Kingsnake.com
Daniel Bennet
Captive care for monitors
March 3, 2007
PHFaust: On behalf of Jeff Barringer and all of us at kingsnake.com,
I'm very pleased to welcome Daniel Bennett to our Ninth Annual Chat
Week.
PHFaust: Daniel Bennett is a conservation biologist with a special
interest in monitor lizards. His research interests are focused
mainly on developing non-destructive and non-intrusive survey methods
for neglected taxa such as reptiles, amphibians and bats in countries
that include Turkmenistan, India, Madagascar and the Philippines. His
recent work has concentrated on the frugivorous monitor lizards of the
Philippines. Daniel is also well known for his work with MAMPAM
Conservation (www.mampam.com). He lives with his daughter in the town
he was born in and eats enormous quantities of chocolate.
PHFaust: Thank you so much for joining us, Daniel, and welcome!
loconorc: Dan, whats your opinion on your book? ProExotics highly
reccomends it. And does the info in there also apply to ackies?
mampam: Mmm. It's asking for trouble aking me my opinion of
my own book
loconorc: By the way, I was the guy who made a forum post about
ya.
mampam: I think it deserves to sell much better than it does
loconorc: It looks great but does the care info also apply to
most other monitors?
mampam: Yes I think it does.
loconorc: I know not tree monitors or anything, just ackies
and stuff. Whats your fave monitor BTW?
loconorc: I think I like kimberly rocks the best. so elegant
looking
mampam: I think it applies to any monitor that likes to dig
mampam: I love those long-tailed monitors
loconorc: long tailed? like tree monitors?
mampam: My favourite used to be Varanus olivaceus, but now I
am not so sure
loconorc: ok thanks :-)
mampam: like gleopalma and pilbarensis and glauerti
loconorc: Great job on the AP special by the way! I loved it.
mampam: rudicollis is also a big favourite of mine, but I love
them all.
mampam: thanks
Albigularis_nr: Have you done any work with abigularis in the
past? I seemingly can't recall if you have. If so have you did anything
to research their natural diet?
mampam: No, but I have been spending some time in northern Tanzania
for the last few years and always hoped I would come across them
Albigularis_nr: On the other hand, what are your thoughts on
the best captive diets for, V. exanthematicus?
mampam: I would like to do a comparative study to the one I
did on exanthematicus in ghana
mampam: But albigularis doesn't live round Arusha and Serengeti,
contrary to published reports so the answer is; no I haven't.
mampam: As for the diet I think a mixture of rodents and insects
seems to work fine but different things appear to work for different
people. The primamry problem people have with savannah monitor feeding
is that the animals get obese
sssssss_nr: The longer I keep albigularis for the less I feed
rodents.
mampam: In the wild exanthematicus doesn't eat rodents, or does
so very very rarely.
Albigularis_nr: When I used to keep exanthematicus, I had animals
become 3+ feet within the first year of life, without ever seeing to
many rodents.
mampam: But as time goes on I am less and less convinced that
the diet in the wild need have much relevance to the diet in captivity
for that sort of monitor at least
mampam: I think that sort of growth has a lot to do with the
temperature gradient
Albigularis_nr: Thank you Mr. Bennett.
mampam: pleasure
danceswsavs_nr: I'm getting growth rates of 1/4 inch per day
for about a month now- is there anything I should worry about with savs
growing so fast?
danceswsavs_nr: How can i get some brachytrupes to breed?
mampam: No I don't think so
danceswsavs_nr: My savs always come to me and push down on me
with their chins. Have you seen this chinning behaviour before?
mampam: I think if the animals have the choce of how fast their
metabolisms go it can't be a problem.
mampam: I think there are a lot of scent glands in the chin
and maybe it is some sort of marking behaviour - monitor lizards are
always marking things.
danceswsavs_nr: ooh...lol
danceswsavs_nr: how long did Rusty live? (Harmons's sav, in
your latest Savannah Monitor book) and how did he die?
mampam: Brachytrupes: it would be a really interesting animal
to breed
mampam: I don't know why it doesn't appear in west african shipments.
mampam: maybe you would have to order them, they are extrememly
common
mampam: I'm not sure about rusty, I think he died not long after
our book was published.
