Meet Rex - the 18kg monitor lizard who lives with family-of-four and even goes out for walks | SWNS

Meet Rex - the 40lb 6ft monitor lizard that lives at home with a family-of-four who even take him for walks on a lead. Matt Reid, 38, said aptly named T-Rex, is more like a puppy than a reptile and he loves nothing more than going for strolls with kids Leighton and Kailah, 11 and seven. Life as a pet monitor isn't always plain-sailing, because despite being six-feet long, Rex loves small spaces and even once got lost inside the sofa. He loves sunbathing outside their home in in Andover, Hampshire, and is a fan of his weekly baths. Matt said: "I look at Rex as a one in a million lizard. "Rex has such a kind and docile personality, he loves his food, he loves basking in the sun and he loves his baths. "He has a bath every week and when he's had enough he climbs out and brings himself downstairs."
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[@KBarron43]

Used to have a Savannah Monitor, he was the sweetest big boy, loved cuddling in bed, & head scratches. People say they’re aggressive reptiles, but anything can be tamed with the right care & skills.

[@maagony]

Watch Nope if you think anything can be tamed

[@KBarron43]

@@maagony so I’m supposed to believe some fake movie to get my opinions? I’m good dude

[@maagony]

@@KBarron43 humanity can't tame all other animals, it leads to deaths involving apes gouging flesh out of humans like it's playdoh and a group of monitor lizards eating their owner. You can't keep an alligator in a bathroom. Nope is just a fucking good movie, your loss if you're a dumbshit who doesn't like Jordan Peele movies.

[@maagony]

@@KBarron43 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaHSZaewr7CoepI

[@positiveego5397]

So what happened to it? Did you eat it?

[@michellelloyd4811]

A powerful and beautiful monitor

[@dalian3903]

@@Bufo_Bufo LMAO!

[@kata5398]

How much refresh rate does it have

[@senianns9522]

I have these things living in the klong behind my house! The babies climb my fence when first hatched. Very shy creatures. You can try tame them by feeding them. They serve a purpose in eating carrion and detritus! Greetings from Thailand.

[@vistuscaine]

They are from Africa. What you are seeing in Thailand is probably a water monitor. Water monitors can be tamed quite well.

[@BlahBohogun]

Most people don't realise that captive raised reptiles to some extent are able to tone done their survival instincts that would normally be blaring in their brains becuase their basic needs a cared for so extracurricular mental functions for things like remebering specific scents/people and developing affectional or confrontational relationships with such are taking up space in their mind as oppose to remebering where, what, and when to hunt as well as competing with rival lizards etc etc normal wild animal shit.

[@Rinkyu]

I can see myself cuddling with it, it looks gentle and big:)

[@Rknowles813]

that's what she said

[@randomcomment1673]

@@Rknowles813 📸😳

[@rad6286]

Gentle until he bites your neck and you cant move from the waist down ☠☠☠

[@user-mh1rh3rz1c]

@@rad6286 Komodo dragon's can paralyze, not monitors

[@DrakonBlake]

@@user-mh1rh3rz1cKomodo Dragons are a Monitor lizard

[@michaelmarzano2759]

Love, and each to their own. Not for me but respect that you find him adorable.

[@somnuswaltz5586]

0:50 Aww, he is a big baby. Very cute and handsome 🦎 ❤

[@beenherebrforemurry6365]

So much love for this . We have a 4f green igunana rescued. He free roams and chills with the 2 dogs .

[@WJen8]

My uncle had one and named him Godzilla. My aunt later on got herself a little monkey (still don't know how she got it...) and named it King Kong. Funny pair the two of them 😂

[@frayteez]

Gorgeous lizard.

[@taraelizabethdensley9475]

Unusual animal companion, but magnificent

[@lisab.1559]

He is like my 22 lizards…blankets and pillows and like Rex my reptibabies as I call them, are super lovable and love to cuddle.

