Our sweet Joanna Banana Savannah

[T&KBrouse]

So, for a once shy and skittish girl, Joanna has blossomed into a beautiful, social little lady that seems to really enjoy human contact now.

We've been working on getting her used to a harness and surprisingly, she took to it right away. Now, just like Rocko, when the harness goes on, that means we're goin' bye bye!

Ain't she cute in all her pinkness?

She knows something happens next, so if we put on her harness and leave her alone, she'll turn around and start either nuzzling for her leash or to be picked up.

Yay!! Now we can go!

Um.... Hooman? Iz time ta go.... yes?

Hello, hooman mama purson! I sayz iz time ta go, yes??!
Maybe if I standz on you like dis...

I has leash AND I make you pick me up. We go now?

Female monitors can be a real handful to tame down, but its really worth it. Shes not as outgoing as Rock, so we still have to respect her boundries, but all in all, with alot of love and patience, you couldn't ask for a better companion.

Thanks for letting me show her off!

 

[Stitchex]

She's beautiful, where did you go now that she's used to the harness?

 

[T&KBrouse]

That time, we just went for a walk out in the yard. Sometimes we'll take her to one of the local pet stores. She can still be a bit shy so we don't want to overwhelm her.
Our male, though, he's an attention hog! He's all about goin' bye bye and seeing people! We did learn our lesson, though. No more McDonalds for the lizards... That was icky...

 

[leoman777]

That time, we just went for a walk out in the yard. Sometimes we'll take her to one of the local pet stores. She can still be a bit shy so we don't want to overwhelm her.
Our male, though, he's an attention hog! He's all about goin' bye bye and seeing people! We did learn our lesson, though. No more McDonalds for the lizards... That was icky...

would you like to share tha McDonalds experience??

 

[Stitchex]

Lol! What did they eat? She looks great.

 

[T&KBrouse]

Here was the story of the McDonald's poop-a-thon
He's no worse for wear and I've learned a very valuable lesson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, because this is such a great forum that doesn't criticize its members (pointing and laughing is another thing) I feel pretty confident I can share my most recent random act of stupidity with you all without being put in front of the firing squad. Besides. It's also a great learning tool as to what not to feed a savannah monitor.

My big boy, Rock, is a very social guy and he loves to go bye bye, so to keep him tamed down, we take him out on our days off. He has a cute little green harness and when its time to go, we show him his harness and he'll come tromping up to put it on, then head towards the door, anxiously awaiting his outing.

Now we only do this once every couple weeks, maybe, but before we head home, if he's been a good boy, we stop at McDonalds and we get him a plain cheeseburger. He knows the drive through and will crawl up in the driver's lap, waiting for the nice lady to give him his nummies, which usually results in a really freaked out drive thru attendant and a very happy lizard.

Last week, I decided since he hadn't been fed for the week yet, he would be very hungry and he could have a double cheeseburger. Two burgers, two pieces of cheese some calcium powder dusted on top, it'll be all good and he'll be a happy boy. So after we pull through the drive thru we went to the parking lot, Me, my mother and the Rock Monster.
He got down between us and eagerly chowed down his burger, even the bread. He was so happy! What a good boy my baby is!

We dropped off mom and headed home. By the time we hit the driveway, Rock was under my seat, to it took some coaxing with a french fry and a Big Mac pickle to get him to come out. He came in the house, got a drink and headed off to bed. He'd had an adventurous day. He was very tired.

The next morning at about 7am, I heard him get out of bed, waddle in to the bathroom shower stall and just let loose. Monitors are very loud poopers, you know. Everyone in the house knew what he was doing. It was still too early for him to be up, so he came back to bed. At about noon, when he hadn't gotten up yet, I went in to check on him. He didn't look so good. He looked, I dunno, weary. He let me love on him a few minutes, then he stood up tall, his eyes got big, he shoved his way past me to get to the bathroom and once again, let loose. He came back to his heating pad and went back to sleep.

I checked on him again later that evening. He was so bloated! He looked like a sea urchin with toes and eyeballs! Oh my God! What have I done! In the middle of the night, he was up again, heading to the bathroom. My poor baby!

