Smooth out that fur

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Posted by Dragoon on May 12, 2003 at 17:59:45:

In Reply to: Re: not being rude... posted by Amanda E on May 12, 2003 at 16:08:20:

Hello.
Andrew was not being rude, IMO. You misunderstood his point.

Being an internet forum, there is no way to tell that you fully understand a healthy monitor does not want to be held. All we know of you is, you saw a "calm" monitor at a show, and are wondering if you should get one too. You want something you can hold and that won't bite. This does not describe most monitors unfortunately. (but it does describe a dog-hence the joking comment). It is sortof a gruff way to try and banish the 'my lizard will love me' hope.
hint* once their body temp comes down, and faced with a lot of strange people and noise, most monitors are "calm" (stressed into quietness)

IF you instead get a realistic expectation of a monitor before you get it, then you won't be disappointed, but happy! And yes, monitors need all the fans they can get, just as all herps do. Its nice you see this. But its the people who are disappointed in their monitor that get rid of them, and then go on to tell other herpers "they don't make good pets". (I actually read that on another forum) grrrrr...

There's a lot of pics on the forums. They only tell a fraction of the story. Of course, people like to show the nice pictures of their monitors. The ones of them in hand, or resting quietly, or doing something cute. Nobody takes pictures of scrapes, welts, lunging, hissing or T-shirts sprayed with monitor crap. Yet that is a big part of it too. Monitors have good and bad mood days (well, mine do). People who don't have a monitor yet, aren't clued in to that aspect. They have only seen the nice pictures. And yes, most monitors ARE nice.

Andrew DID answer your question. He said the monitor isn't any harder to take care of than the bearded, given a bit more space and money.

So its up to you. What do you want from your pet? Do you want to have more than one? If so, get a beardie. It is easier to accomodate multiple small animals, and they are easy to find. You could even breed them. hmm, you could just get some ackies too....
If you only want one, I'd get the monitor. It will dig, climb, and swim like a fish. It will live way longer(beardies have short life spans), and be way more interesting. Monitors are more intelligent, and are more active. You will have a lot of fun designing and redesigning its cage. It will use all of it. But then I am biased. I think beardies are cute, but not too special.
Read lots, you have lots of time. The animals will still be there.
Good luck. D.

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