They would indeed but unless you can provide a minimum of a 30 x 30ft then dont even bother. hence why the 2 that are going into private collections are going to someone whom mite as well have a zoo.

£1000 is that all? i thought theyd be much more! tbh if i could house them (money and size) i think i would just about anything for one, ever since i can remember ive always had an obsession with them

Ive got a friend who works at zoo's, and has experience of working with Komodo's. He say's their very inteligent for a monitor and they can be target trained and even recognise colours.
Do you remember watching wildlife programmes and seeing birds working out how to get the nut out the feeder, its along those lines. trained to see say "red" for food, yellow cleaning etc.
There are only something like 35 in zoo's worldwide, and they have a stud book for thier bloodlines.
He's taking me up to Chester zoo on 28th, im told they have one of the best collections&enclosures in uk along with Komodo's. I'll see if i can get some good photo's of them and post them next monday.

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I agree but then again i think all varanus are extremely intelligent more so than people think.
There are reports some varanus ssp especially salvadorii can aggressive around the aroma of blood whether from a prey item or from a cut on a keeper etc. There are reports a female keeper was attacked due to being on her menstrual cycle however i don’t know how much truth this holds.

I was at Chester Zoo a couple of weeks ago, and it's well worth a visit! They've got a couple of their baby komodos on show, along with their adults. I didn't think the babies were particularly agile until I saw this guy jump just over 3' vertically and about 5-6' horizontally onto a ledge in his cage:



These are some of the adults. They are hugely impressive in the flesh - far bigger and bulkier than any other lizards I've come across:







They have some other pretty nice reptiles as well - various venomous snakes, a huge retic, a cage full of Gilas, a couple of Croc Monitors and plenty of other non-reptiles!

Andy

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I'm about crying just looking at those pic lol! I'm definatley gona go Chester zoo

we have a couple big ones here at my zoo..... yep! they will eat you no problem.....

i went at the weekend and you are right they do have some amazing animals and nice reps and the komodo enclosure is pretty cool its massive

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0.0.1 common boa
0.0.2 corn snakes
1.0 western hognose
2.0 leopard geckos
1.0 crested gecko
1.0. cranwelli horned frog

Reptilandia Park... a private zoo in Gran Canaria has bred the little buggers. From what I hear, he can sell them to whoever he wants but there is a huge bit of politics involved so he's choosing not to sell them to the general public... yet.

I'm sure if someone offered him a decent chunk of change he might give it some thought though.

Im Pretty Certain Thats True, About The Lass Being On Menstrual Cycle. There Was A Same Instance At Our College With An Iguana. He Either Becomes Aggresive Or Affectionate. Pretty Amazing, How Well They can sense these things.

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