Like other reptiles, monitor lizards are solitary pets and will stay alone without getting bored. They do not mind human interactions; however, they have to trust you before allowing you to carry or pet them. Therefore, whether monitor lizards love their owners or not, we understand it is a matter of concern that requires your attention.
So, do monitor lizards love their owners? Monitor lizards do not feel love like cats and dogs. This is mainly due to their brain anatomy. However, they are intelligent pets; therefore, depending on how you treat them, they will trust you. Treating your pet right will make them want to spend time around you and get excited to see you; a behavior you may interpret to love.
If you want to know whether monitor lizards love their owners, this is the ultimate guide for you. We will help you know whether monitor lizards can be affectionate, show affection, feel love, and whether they like being pets. Read through the rest of the sections for more amazing info about monitor lizards.
Can Monitor Lizards Be Affectionate?
Reptiles have a rather different personality from other household pets. They do not get attached to their owners and will not reciprocate their love since they do not experience emotions. While this is the case, you should treat your pet right, being a living creature, and, over time, it will get comfortable around you.
Monitor lizards will not become affectionate even if you give them the best treatment. When new, they will not want any interactions with you as they try to familiarize themselves with the new environment.
However, by spending ample time with it, your pet will become familiar and comfortable with you. They will be able to distinguish you from other people and will get nervous around strangers. This explains why your pet will want to stick around you if someone new enters your home.
Despite displaying signs of affection, a monitor lizard will not experience the feeling of friendship or affection. Instead, they will take you to be a safe hiding spot when they do not have easy access to their enclosure since they are more familiar with your scent. These behaviors come out of comfort or contentment and may make you think your lizard is affectionate.
A monitor lizard can trust you over time and display signs of friendship. Therefore, you can make it trust you more by handling it, improving the conditions in its enclosure, and removing it from its enclosure once in a while. Taking your pet out of the enclosure often will create room for physical contact with you.
Your pet may want to climb on you. However, before trying to lift your monitor, you should read its body language to prevent them from biting you. Reptiles are usually aggressive, and failure to interpret such moods can make them bite you.
You should also spend time setting up your monitor lizard’s enclosure. Provide extra places for your pet to hide and things it can lean on or climb. This way, even if your pet does not enjoy human interaction, you can enjoy watching it explore its environment.
Do Monitor Lizards Show Affection?
Reptiles generally tolerate human presence. Unlike cats and dogs, which love attention and show affection, monitor lizards will be indifferent when you are around, especially if they do not trust you.
Monitor lizards will not show affection but will display certain behavior that you can confuse for affection. If you buy a new monitor lizard, it will start by studying your motives and how well you treat them.
At first, they may even bite you if you attempt to carry them. Once your pet recognizes your motives are right and familiarizes with your scent, it will become comfortable around you. It will make associations with you, such as food when you are around, and become excited to see you. This does not mean that they love you but rather have a good association with you.
A monitor lizard may also allow you to carry it when it trusts you or even crawl freely on you. Your pet will also stick around you even when you are not carrying it, bob its head, fall asleep, or close its eyes around you. While you interpret such actions to be out of love, your pet could, for instance, climb on you to get warmth from your body since they are cold-blooded animals.
Despite having the potential to bite, a monitor lizard will not do so if you feed them and keep them under the right conditions in their tank. However, they may bite you or ignore you in rare circumstances, signifying their lack of attachment to their owners.
Monitor lizards may display affectionate or tame behavior depending on their temperament and health. It may seem affectionate and allow you to pet it if it is sick or full of parasites. Metabolic bone disease is an example of a disease that can make your pet lay helplessly without defense.
The Acanthurus is an example of monitor lizards with a friendly temperament. These lizards are inquisitive and curious about their environment. You will find them on literally every corner of your home.
Once they learn that you are a hot spot, they will want to tap your warmth by climbing or leaning on you, and you will likely mistake this for affection. Thus, whatever behavior your monitor displays, you should not be fast to interpret they are affectionate but rather trying to survive where they feel comfortable.
Do Monitor Lizards Feel Love?
The brain anatomy of monitor lizards allows them to feel basic nerve responses such as cold, pain, and heat. In most cases, they will act on these stimuli to survive both in the wild and captivity.
Monitor lizards do not feel love but will act out of intelligence, making you believe that they can feel your love for them. These pets associate their human counterparts with a good environment and treat. As a result, they will seek their human owners with excitement in the hope of receiving these things and they will feel content after such an achievement.
While your monitor lizard may act in a seemingly affectionate way, you should not impose your emotional range on it. Your pet still has its likes and dislikes and pushing it beyond boundaries will provoke a negative reaction. For instance, most monitors do not like being petted, but some will enjoy it. However, if your pet is more docile with low stress levels in captivity, it may be easier to have seamless human interactions.
Since monitor lizards do not feel emotions such as love, you do not need to feel the obligation to entertain them as the owner. This is because these efforts will not stimulate them in any way to be happy or sane.
Unlike dogs and cats, they do not depend psychologically on you, and their world will not fall apart even if you ignore them for a week. Instead, you should provide them enrichment by providing a comfortable tank for them to forage, explore, or climb.
Do Monitor Lizards Like Being Pets?
Love and pleasure are controversial emotions in reptiles. These emotions are poorly developed and difficult to relate to these pets, especially if you are a first-time owner.
In most cases, monitor lizards will tolerate their human counterparts rather than like them. This will take some effort on the human in terms of how they care for their pet. If your pet notices your good motives, it will trust you and get more comfortable around you.
A monitor lizard will display different behavior depending on its species. Some monitor lizards will be explorative once comfortable, but others will maintain their solitary nature. Understanding your pet’s temperament will help you interact with it accordingly without spewing aggression.
Also, depending on the monitor lizard you have, you will need to devote yourself to caring for it at different levels. The commitment could be vast and expensive, especially if you keep a giant lizard.
Monitor Lizards Can’t Express Love
Monitor lizards are solitary pets and will not display affection to their owners like cats and dogs. They will also take longer before trusting you; therefore, you should give them time to familiarize themselves and trust you. Your pet will associate you with things such as food, warmth, and a comfortable enclosure. They will then become excited to see you due to these associations. This also explains why your pet will climb on you. While they are doing this out of association, you can mistake this for affection, but this is not the case.
Different monitor lizards will also exhibit different behavior depending on their temperament. Some monitors prefer minimal or no human interaction, while others are explorative and look for their owners and stick around. When threatened, your monitor lizard may appear clingy and come to you simply because they are familiar with your scent and not because they love you or feel you.
Thus, to make your pet comfortable and trust you more, you should make its enclosure comfortable and try initiating physical contact. Also, if possible, you can take your pet for walks or allow it to roam freely to create a bond with its surroundings, associating you with freedom.
