It's no secret that water monitors are one of the ultimate pet-quality big lizards, and to find an albino in the wild is just plain dumb luck. Our pair may represent the only albino water monitors in captivity, and it's been an amazing opportunity to work with them thus far. We believe this to be a caramel albino form, with the yellow-and-lavender body and bright red eyes.

The male originated from Indonesia, he appeared in a skinning station and was almost fated to be a gorgeous yellow handbag. Haute couture? Hardly! Fortunately someone noticed that under a crust of mud and dirt this animal was an unusual lemon yellow. He came to us skinny and missing the end of his tail. At first we were very nervous because his parasite load was extremely high and full of tapeworms among other nasties. We were able to worm him successfully, and with time and TLC he has grown into a big wonderful beast who does not like me one bit. In fact, he is very shy and will occasionally try to charge me when he feels cornered. Once in hand he is quite reasonable and calm, but he is really just biding his time & waiting for a perfect opportunity to run away from me. He has another trick: if I try to mess with him after he has eaten he will regurgitate on me! So much for gratitude over literally saving his hide.

I have raised 4 virgin females that live with him in his 12' long walk in cage. After several scattered first clutches from inexperienced females we have our first fertile eggs! Personally I am very proud of this because I have never bred water monitors, and I get to start with hets as my first babies.

The existence of another albino water monitor was recently brought to our attention. After seeing the pictures we realized that it was the same mutation. To top it all off, the second albino was actually a female! So after some deliberation I robbed a bank and acquired her. This lovely monitor is a perfect young adult, and the project excites me even more now that there is the potential to hatch a first generation of albinos from the beautiful yellow-and-lavender adults. Keep an eye out for future updates on the female as she makes herself at home at NERD.

We currently have a 75-pound normal-phase water monitor that is one of the sweetest beasts you will ever meet. Interactions with him have made me long for the day when an albino of his size and demeanor is a reality. Needless to say there are high hopes for the albino pair in the future! Lindy Johnson from Freedom Breeder is our partner in this project.