mampam: I haven't heard from dale for a long time.
danceswsavs_nr: Are there any available photos of LIVE sex organs
of boscs? (the drawings of preserved tissues don't look much at all
like the photos I've taken of mine)
mampam: No, yours are the best I have seen
mampam: I seem to recall that Rob Faust wanted to put pics in
his excellent book on Nile monitors but the publishers objected.
danceswsavs_nr: Finally: please comment on the intelligence
of savs & training! (and thank you very much!)
mampam: I think that is a relatively unexplored subject but
monitors are smart, no question about that.
danceswsavs_nr: oh- if you want the hi res photos, they're yours.
mampam: And if exanthematicus can be trained it makes me wonder
how a less sedentary species would respond
mampam: Yes I would very much thank you!
ig_daddy: If you raised a Komodo Dragon hatchling in captivity,
with a diet of only fresh meat, would it NOT develop the bacteria in
their saliva?
mampam: No I don't think it would, certainly not the Proteus
type that cause the massive infections.
ig_daddy: Too bad they are restricted. . .
mampam: but I think any sort of bacterial clutures that that
have to be acquired
ig_daddy: Thanks for the answer.
mampam: I can't agree that it is a shame they are restricted.
I don't think it would be in the best interests of the lizards or society
if anybody could keep Komodo dragons
ig_daddy: I beleive they could be raised like the alligator
"Bubba" by the guy from coldblooded creatures.
evertech11: Which monitor do you recommend as a good first varanid?
How common is it for an untamed Savannah Monitor to void its cloacal
contents?, I've heard plenty about them doing this that it seems common.
mampam: Yes I'm sure they could be, the curatator at Houston
zoo did amazing things with theirs
mampam: Very common for monitors to void the cloacal contents
mampam: Although I've never been able to get young Nile monitors
to do it, which has been a great nuisance
evertech11: is it expected with healthy juviniles?
mampam: I'd say any CAPTIVE BRED monitor is good to start with
mampam: Well it's not an indication of health as much more a
sign of stress, most people would do something similar if grabbed by
a giant......
quietstorm: Whats going on with the Little Book of Monitors
2 is it going to be released or did it get shut down
mampam: I am working on it, It is very very delayed
quietstorm: so its still a go.
mampam: partly because of my PhD but also because I want to
have something useful to say about the monitors between Sulawesi and
the west tip of New Guinea.
mampam: oh very much so, I hope so! It's my life's work more
or less!!
quietstorm: good good thank you
mampam: also the taxonomy is in massive flux, there are stuill
a lot of new species. Now it's sounding like excuses isn't it? I'd better
shut up!
quietstorm: I m excited about it
loconorc: Do you agree with ackies being the best begginer monitor?
Or any other dwarf monitors?
loconorc: Also, how did the grays monitor poop taste? :p
mampam: Any dwarf monitor that is CAPTIVE BRED
loconorc: Well all Aussie monitors are CB right?
mampam: ah that
loconorc: Because of the exporting law. I'm not interested in
asian or african monitors only aussie dwarfs.
mampam: There are a lot of good monitor breeders worldwide.
loconorc: I know where I'm getting mine :-) Pro Exotics!!! ^_^
mampam: who produce excellent animals so you would hope that
all the youngsters available were captive bred but you would want to
be sure!
mampam: The butaan eats a fruits rather similar to the Brazil
nut fruit.
mampam: they excrete the nuts intact
mampam: And when washed they can be broken open and eaten with
impunity, and yes they are very delicious.
evertech11: I've heard alot of number being thrown around, how
big do Savannah monitors really get? (STL)
mampam: I've never seen a wild one much bigger than 100cm, which
is 36 inches more or less, but in captivity there are some in excess
of 48 inches.
evertech11: so 4 feet is a stretch?
mampam: Although the biggest I have seen is about 42 inches.
