by Sico » Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:44 pm
Buck,
my monitor has his cage facing that of my snakes. when he see's me walk in with a bunch of rats or other food items he is definately a lot more alert and active, coming towards the front of his cage. his cage also only opens on the one side, which is further away from where i stand to feed the snakes, and he goes to that side of the cage instead of coming to the side where i am standing, which i presume means he has learnt that that is where the cage opens and that is where the food comes from.
also i dont really handle him much, basically only to take him out of the cage to clean it. if he has seen me with food before i open the cage then i have to be very careful that i dotn get bitten, whereas if i just open the cage without having any food he is quite relaxed and happy to be picked up and moved.
i do think they learn very well, and they seemt o have excellent eyesight. he appears to be able to distinguish between food objects and other objects, and i cant see how it would be related to smell, as he is alert a long time before i get to his cage, so there is no way he can smell the food coming until it is right there.
i read an article where captive Komodo Monitors exhibited "play" behaviour with random objects in their enclosures, and i wonder if this is not a trait of the monitor lizards in general.
Mark
Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, experience usually comes from bad judgment.