Empagusia
Varanus rudicollis (GRAY 1845)
Rough Neck Monitor
 

rudicollisThe Rough Neck Monitor is a member of the subgenera Empagusia. The head is very long, the nostril is a horizontal slit and is situated closer to the eye than to the tip of the snout. The neck scales are very large and keeled. 139-169 scale rows are around midbody. The tail is laterally pressed together and is approximately 1.27-1.61 time as long as the SVL. Two scale rows form one weak keel on the top side. The total length can be up to 150 cm.

 
Distribution, habitat and behavior

rudicollis

The Rough Neck Monitor is a tree climber. It lives in the primary and secondary rainforest of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo (MERTENS 1942d, 1950, 1959, HARRISON & BOO-LIAT 1957, TAYLOR 1963). It also may occur in mangrove forests.
The major diet seems to be frogs and insects. This species also feeds on arboreal centipedes, crabs, and spiders. LOSOS & GREENE (1988) stated, that the diet consists of 54% frogs and 32% insects.
The Rough Neck Monitor is believed to forage largely on the ground, and to use trees to escape predators.

Keeping and breeding
 This species has been successfully kept in captivity by many people. It needs a fairly large cage with high humidity. Tree branches should be part of the cage furnishings. It is very shy at first, but eventually comes to recognize the hand that feeds it. Although it appears to have a rather specialized diet in the wild, it adapts fairly well to generalized monitor fare. The small mouth size requires smaller mice than most monitors of equal size.
In spite of its popularity, there are no reports of captive breeding. Only HORN & PETTERS (1982) reported on a breeding success of this species. But here they received a gravid female from the pet trade, which laid 13 eggs. 5 eggs developed and the young animals hatched after 180-184 days. The incubation temperature was between 28 and 30°C. The hatchlings measured between 238 and 280 mm, the body mass was between 19.4 and 21.6 g.
   
back