[@uxo.unexplodedordnance1974]

Lmao his wife's eye roll at 2:53 😅 I hope it's a great pet choice. Would love to own one in the future

[@SithMami]

Is he potty trained? He is amazing! Rex is a fitting name for him.

[@Serhii_Diemientieiev]

I'm not sure about this Black Throat Monitor in particular, but hey can be potty trained as well as other monitors and tegus

[@phantagirlable]

They are cleanly by nature and definitely don't want to go where they live, so it shouldn't be too hard to provide a designated loo space for them.

[@tarrahbarker24]

Perfect example of the difference of having an animal live with you or in a cage.

[@devydev3112]

Free roaming a reptile is a difficult task and depending on the reptile is not always a good option. One of the big reasons for this is a reptile's humidity and lighting requirements. Humidity is important for scale health but also respiratory health, too dry or too humid of an environment increases the risk of respiratory infections along with shedding issues. Every reptile also needs specific temperature ranges for proper termoregulation along with UVB lighting to prevent bone diseases. Reptiles with requirements that cannot be replicated in a home should not be permanent free roams. Now black throats do good in about 20-50% humidity going on the higher side when shedding, which is also around the same humidity as in a house so 100% free roaming is totally doable. However let's take a tegu, another popular monitor lizard, free roaming them isn't a good idea since they need humidity up to 60% or higher which you absolutely cannot replicate in an entire house. Personally, I feel every reptile should have an enclosure that consistently provides the exact temperatures and humidity required regardless to give them the best and healthiest life. I know of many people who do free roaming right and I do not disagree with their method at all, it just isn't what I'd do. That being said I do semi free roam my lizards, basically if someone wants out I let them out into a lizard proofed area for as long as they want. Their enclosures are their homes, where they can stay if they don't want to deal with people and feel safe. I think of it as their bedroom, they can come out almost whenever they want but they enjoy staying sometimes. Enclosures, vivariums or aquariums are only cages if an owner has not created an environment they feel safe in.

[@phantagirlable]

@@devydev3112 I guess that's what makes blackthroats and savanna monitors more suitable for this kind of arragement since they come from a more dry environment. I mean a water monitor would not only need a humid environment for most of the day but also a big water feature and plenty of space. I think it's unaccaptable to keep them in small enclosures like you see some people on KZbin do.

[@sjcobra84]

One big scale baby.

[@MrJbrew69]

Love black throats and really all reptiles. The one thing that is horrible is at that size he is producing some huge poops. The most wretched smelling stuff in the world. Beautiful monitor

[@SportsRacer33]

lol, the lizard is just as needy as my dog, stop petting him, he nudges you to pet more XD

[@Isv1nceyoun0w]

Lovely Monitor ❤

[@phangirlable]

Rex is the goodest boy!

[@jennip605]

Rex is a Dream animal. ❤

[@smooth_jazz_escola]

Puppy godzilla....lol

[@kathysingh1510]

He’s sooo cute…. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@blueearth5000]

Big puppy is here 😉

[@ElizaFragmented]

I love lizards 🦎 ❤ ♥

[@maxstotto3594]

"Each to his own"! Regards

[@flowplanet429]

omg mine is called rex too ! because he wrecks the place

[@EdBenji]

Awesome!!

[@Walker44800]

ok now i want a giant dinosaaur lizard:)

[@jenisia3600]

Beautiful. This is what YT is meant for.

[@sandykimberlin7198]

Is he the new watch dog!

[@gaetanopassantino6269]

I'm more impressed with your beautiful wife. Any woman who will put up with the shenanigans of men like us- Absolute keeper. Bless you guys:)

[@Thirtiesguy]

She probably puts up with it because he puts the food on the table…

[@phantagirlable]

@@Thirtiesguy Or maaaaybe, just maybe, she loved that monitor like he does? Oooor, and hear me out on that, she enjoys seeing her husband fulfill his dream of having that lizard as a pet? And maaaaybe, big shocker on that one, she works too? Like most women do?

