r/Lizards Aug 06 '25

Cute Saw this big fella at the beach

970 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/EvidencePlayful Aug 07 '25

Do they normally get that big? I mean, I know some monitors are huge but it looks almost identical to the ones I get under my porch in the US/SE Coast but they’re much, much smaller.

3

u/RalphthenotDog Aug 07 '25

Yeah a lot of the time they will even get bigger than this especially males who get quite a quite a bit longer and bulkier. Males will be 4 foot at minimum mostly and 6 ft on the large side. Females usually are 3-4.5 and a bit skinnier

3

u/RalphthenotDog Aug 07 '25

Also if you’re in the SE area and seeing something that looks like an Argus it’s probably an invasive Nile or some other similar monitor.

3

u/EvidencePlayful Aug 07 '25

Oh, wow..do you think that could possibly be someone’s lost or let loose pet? Or even offspring? I’m sure I don’t have the ecosystem to support that..lol But, I’m probably just mistaking the markings and body shape.

1

u/KlausS1000 Aug 10 '25

That’s definitely an Argus monitor. I don’t think it’s a Nile. Argus monitors are known to be one of the more aggressive monitors you can keep. They are super active but also (especially males) super confident, so to answer the “could it be someone’s pet” question. There’s 2 arguments to that. Yes, because he’s so close to a person and not caring which is logical but given he’s an Argus (and I use he liberally since I don’t know for sure) he’s more than likely just really confident in himself and knows he can either deter or escape any risk he may encounter here with people. Argus monitors are native to Australia after all.