Filed under: Monitors | Tags: forest, new guinea, peach throat monitor, Varanus jobiensis, varied diet
LOCATION:
On the Island of New Guinea.
CLOSE RELATIVES:
Blue tail monitor and the mangrove monitor. Each of the three use different parts of new guinea’s habitats.
HABITAT:
Preferences: dense forests; for they’re excellent climbers.
DIET:
Frogs, lizards, insects, any small animal they can overpower.
PHYSICAL APPEREANCE:
They can get up to 4 feet long in total length. They can live up to 15 years.
IN CAPTIVITY:
They take a while to tame and adjust in captivity, like most other lizards. The cage would need several hiding spots for security purposes. They should be maintained between 85 – 90 degrees with a basking spot of 95. At night temps shoudl be about 75. Bark or coconut bark is best, because it holds moisture well and duplicates the natural environment. Feed them mice, rats, fish, crickets, hardboiled eggs. Four or five times a week will ensure proper growth and health. Make sure to give them a calcium suppelement.
thanks to: reptileguru.com
Filed under: Monitors, varanus | Tags: monitor, peacock, roti, timor, Varanus auffenbergi
Varanus auffenbergi
The peacock monitor was only described as a new species in 1999! But it’s not that different from Varanus Timorensis, or the Timor Monitor (Spotted Tree Monitor). The coloration and spot pattern as the only difference. The difference is the blue grey ocelli, whereas the Timors are creame colored, and they don’t have a pattern on their underside. The Peacock has some pattern on its bottom side. The color up top is dark grey. Numorous ocelli, (photoreceptor organs on animals; spots that sense light but not its direction). They have central spots, often light blue to grey. A red brown pattern is visible otherwise.
Strangely, these patterns fade after keeping in time in captivity.After this period, its hard to differentiate between the two.
In number, there are as many as there are Timors.
It’s length is up to 60 cm, or about 23.5 inches.The tail is relatively fat and round in cross section. Light scales form an irregular pattern.
The Peacock Monitor is mainly located on the island of Roti, Southwest of Timor.
In captivity they are relatively shy, but are not much different than taking care of the Spotted Tree Monitors.
