Your thoughts on the matter?

 

[Maro1]

I agree. IF you are in the room doing your thing at the same time he will get you to your presence and movement as well.

 

[dragonmetalhead]

Maybe bigger spaces make him feel less secure?

 

[Dana C]

I am sure that the larger space = insecurity thing is teh issue. I have started taking him out and letting him roam in 1/2 the room with me puttering around in it. I think that he will come around after time.

 

[Dana C]

Just a quick update. He was better today. After having a snack in the bathroom, ( I usually feed him in his enclosure), He wandered around a bit and crawled up my leg, ( I was sitting on the floor), came up to my belly and pancaked for a few minutes while I rubbed his head and chin.
While it has happened before, it doesn't happen often but when it does, having a monitor come to you is a really special experience.......at least to me. He also lets me wipe his face off with a cloth while eating.
Oh and he loves it when I offer meat on a fork..go figure.
Like Tegus though, he has his "pissy" days when he wants to be left alone but for the most part he is extremely tolerant and docile. Other days, I am his best friend.
What is interesting and what I read before I got him, unlike Tegus which you don't want them to associate you with food, the taming process with monitors is different. You want them to associate you with good things like mystery meat and mice. Mice are often used as way of getting a Black Throat on to you. A lot of Black Throat owners hand feed, much to my surprise, and Kinabo will take a mouse from me with the utmost delicacy. After giving him a mouse or two by hand he becomes very docile actually. I know he is looking for more but he really is very gentile.
I have to add that it works well with Black Throats but with other monitor species it would be very dangerous.

When I got him from Riplee, March 7 he was 30 or so inches. Today he measured in at 44". Riplee thought he might be a year and a half but after looking up hatching seasons in Tanzania which are usually early fall for us, and early spring in Tanzania, I am guessing that he is still under a year old. I would love to hear what you think.

 

[TeguBuzz]

Hey Dana, glad to hear things are going well with Kinabo. Would you mind posting some new pics? It'd be great to see how he looks now!

 

[dragonmetalhead]

I want to see vids of you hand feeding. I have never seen someone hand feed a monitor without getting bitten.

 

[Dana C]

Give me a day to figure out how to do it and I will post pictures.

 

[got10]

The only downside about hand feeding monitors... is that they want to feed on your hand . LOL

 

[Dana C]

I did it today but he was not a happy camper about anything so I gave him one by hand and put the rest on a plate. He is gentle but I also pay very close attention to the signals he is sending. He is shedding, (again) and is very testy today.