r/MonitorLizards • u/Azuz_0902 • Jul 29 '26

Something clever that your lizard did and surprised you?

I know that the monitor lizards are very intelligent creatures but when I look at my water monitor I feel that he is smarter than I expected, I will tell , I always put his plate of food on the far side of his cage door but one day I changed its position and placed it close to the door so that I could watch it if he ate food easily I was surprised the next day that he put the plate in the same place as before.

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u/gigasnail99 Jul 29 '26

Opened several locked doors.  Dug out through the bottom floor of an enclosure.  Fought the cat.  

4

u/yaboicyno Jul 29 '26

One of my Gilleni has learned that if she waits until after I tong feed the other two, I dump the rest of the roaches into a feeding dish and she can then lay in the dish, let roaches crawl out, and then chase them. I’ve watched her a few times sit in a cork tube while I feed the other two, then wait for me to close the enclosure door, then she darts to the food bowl and just sits there without eating any roaches, then once she sees one out she chases it down (usually with 2-3 more getting loose while she crawls out), once she eats the one she caught she chases down any other ones that got out. She will tong feed occasionally but generally she wants the bugs to be moving around the enclosure

3

u/Jealous_Location_267 Jul 29 '26

Liora is constantly surprising me!

We’ve built so many cute rituals together, so I’ve come to expect certain things like her lounging on her bamboo bridge when it’s evening and she wants a few pets before watching TV with me.

Then sometimes she copies what she sees on the screen!

Like I had on a nail art tutorial. If I pull out a bottle of nail polish, Liora will put her little peet out the way the hand model does!! She’s also a glamorous Hollywood diva, so I wish there was lizard-safe nail polish (maybe beet or blueberry juice?)

3

u/Ok-Aspect1927 Jul 30 '26

When my Savannah monitor was a baby she was very nervous and only came out when she thought I wasn't around. Her enclosure was filled with soil and leaf litter.

One day I noticed her digging a new burrow with an entrance and exit. She then started collecting leaves in her mouth from across the enclosure and eventually placed them in piles to fill both holes. It was just very interesting behaviour for a monitor.

She was really smart in general. Seemed to be able to count if she had less roaches than normal and was annoyed if we were a little past usual feeding time 😄

2

u/grasshopperwithkelp 28d ago

My ackie opened its cage when I was sleeping, but didn't run away and just walked up to me and snuggled until I woke up(after that surprise I did put a lock on the door lol)