# komodo dragons



## bonsai_dragon (Sep 2, 2009)

How much trueth is there to the spate of rumours about komodos rising in popularity as pets?

I always thought they were an endangered species and a highly dangerous one at that?


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

bonsai_dragon said:


> How much trueth is there to the spate of rumours about komodos rising in popularity as pets?
> 
> I always thought they were an endangered species and a highly dangerous one at that?


I believe that one was in a private collection at an estimated £100k. Money can buy you most things.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

i got to be honest i would be in search for one if i had 100k actually i would be in search for a few


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## bloodpython22 (Feb 19, 2010)

I remember being told a few year ago that. That big private collector in ireland had a lone male. . . Ask luke harding he clamed to have babys at his house


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## evilchild (Jul 3, 2008)

as far as a know you need permission from the 'king' of the island there from, in order to have one.

as they are not a dwa.


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## kingcobra (Jul 27, 2005)

think you would need 100k to damn well HOUSE and FEED it!!!!:lol2:
and yes,they are reported to be dangerous,having said that,crossing a road can be dangerous,driving a car can be dangerous......annoying moderators can be dangerous!!!!!!!!!!:lol2:
nope!,dont consider getting one,stick with your anole,leopard gecko,beardie etc etc instead if you MUST have something with legs!:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

evilchild said:


> as far as a know you need permission from the 'king' of the island there from, in order to have one.
> 
> as they are not a dwa.


 not if its captive bred you dont. as has said before if you have the money you can gat one but remember most of them outside the Islands are in zoo's and there will be waiting lists for young from other zoo's.


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

bonsai_dragon said:


> How much trueth is there to the spate of rumours about komodos rising in popularity as pets?


Probably very little - but just as any black and tan dog that bites *must* have been a rottweiler, any large monitor lizard (or tegu!) is likely to be identified as a Komodo Dragon by the media, who really, really don't care.

As if an angry six-foot Nile isn't scary enough on its own.


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

The amount of rumours that goes around about these animals is hilarious, does anybody really know??


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## durbans (Sep 16, 2009)

kingcobra said:


> and yes,they are reported to be dangerous,having said that,crossing a road can be dangerous,driving a car can be dangerous......annoying moderators can be dangerous!!!!!!!!!!:lol2:
> nope!,dont consider getting one,stick with your anole,leopard gecko,beardie etc etc instead if you MUST have something with legs!:Na_Na_Na_Na:


Don't consider getting one?! I doubt any of us could even if we had 100k and balls of steel! I wouldn't start comparing Anoles, Beardie's and Leopard Gecko's with monitors either, especially not the king of monitors! And the question wasn't even about keeping one as a pet, it was about their popularity in the pet trade. What have you been smoking?

And although I don't know myself, I would seriously doubt that there are any Komodo's being kept as 'Pets', even if somebody has one or (hopefully) a pair then they will be kept more in line with how a zoo would keep it's dragons. These are not pets.


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

like anything if you have the room and the money to feed it and experience with large monitors i can see no problem with keeping them if they were offerd regularly in the pet trade. Think on at this moment there are people who keep croc monitors, water monitors etc who can reach good sizes also zoo komodos dont seem to grow to the size of the island monitors/ Also there are crock and gators kept in private collections too.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

These are not pets.[/QUOTE]
yes but cobras, rattle snakes, vipers are not really pets also caimen, crocks are not really pets but people keep them and i also don't see a prob with keeping them as long as you have the experience and facility's


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2010)

From whats been said for a Komodo Dragon you dont need a DWA but for the "serious" snakes Lizards and croc you do, not taking anything away from the monitors of course they imo should have restrictions on some of them.


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

You dont need a dwa for komodo dragons but they are cities app1 so this could cause problems for private keepers. 
The dragons at colchester zoo came from a private breeder on the canarys so yes they are indeed in private hands but are fare from common.


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## naja-naja (Aug 26, 2009)

personally i highly doubt it would be 100grand, fine the supply isnt great but the demand isnt too high either i think, 10 or possibly 20 is more likley i'd say.


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## chulainn (Nov 29, 2009)

they apparently have venom glands but have a very poor delivery system like bearded dragons but have desise in their mouth (from prk)


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## bloodpython22 (Feb 19, 2010)

blood and guts said:


> You dont need a dwa for komodo dragons but they are cities app1 so this could cause problems for private keepers.
> The dragons at colchester zoo came from a private breeder on the canarys so yes they are indeed in private hands but are fare from common.


That will have been jim pether he is a expert at breeding these in
captivity and his reptile facility is an amazing place


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

bloodpython22 said:


> That will have been jim pether he is a expert at breeding these in
> captivity and his reptile facility is an amazing place


Thats the bloke, shame he aint got the place running on gran canaria anymore..


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

naja-naja said:


> personally i highly doubt it would be 100grand, fine the supply isnt great but the demand isnt too high either i think, 10 or possibly 20 is more likley i'd say.


You'd pay £10k for a varanus varius (Lace monitor).


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)




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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

^ Like butter wouldn't melt.