Over the course of 24 hours, the poor boy pooped 6 times. How on earth a half pound of meat and cheese turned in to 5 pounds of poo is beyond me. By the time he was feeling better, the poor kid looked deflated. I called the vet's office to get him to line me up with some Emeraid because I was worried he may be dehydrated. Having a good rapport with Dr. Jack, he knows occassionally I get really stupid, but try my best to fix my screw ups. After I told him what I did, he just said, "Sweet Jesus, K! Why didn't you just spray WD40 down his throat! Does he have any bones left??"
I guess McDoubles are worse than I thought....

He's all better now. A little lighter, but all better.

So to those thinking about getting a savannah monitor in the future: Until they create a McRat, McDonalds is a real no-no when it comes to a monitor's diet.
Lesson learned....

 

[Stitchex]

LOL! Poor, poor Rock xD. Who would have guessed, a Moniter also addicted to McDonalds! Ah, lesson learned, eh?

 

[T&KBrouse]

I haven't found anything a monitor won't eat yet.
And they especially like the stuff they shouldn't eat! My youngest male idiot-child, Jake (age 19) sat down on the floor with a plate full of home made tacos one afternoon. He sat his plate down on the couch to go get some hot sauce and when he returned, Rock was standing in the middle of it, chowing down.
Guess thats one way to make sure he gets his veggies.... I guess..... :uneasy:

 

[Palor]

That poor critter. Although the mental image of a drive thru attendant freaking out when a big lizard pops up is awesome.

 

[gitrdone0420]

That is just WAY to cool! I want one =] Love the pink <3

 

[T&KBrouse]

Thank you!
Just makes her crazy little eyes sparkle, don't it?

 

[Bellalee]

Thats amazing ... and the story too! Rock I'm imagining acts like a dog.. you have them potty trained?

 

[T&KBrouse]

Yup! Well, actually, they have me potty trained...
Rock goes straight to the walk-in shower to do his business and Jo prefers the bath tub or large, water-filled cat pan.
Its not carpet, so I'm happy!

 

[acpart]

Your posts are the only ones that make me laugh hysterically out loud till I need to go to the bathroom.

Aliza

 

[T&KBrouse]

Well, I'm glad I can do my part to keep ya healthy, Aliza!
Between Dharma, Jo and Rock, theres never a dull moment around here.
Atleast the leopard geckos are "normal."

After we took Jo outside for a bit, we brought her in and took off her leash and she zipped off, underneath the cedar chest. As is typical for savannahs, they find the tightest, darkest, most out of the way spot to hole up, where they know you can't reach them and bed down for a nice long snooze.
Had to coax the little brat out the next day with scrambled eggs and even then, she's getting wise to the people tricks.
She'd take a few steps out, cock her head to the side to see if I was going to get her, take a few more steps, cock her head to the side.... :main_rolleyes:

 

[VampyricAngelX]

Aw, savs are so adorable. They always remind me of cold-blooded puppy dogs XD I agree, the mental picture of a freaked out drive-thru worker amuses me... And I guess monitors are sort of like people in a way, we like food we probably shouldn't be eating

 

[T&KBrouse]

Thanks, Chelsea.
They are just amazing animals. Rock had a little bit of a tummy ache today, so he kept coming out to the living room, crawling up in my lap and laying all sprawled out for back rubbins. Apparently, that really helps with tummy troubles. All I know is its so freakin' cute I can't stand it.
Don't know what upset his tummy. He hasn't been fed anything "out of the norm" for a while.

 

[Bellalee]

I waannna seee videos!!!!!

 

[T&KBrouse]

Theres a few of Rock on youtube. Not the greatest quality, because apparently, I live in a dungeon.
This is my son's youtube channel that has the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/941hardcorekidjake

 

[VampyricAngelX]

Aww, and they say reptiles can't love XD (not saying they actually do, it just seems like they do sometimes & I don't mind thinking they do haha).
Watched some of the vids, the cat in one of them looks like it just doesn't know what to do about some big ol lizard trotting around :main_laugh: I know my two would NOT like having something that big in their space, they're not very brave kitties lol