I presume they don't get very big in the wild because they don't need
to
evertech11: so i can forget the accounts of 6 foot savs
mampam: And a diet of millipedes can't help.
mampam: I think that is probably the result of confusion with
albigularis which gets much bigger.
mampam: at least I have never seen a six foot exanthematicus
daniel1983: Of the dwarf/pygmy montior lizards that you have
kept or studied, which has been your favorite to work with and why?
mampam: I have never kept any of them
robfaust: Daniel, do you usaully see niloticus hatching in Ghana
around October?
mampam: and the only work I have done with them was in the Great
Victoria Desert
mampam: I like tristis a lot
mampam: but the one I would have loved to see and would love
to work with s undoubtably eremius
mampam: I don't work with dwarf monitors (Odatrians) because
I don't consider them to be of conservation concern but that's the only
reason, I would love to learn about eremius!
PHLdyPayne: What does mampam stand for? Also, any good tips
on taming monitors down so they don't eat your fingers?
mampam: Mampam is an Ashanti word for Nile monitors
mampam: the word for savannah monitors was unpronounceable and
when I started to work in ghana my friends called me mampam.
mampam: when we needed a short name that we could still get
the domain .com for it was perfect
PHLdyPayne: cool. definitely a catchy name :)
mampam: I think if you are going to tame monitors it is best
done when they are young
mampam: with gentle handling and there are some monitors that
it is foolish to try to tame like salvadorii, not that they couldn't
be tamed but that it would be foolish to trust them!
microbrewbrian: as far as the Varanus olivaceus go, how are
conservation issues progressing since your research began and bringing
light to them?
PHLdyPayne: thanks for the info
mampam: That's a complicated question, I'd like to say that
the conservation issues are now at the forefront and the species is
safe but....deforestation in the Philipines still occurs at a massive
rate. It isn't to do with edcation it's largely economics.
jburokas: Two ?s for you Mr. Bennett: 1) how devastating is
wild catching and "farming" of Bosc's in Ghana, Togo,etc where
they are taken from to the native populations?
mampam: It's got the highest population growth rate in Asia,
there's a lot of poverty, people where I work are very aware of how
special the lizard is and we have more or less persuaded people never
to take dogs into the forest.
microbrewbrian: thanks for the answear, session and the dedication
mampam: That has had a very benficial effect but we know that
the species is almost extinct on another island to the south and there
are a lot of places where they occurred during Auffenbergs study that
they could not occur in now.
microbrewbrian: Has more of the community realized how speciala
they are?
mampam: I hope on Polilo we can keep a viable population.
mampam: Yes now everybody knows.
mampam: When I fisrt went there people would say things like,
Oh butaan, don't you have them in England?
microbrewbrian: WOW
mampam: When they realise how special it is they become proud
of it but that doesn't really stop tree cutting. Even the massive land
slides that kill thousands of people in 90 minutes don't stop that so
it isn't that people don't know what damage they are causing. It's really
because they have no alternartive.
mampam: We are working hard to get people to consider using
other building materials and designating areas of forest that can be
used for timber extraction and others that should be left alone.
nd2g2bd_nr: So is up to the local politicians or those from
the developed world to actually change things?
mampam: The level of local cooperation is wonderful but at the
root is a very serious economic problem.
mampam: ha. I wouldn't trust politicians to change anything
anywhere. It's up to people, not politicians, it's up to the developed
world to provide the right environment top make things better.
mampam: But obviously that is massively complicated and has
little to do with monitor lizards...
microbrewbrian: thanks again for the dedication and inspiration
PHFaust: RobFaust - Nice name son...
mampam: thank you!
robfaust: Do you see niloticus hatching in West Africa mainly
in October?
mampam: Um let me think. No earlier than that. They hatch in
the rains March/April/May by October they are fairly big.
mampam: Thats in Ghana
mampam: I'd expect it to differ a lot, but in general I'd expect
them to hatch early in the rainy season. Thhey need a watery habitat
and lots of invertebrates so it would be detrimental to be born late
in the season. October is fairly dry in Ghana and it stays dry til march
so whenever the rains start that's when I would expect the young Nile
monitors.
PHFaust: that was the final question! On behalf of Kingsnake.com,
Jeff B, and myself, I want to take a moment to thank Daniel Bennett
for being part of our chat week. Daniel, thanks for taking the time
out to chat with us on Monitors.
mampam: nice to see you Rob!
mampam: It's a pleasure, many thanks for the invitation
