Timor Issues

[Guest]

Hey Everyone

So ive had my Timor for a few months now and have been having a few problems with him.

I know that Timors are known to be a very shy species and handling them is not reccomended... but my timor "Frank" is just so nasty. I have him in my living room so that he could at least get used to seeing me walk by 100x a day, but still every single time i walk be he runs to his hide or he flares up a bit and gets ready to bolt! He has never bitten me, but always hisses and flares up at me. And when i do try to handle him it takes me about 15 minutes to pick him up... but once i do he is completely relaxed and actually fell asleep in my hands the other day. I was wondering if anyone has ever had any luck with their Timor warming up to them?

Also, how much do these guys eat!? I have only seen him eat a cricket once and that was the first day that i got him. I have never seen him go after a cricket before or run around chasing any type of food. The only thing that i see him eat all the time are pinky mice. Besides that he will take one bite of egg and then thats it, or will allow a cricket to walk right past his head and he will not even attempt to go after it. I keep the temperature just perfect and humidity levels as well. I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue, or if they are known to be picky eaters. I have a Argentine Red tegu that eats like a bottomless pit, but Frank seems to barely eat.

Thanks!

Steve

 

[Beazer]

Hey, sorry it took so long for this response and its a little late. Im suprised nobody has lol.

The best way to go about Timors is to not "force" them to see you so much. It doesnt give them time to relax. Put them in a room and only go in to check on their water, feed, and do their lights. Then gradually introduce yourself more into the room. Its kinda like a woman, if you force yourself around them 24/7 they are going to think ur creepy lol.

As far as skiddish goes, it depends on the type of Timor monitor. Attitude varies between localities. The whole "calming down" and falling asleep part is actually not a good thing. Its been proven and shown that is typically their scared submissive stage. Sometimes their heart rates are even higher in this stage. A happy timorensis likes to explore.

As far as diet goes, ease up on rodents. They need a varied diet of mostly insects (in captivitiy you want to do stuff like roaches, crickets, meal worms on occasion, earth worms, anything thats a feeder insect). On occasion give them button quail, snails, raw button quail eggs, silver side fish (frozen/thawed), and small crayfish. Zebra finches work too. Rodents are just too much of a fatty food item and grocery store eggs really arent so nutricious for reptiles. Always make sure not to over feed the animal to where its obese, you want them with meat on their bones but lean.

If hes not eating much, he is probably over stressed. Make sure your cage has multiple basking areas, lots of hide spots (cork tubes and stuff to climb is mandatory), and let us know how warm the basking areas are. They like to bask hot but also be able to escape the heat.

-Jon DeLong

 

[dicy]

the thing that helped me out allot whit skiddish timors is to house m a bit smaller like 3ftx2ftx3ft(per addult) andalways make sure they can sit up high in the viv so if u use a big viv ore small viv make sure they can sit on the height of ur head

sorry for my bad english and best of luck :mrgreen: