Nice to meet you.

Gwangi-Iguana

New Member
Nice to meet you, I am a vet-student living in Thailand,

I hope to start a small reptile zoo or learning center in the far but not too far future,

My user name and profile pic is my pet Cayman Brac Iguana (Cyclura nubila caymanensis) name (which in turn got his name from the movie 'Valley of Gwangi'.)

my favorite animal group are Monitor Lizards and my absolute favorite animals are Varanus salvadorii

Though I believe it is too difficult to do them justice in captivity since even zoos can only keep them up to 25 years old, While their two closest living relatives Lacies and Komodos live into their 40s without problem,

Unless I can dedicate my time into them
 
Nice to meet you, I am a vet-student living in Thailand,

I hope to start a small reptile zoo or learning center in the far but not too far future,

My user name and profile pic is my pet Cayman Brac Iguana (Cyclura nubila caymanensis) name (which in turn got his name from the movie 'Valley of Gwangi'.)

my favorite animal group are Monitor Lizards and my absolute favorite animals are Varanus salvadorii

Though I believe it is too difficult to do them justice in captivity since even zoos can only keep them up to 25 years old, While their two closest living relatives Lacies and Komodos live into their 40s without problem,

Unless I can dedicate my time into them

Welcome to Zoochat. That's so cool you have a pet Cayman Iguana, he must be a really cool pet and friend. Wiradjuri people, who are some of the south-eastern Australian Aboriginal people, have the word gwangi (pronounced ''gwan-ee'') in their language - albeit it's their word to describe being or acting silly. Think it's a good name for an iguana though and cool that based on an old dinosaur movie, didnt realise had been an old film with that name, just looked it up.

Papuan/Crocodile monitors are such an awesome species hey. Did not realise that their captivity longevity had only reached 25 years to date, that's a shame - hopefully with much better setups in most zoos now will see individuals reaching lifespans much longer like some other large monitor species you mentioned and like many igauans do too.

Good luck with your vet studies work too. You aspiration for the future of a reptile educational centre zoo would be really awesome and a really worthwhile goal for your future.
 
Welcome to Zoochat. That's so cool you have a pet Cayman Iguana, he must be a really cool pet and friend. Wiradjuri people, who are some of the south-eastern Australian Aboriginal people, have the word gwangi (pronounced ''gwan-ee'') in their language - albeit it's their word to describe being or acting silly. Think it's a good name for an iguana though and cool that based on an old dinosaur movie, didnt realise had been an old film with that name, just looked it up.

Papuan/Crocodile monitors are such an awesome species hey. Did not realise that their captivity longevity had only reached 25 years to date, that's a shame - hopefully with much better setups in most zoos now will see individuals reaching lifespans much longer like some other large monitor species you mentioned and like many igauans do too.

Good luck with your vet studies work too. You aspiration for the future of a reptile educational centre zoo would be really awesome and a really worthwhile goal for your future.

Thank you,

And yes he is really cool, I have heard stories about Cyclura intelligences too but I always assume people just exaggerate or attribute certain characteristic to an animals, so I was skeptical,

Up until one day he learned to open the enclosure on his own, (it is the bird cage with a locks that swing down.) he push the lock up with his foreleg then push the door with his face,

Didn't knew any lizards aside from Monitors and Tegus that can do that, Green Iguana can't do it,

So far I trained him basic stuff like to come when called and to do a head-bob when he didn't like something (which is directly already in their natural behavior but now he will also bob at inanimate objects that he doesn't like so it make giving enrichment a lot easier now that I know if he is stressed he can let me know.)

I even trained him tricks like to give his hand when I ask too,

Ironically enough the things that we can't get to is to get him to poop on a designated position, Which everyone says is the easiest thing to train,

Well animals are individual so there are going to be things they like and dislike, Apparently he dislike holding in poop.
 
Thank you,

And yes he is really cool, I have heard stories about Cyclura intelligences too but I always assume people just exaggerate or attribute certain characteristic to an animals, so I was skeptical,

Up until one day he learned to open the enclosure on his own, (it is the bird cage with a locks that swing down.) he push the lock up with his foreleg then push the door with his face,

Didn't knew any lizards aside from Monitors and Tegus that can do that, Green Iguana can't do it,

So far I trained him basic stuff like to come when called and to do a head-bob when he didn't like something (which is directly already in their natural behavior but now he will also bob at inanimate objects that he doesn't like so it make giving enrichment a lot easier now that I know if he is stressed he can let me know.)