[@Thirtiesguy]

@@phantagirlable Nope

[@Thirtiesguy]

@@phantagirlable Even if she does make money, he probably makes the bulk of the combined income, otherwise she wouldn’t be with him.

[@phantagirlable]

@@Thirtiesguy lol Okay, incel. Gave yourself away there. Please go outside, touch some grass and observe reality where the overwhemling majority of people are in relationships, even if the men are ugly, fat, poor or out of work. You are not an incel because you are either of those things, you are an incel because you are a sociopath who is incapable of maintaining a relationship, thinks relationships are business transactions and is terminally online and bought into the Andrew Tate grift hook, line and sinker. Get help.

[@billysbilbolag2050]

So cute!

[@exposingproxystalkingorgan4164]

That lizard really likes humans and want attention. 😆

[@bruvathroatpuncher500]

That's a unique Monitor. Normally they tend to scratch people's faces off, especially their owners. You got yourself a one of a kind Monitor and he's irreplaceable.

[@mj91212]

It’s actually rather rare for a Monitor to intentionally harm its hooman. And when it does happen, it’s usually because the owners were abusing or neglecting it. One dude in, I think it was Georgia, got killed by his pet monitor, and during the investigation afterwards, the police found out the creepy lunatic was r*ping his lizard and filming it. Sadly, they had the lizard put down regardless.

[@Rknowles813]

Lmao. Thats not true at all

[@gmmartines7331]

@@mj91212 human*

[@mj91212]

@Sakkra1993 Yep, but the law doesn’t give a damn about non-human animals. Same thing happened when some freak in Florida got strangled to death by his pet Boa Constrictor, they found him with his member still inside her, as she was crushing his windpipe. Still killed her anyways.

[@gopnop1057]

@@mj91212 ok its sad for the animal to be put down, sure but after that amount of abuse, for either the monitor lizard or the constrictor, do you really think its safe for them to continue to be kept as pets? they cant exactly go back into the wild after spending their whole life in captivity

[@user-dl5lw4ht3k]

Hi from Idaho USA! We have trees here that are very old and found only in Madagascar, imagine that! a very long time ago, the Pacific ocean once touched here, and due to Rex being a shy natured creature I wonder what variety reptile lives remote here.

[@rouker1]

Brilliant

[@suzy2anyone]

Does he ever get aggressive & scratch or worse? Much love beautiful ones & thanx for sharing 💚💚🦎

[@systemshocker2875]

I think the only time he would "scratch" is if he had trouble climbing on them or something like that

[@anasevi9456]

Monitor lizards and Tegus tend to not have the big mood swings of Green Iguanas, the latter whom often have to deal with herd drama and the resulting far greater stress to reproduce in the wild. If you raise them and treat them right and they will never get cranky or confrontational to you. Monitors and Tegus are solitary semi-social animals, so in species confrontation is not as common which is why they are more chill as pets.

[@derpestarzt]

As someone who owned several large green iguanas (which had bad reputation for aggressiveness) they were completely tame and sweet, the thing with large lizards is that they won't "snap" like a dog might, they will let u know if they're feeling threatened by u or if they're going to attack you, they have very very clear language so they're quite safe that way.

[@RedRobertify]

1:43 is pretty cute

[@gravbloss81]

love it :D

[@havefaith6927]

Wow

[@aviechan]

Aww he's just a baby. A big oooool baby ❤

[@PainandMotivation]

OMG that is scary.

[@blablableh724]

nice

[@matthewfaughn3212]

I want 1

[@jernzzz7510]

I can’t have an animal that eats rats near my face lol

[@phantagirlable]

Rats raised as food items are no more dirtier than chicken, beef or humans. lol

[@MacksPebbles]

@@phantagirlable true! and dogs are waayy worse in my PO.

