ModeratorJeffB> Frank I want to thank Frank Retes [Fr] for being our guest tonight
ModeratorJeffB> lets go ahead and start with Brian
[Brian] ok, Frank>how many species of monitors do you have at goanna ranch?
[Fr] About 22
[LTJTB] breeding age....average clutch size for ackies??? thanks Frank
[Fr] 6 to 12 months of age 12 eggs per
[liquidlizard] how much food do you feed your monitors? do they have a
- tendicy to be over weight?thank you!
[Fr] I try to feed them every day, and most are not fat
[marina] You keep heat lamps on 24 hours. I was thinking about getting a
- red bulb for night and use the white only during the day. Do you think
- day-night cycles are at all important for maintenance? For breeding?
[Fr] Marina think a white lite is better than a red blub
[Fr] a lite blub is just a heat source
[Fr] they do there own day night cycles
[Brian] Frank>how many species of monitors have you bred successfully?
[Fr] 16
[BrianG] will you be at Orlando, and have a table? What is the current
- price on normal ackies?
[marina] Ants rule the outdoors..
[Fr] there are not so many rules for outdoor inclosures
[Fr] Ants rule
[liquidlizard] i picked up .2 blue spot timors and 1.1 yellow spot timors,
- im just wanted a good set up for them
[Brice] Hey Frank What is with V. scalaris, why doesnt anyone here have
- them?
[Fr] No brice
[ChrisD] Do large monitors have the same reproductive potential as the
- smaller monitors?
[ChrisD] meaning do they produce numerous large clutches, numrous small
- clutches, or few large clutches?
[Fr] Yes, The larger ones have many more eggs, such as niles up to 60 eggs
- per and albig the same
[Fr] and they all multi clutch
[Fr] scary huh
[LTJTB] Frank, what is a good size enclosure for a pair or trio of ackies
- and what kind of substrate do you use for them?
[Fr] 2' x6' is great, but 2' x4' is ok and we use dirt
[LTJTB] thank you
ModeratorJeffB> LOL... in your experience do any subspecies of monitor actively
- forage at night?
[Fr] I think they eat any time they want, but mostly in the day
[Fr] I've seen 4 species out at night in nature
[jeanine] have you observe any interactions with ackies and cockatiels in
- the wild? my ackies seem completely indifferent to my tiel...she even
- perches on their cage.
[Brice] What is that thing you are crossin w/ glauerti, that is what I am
- talking about.
[Fr] We produced a few V.pilbarensis XV.glauerti crosses . but no more
[Brice] That is it, you mean you dont have them anymore?
[Fr] We are not crossing them any more
[ChrisD] I've got a question on importation. You always here eventually it
- will stop, especially from asian markets. Do you see this on the immediate
- horizon or will it likely be many years? I also notice most breeding of
- captive monitors seems to focus on Australian species is their enough of a
- market to support captive bred asians(waters,mangroves) versus the cheaper
- imports?
[Fr] I have not heard much lately
[Fr] their goverment will tax them
[Fr] tarriff
[ChrisD] Frank, I was wondering if you might give a few takes on the newer
- species, yellows ,tricolors,etc
[Fr] We had some of the first of these
- species, yellows ,tricolors,etc
[Fr] But Its hard to relate with wild caught monitors
[LTJTB] Is there a difference between the red/yellow ackies???? (besides
- color)
[Fr] All monitors are great, but these are wild. I have some baby tri-colors
- coming tomorrow
[Brice] .
[Fr] Red ackies are a sandy desert monitor with a lot of differences from
- yellows
[Fr] eggs much bigger, behavior different, get larger
[LTJTB] how large do they get??
[Fr] close to 30 inches
[Fr] and much heavier
[jeanine] so, just you and pete kuhn have bred and hatched v. glauerti then?
- have the germans been successful with them?
[Fr] Possibly I don't know, pete has not made babys yet
[jeanine] you're the only one?
[Fr] hes right on the verge
[Fr] In the U.S.
jeffb> have you ever done small monitors such as ackies or glauerts in a
- large enclossure like 8x2
[Fr] I kept them in a 20' by 20' by 9 foot high cage
[Fr] we keep them in two basic cages one is a 6 foot circle the other is 2'
- by 4' tub
jeffb> did they set up movement patterns or were they all over the place
[Fr] in the large cage they were incredible
[Fr] they had all sorts of neat behaviors
[marina] Do you have plans/hopes to pair up your perentie and breed those?
[Fr] Of course i do, just send me a male, PLEASE
[Brian] I've noticed that some of Doug Price's yellow monitors have a
- greenish/yellowish color, is there a possibility that there are green ones
- in existince?
[Fr] when their young they have more green, also just before they shed
[Fr] when they are old they lose the black
[ChrisD] Why have the europeans been percieved as being in the forefront of
- monitor husbandry and breeding? Are monitors just more common captives
- there or are the laws easier to deal with?
[Fr] Good question. they have been at it longer. look at who discribes them
- the most
[Fr] they have had more access to them and still do.
[Fr] they also travel a lot.
[Justink] Do you look for black tree monitors price to go down in the
- future, any time soon? how much are they now I know there not cheap.
[Fr] I think they will go up and up and up
[russ] .Talk a little about your success with womas and blackheads, what
- are the tricks to breeding them. Is it temp,or perhaps age?
[Fr] Darkness, cool
[Fr] We breed them at 18 months, just take good care of them
[Fr] moist dirt is better
[Arthur] What is the best way to provide water for the dwarves
- like ackies?
[Fr] tritis and yellow ackies
[Fr] small water bowels