I even trained him tricks like to give his hand when I ask too,

Ironically enough the things that we can't get to is to get him to poop on a designated position, Which everyone says is the easiest thing to train,

Well animals are individual so there are going to be things they like and dislike, Apparently he dislike holding in poop.


Oh he sounds like a cool and clever individual, and lots of fun to spend time with (apart from his free range pooping wherever he pleases of course). He definitely sounds like he has a lot of character (have only come to realise over maybe the past five or six years from some iguana owners videos they share online just how clever iguanas truly are, really recognising individual people can tell apart, know probably shouldnt be surprised by that as have heard monitors (and tegus too apparently) are also able to do that, but was still really impressed by finding that out and seeing some of the videos of individual iguanas and how smart they are.

Yeah that's really good he can show you when he dislikes or is stressed by an object by bobbing his head as expression of, thats really helpful for you that he does that to express that, he sounds really adorable actually (could be mixing up with seeing macaws, cockatoos and other parrots doing a head bob movement before, but think might of seen footage of a pet rock iguana or green iguana somewhere in America doing that once before too).

Even though some people say teaching them to do their toilet business at a designated spot is apparently one of 'easiest thing' to teach them to do, you're right: each individual will learn things at their own pace (maybe he is just very willful about like you said, not holding in his poop when he is ready to get rid of it, would be annoying even though you love him, so hoping he does come around to the idea of recognising he has been shown designated areas for. Have had that experience with puppies and kittens before teaching, have yet to have to teach an iguana about it, thats something new and really interesting hearing about).

That's extremely clever and a real demonstration of his smarts, with his ability to open his cage in a co-ordinatedly intelligent way (requiring multi tasking to do so). Yeah also read in a snakes and lizards pet guide book in a library years ago (was an American book so had a lot of pages on reptile genuses we cant privately own in Australia, in an Australian library, at the time the library only had that book as a reptile owners guide even though were private reptile owners in Australia at the time) that mention how tegus were known for being master escape artists (makes sense that monitors would be too, for some reason this book only mentioned it on its page about tegus). I hope he doesnt manage to stress you by getting out and wandering too far without you knowing where he is. Imagine you'll get a different setup for him sometime when you are able to.

@Gwangi-Iguana Btw sorry lost my like button for a year so that's why couldnt give your posts a like, just so know that wasnt trying to be rude.
 
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Welcome to Zoochat @Gwangi-Iguana! I too would love to have an Iguana as a pet one day - it's unfortunate they're illegal in Australia though.
And I would love to have some of your Goanna as a pet too,

Sydney Basin Lacies (The one with thick Yellow stripe) looks really nice, Easily my second favorite monitor
(Komodo is the third, The gang took top 3 spot no surprises there),

A shame no one exported them when it was still legal to do so, The best we could get are either dark coloured Lacies or Bells.
 
And I would love to have some of your Goanna as a pet too,

Sydney Basin Lacies (The one with thick Yellow stripe) looks really nice, Easily my second favorite monitor
(Komodo is the third, The gang took top 3 spot no surprises there),

A shame no one exported them when it was still legal to do so, The best we could get are either dark coloured Lacies or Bells.

Yeah there are so many different cool monitor species in Australia with so many uniquely beautiful body colours and patterns (and the lace(ys)' with their different body pattern and colour contrasts with the different regional range populations, are all very beautiful, especially when knowing and appreciating the contrast between the different ones). Are you also a fan of perenties, Gould's monitors (sand goannas), Merten's water monitors, mangrove monitors, and emerald tree monitors?
 
Yeah there are so many different cool monitor species in Australia with so many uniquely beautiful body colours and patterns (and the lace(ys)' with their different body pattern and colour contrasts with the different regional range populations, are all very beautiful, especially when knowing and appreciating the contrast between the different ones). Are you also a fan of perenties, Gould's monitors (sand goannas), Merten's water monitors, mangrove monitors, and emerald tree monitors?
I am a fan of Monitor as a group, So I do like all monitors,

But the Oceania big three (Lacies, Croc monitor, Komodo) do hold special places in my heart.
 
I am a fan of Monitor as a group, So I do like all monitors,

But the Oceania big three (Lacies, Croc monitor, Komodo) do hold special places in my heart.

Yeah understandeable. Perenties are also very big monitors (technically larger than lace monitors generally, except some very large lace monitors reach the same size as perenties).
 
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