[@phantagirlable]

@@MacksPebbles Dogs have a cleaner mouth than humans too. I have no issues with either a doggo or a lizard doggo near my face tbh. lol

[@suzy2anyone]

Eating day?!! Oh no please feed me everyday 💚🦎

[@JohnDoe-xq8sk]

He looks plenty healthy. Not even humans should eat everyday.

[@suzy2anyone]

@@JohnDoe-xq8sk excuse me 👀 tell my belly heehe

[@JohnDoe-xq8sk]

@@suzy2anyone okay Susan as humans we should practice our ancestral roots of not eating everyday. Feast and famine. It can help with many autoimmune diseases ect of coarse you gotta eat natural too.

[@TheSickjits]

It’s bad for their digestion to feed them every day. Remember, these are cold blooded animals. They don’t require the same caloric intake that mammals do because they don’t have thermogenic expulsion. Their body slowly digests and siphons calories off of the food for multiple days. Feeding them every day would just bloat them and back them up.

[@phantagirlable]

@@JohnDoe-xq8sk There is a reason why life expectancy was much shorter back then. lol

[@1337fraggzb00N]

🥰🥰🥰

[@metfreak100]

My real bro actually looks like a monitor lizard without a tail

[@DKoolbj7dl]

Rex ROCKS!

[@andrewjansen9702]

Does he bite?

[@awoww41188]

MY LIFE GOAL!!! I WANT ONE SOOOOO BAD...SINCE I CANT HAVE A KOMODO DRAGON CAUSE YA KNOW, GO TO LOVE IT AND IF IT LOVES ME BACK IT'D KILL ME

[@AtomicEy]

your All Caps are on

[@vectorfox4782]

Dinosaur cuddles

[@tickyul]

He loves snuggling and eating rabbits in one gulp!

[@Cyriakx]

What a weird looking dog!

[@rlb2444]

I don't understand the attraction but I admire your interest and care of this lizard.

[@Oryyyt]

he's a thiccboi

[@BabuRaj-pr8gt]

Is that a Komodo dragon 😊

[@aviechan]

He's a monitor lizard :) A very big one at that!

[@briann.1365]

I assume he craps and pees everywhere right?

[@phantagirlable]

No, they don't like going where they live and even when kept in a cage they pick out a loo spot as far away from their favourite hangout space as possible. They are very cleanly animals by nature.

[@h.a8681]

only in hampshire bruh

[@powerboatguy2308]

Isn't there an infection risk if he bites you?

[@ginam5497]

that goes for most things the do have venom tho

[@derpestarzt]

It won't bite, they don't snap out of the blue, if it hates you it will puff and hiss and u would know not to go close.

[@mechwarrior13]

Maybe you shoulda left him in Tanznia.

[@WayTooCwazy]

He’s over fed

[@phantagirlable]

He looks perfect and like he just ate the day before or that day. I nature they gorge themselves on a prey animal, even a big one, and then don't eat for a couple of days. Their belly then looks big until it's digested.

[@gloriaewing3309]

where do you get one of these and how much in mississippi does anyone know???

[@gaminggaming6845]

I recommend you don’t get one if you aren’t experienced with lizard care because they can be very dangerous if not looked after. I’ve personally seen one cut someone’s thigh open pretty bad

[@HonkeyKong54]

I'd get a small lizard first imo. Seeing this monitor does not mean you'll get the same monitor. They can do serious damage. The monitor in this video is chill and seems slow but when they want to they can lunge fast as f and grab onto you and you could lose some fingers from the damage. Go watch a komodo dragon running after prey to get an example of how quick bigger monitors can be.