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## snakekeeper (Oct 29, 2008)

The last time I heard, not so long ago, there were a pair of komodos, captive bred, going for £100,000. Demand may not be high amongsts individual keepers but zoos, due to the waiting list on komodos, might be willing to fork out. I can honestly say hand on heart, if I had £100,000 spare i'd snap them up. Considering that some people have spent over 60,70K on royals, 100k isn't that bad a price for a reptile that you wont find readily available.


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

blood and guts said:


> You dont need a dwa for komodo dragons but they are cities app1 so this could cause problems for private keepers.
> The dragons at colchester zoo came from a private breeder on the canarys so yes they are indeed in private hands but are fare from common.


cities isnt really a problem chinese gators are appendix one and freely available if you have the money also indian pythons, there is just 2 examples


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

Saedcantas said:


> image
> 
> image


i saw these cute little beggers the other day very nice Lotte.
But just one question where they going to live when they are adult?


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

leecb0 said:


> i saw these cute little beggers the other day very nice Lotte.
> But just one question where they going to live when they are adult?


Somewhere else  *sorry that was deliberately mysterious!*


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## terciopelo_dave (Jun 1, 2007)

chulainn said:


> they apparently have venom glands but have a very poor delivery system like bearded dragons but have desise in their mouth (from prk)


Bryan Fry has done lots of work on this. The venom glands are very real and the delivery system is a lot better than you think. Nothing even remotely similar to a bearded dragon. And the bacteria in the mouth theory has been debunked. It has nothing to do with the severity of the bite. They are, and always have been, venomous, and they are more than capable of delivering said venom.


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

leecb0 said:


> cities isnt really a problem chinese gators are appendix one and freely available if you have the money also indian pythons, there is just 2 examples


In the past movment resrictions have been placed on cities 1 spieces making problems so while not common they can if they wish make some head aches for the keeper.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

terciopelo_dave said:


> Bryan Fry has done lots of work on this. The venom glands are very real and the delivery system is a lot better than you think. Nothing even remotely similar to a bearded dragon. And the bacteria in the mouth theory has been debunked. It has nothing to do with the severity of the bite. They are, and always have been, venomous, and they are more than capable of delivering said venom.


def agree im not shore how many of yous seen life the series on the TV but if you did youl prob remember the episode when a bunch of komodo dragons take down a hippo it took about 8-12 weeks but eventually they took it down with their venom so it count be that week and their delivery system of the venom must be fairly good for it to puncture and kill a hippo 
just my pennies worth but im no expert on venom :lol2:


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## kelboy (Feb 10, 2009)

berry1 said:


> def agree im not shore how many of yous seen life the series on the TV but if you did youl prob remember the episode when a bunch of komodo dragons take down a hippo it took about 8-12 weeks but eventually they took it down with their venom so it count be that week and their delivery system of the venom must be fairly good for it to puncture and kill a hippo
> just my pennies worth but im no expert on venom :lol2:


An African hippo, in Indonesia? Sure it wasn't a cow?


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

blood and guts said:


> In the past movment resrictions have been placed on cities 1 spieces making problems so while not common they can if they wish make some head aches for the keeper.


I have never experienced this, recently i was looking at bringing in chinese gators from china and as long as the correct paperwork is in place and the animals are bought legit there should be no problems.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

kelboy said:


> An African hippo, in Indonesia? Sure it wasn't a cow?


it def wasn't a cow il have a search and see if i can get more off Google but it was def not a cow it was large much bigger than a cow 
did no one else see this life series a lot of it was crap as you didn't actually see much attacking with the lions more about the landscape and husbandry the komodo part was the only good part in my opinion


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

sorry how stupid am i a hippo in Indonesia it was a buffalo check the vid out 
YouTube - The Komodo Dragon


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

Saedcantas said:


> Somewhere else  *sorry that was deliberately mysterious!*


well unless the zoo is going to build a brand new enclosure i cant see where you are going to house them as the reptile house is not big enough IMO


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## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

Ssthisto said:


> any large monitor lizard (or tegu!) is likely to be identified as a Komodo Dragon by the media, who really, really don't care.


Especially when Hollywood uses Water Monitors as Komodo Dragon substitutes in its movies.


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## em_40 (Sep 29, 2010)

wow, it suprises me that Komodos aren't DWA... then again, I think most large monitors should require a licence. Far too easy to buy a nile monitor and have no idea what size it will reach or the husbandry requirements... Wouldn't want my kid to meet a huge monitor without something between it either, defo wouldn't want him to come face to face with a Komodo dragon.
If it's true that they are becoming popular pets I hope the price stays very very high, don't want to see them in the local pet store, ever!


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## dinan (Jan 18, 2009)

from what ive read on another reptile forum theres bout 10in private collections in europe and there was meant to be a pair for sale in spain or some other part off europe


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

I have babies for sale. PM me.


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## Big Jamie (Mar 5, 2009)

leecb0 said:


> like anything if you have the room and the money to feed it and experience with large monitors i can see no problem with keeping them if they were offerd regularly in the pet trade. Think on at this moment there are people who keep croc monitors, water monitors etc who can reach good sizes also *zoo komodos dont seem to grow to the size of the island monitors*/ Also there are crock and gators kept in private collections too.


Why's that? Diet? Genetics?


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