[@samanthageach3146]

And this is the problem with this kind of video. He should have mentioned that these animals are extremely hard to tame down and can do serious damage. He makes it sound like keeping a blackthroat is an easy, inexpensive thing. It's not. Also that you can just free roam them in your home immediately without YEARS of diligent socialization every single day with no days off. It's a really inaccurate view of what keeping large monitors is like for 99% of people. I rescue reptiles and there are so many new reptile keepers who go from having a ball python or bearded dragon that they failed to even meet the needs of, then jumping into monitors, getting overwhelmed, becoming afraid of the animal, and making it someone else's problem after doing irreparable damage to that animal through not providing enough UVB and causing them to get metabolic bone disease (MBD), or making an aggressive animal through lack of interaction and socialization. These animals are for seriously experienced keepers. They are expensive to keep too. Exotic vet bills are crazy, 24" UVB bulbs aint cheap, their food isn't either.

[@3DFella]

I would love to own a lizard like this, they’re SO CUTE! But I wouldn’t wanna have to feed them live animals…

[@alanlawson1263]

You could feed whole raw chicken. It'll be missing some protein, but they make supplements for lizards that'll take care of that

[@Akartavor]

Looks "well fed".

[@phantagirlable]

No, looks like he has eaten that day, which makes sense when having a film crew around.

[@alecboi777]

omg dimetrodon

[@bobeslami9770]

Is it possible to train and raise a komodo dragon? I love komodo dragons

[@aaronmontgomery2055]

It is technically possible as they have a comparable intelligence to a golden retriever. Illegal as they are endangered but it is possible however their venom will still be a danger. Still better than having a pet bear or tiger though.

[@snoopdogssb2]

a crocodile without teeth

[@shvlhed1975]

They actually have a mouthful of teeth.

[@bigchungus6853]

are you kidding me?? this isn't even a crocodilian, it's a lizard, and they have a lot of sharp teeth. The thing with monitor lizards specifically is that they have thick gums and their teeth are only really visible when they're using them to take your fingers off

[@snoopdogssb2]

@@bigchungus6853 yes but look like crocodile without teeh

[@cuteduckdontlie4636]

I hope and Rex 🦎 are still together and got that woman “the girlfriend” out of their lives. When she said about Rex skin on the tub. I was thinking get her out now. 😂 you and Rex can have a good life by yourself. 🙏🏻

[@noodles169]

Make sure you keep him fed, or he won't be docile for long

[@skeveharvey]

this dude tryna avoid payin taxes

[@isathegoat100]

Everyone gangsta till they find out who his ancestor is 💀 (it’s mosasaurus)

[@alop9535]

Milf

[@BabuRaj-pr8gt]

Megalania, not mosasaurus 😀

[@acedemiaomnilvx8418]

Scp 682

[@rajaadeel8144]

Y

[@prajwallimbu3495]

Girls here ur 6 footer

[@rodneyspears7458]

Why would someone want a lizard for a pet?

[@Manni1906]

Why on earth do you wanna have this as a pet ?? 🤦🏼🤦🏼🤦🏼 the WRLd doing too much

[@TheRhythmOfLife1972]

Totally nuts as he still a wild animal with germs. Your playing with .

[@yaseentv1078]

Black throat monitor

[@anthonychan4571]

I thought only weird people keep large lizard like that. I maybe wrong but lizards are not my kind of pet

[@blackbirdboy]

That is so close to being fascinating.

[@Woroc62]

He eats chics? Woow

[@Grundig305]

One ate its owner while he was sleeping.

[@jackiebennett6304]

Is this a kimono dragon????

[@sauce1232]

Read the title

[@shvlhed1975]

It's a black throat monitor.

[@jackiebennett6304]

@@sauce1232 if you can’t answer the question then get lost

[@bigchungus6853]

@@jackiebennett6304 you don't have to be pissy at him. Also it's komodo, not kimino. This is a monitor lizard, komodo dragons are also monitor lizards, but this is not a komodo dragon. Komodo dragons are far larger, less fat and WAY more dangerous. This is a black throat monitor as hershal said

[@jackiebennett6304]

@@bigchungus6853stay in your lane. Mind your own business.

[@ronin7590]

Is this a fully grown adult?