Hi Matt, your missing the point. No, keeper should keep baby ackies in an adult cricket bin.

The point is husbandry and I do not care how long you or I have been breeding lizards, I first produced lizards in captivity, 48 years ago. I am still learning and in fact, I learn more now, and that is due to that experience.

In this case, its about providing normal shelters, so that "BABY ACKIES" can escape from insects, again in context, uneaten crickets. The context is NOT GAINT UNEATEN crickets, but normal sized that they did not eat, during a previous feeding.

Monitors, and ackies are monitors, do not sleep in the open, if given the ability to shelter, they never sleep outside a shelter. Shelter is required both in nature and in captivity, as its part of their NORMAL ability to stay secure from harm, which includes, predators, prey and extreme conditions.

So yes, if your keeping a baby ackie in a glass tank on paper towels, then excess insects can bother or harm a baby ackie. The point is, thats a horrible way to keep ANY BEHAVIORAL LIZARD(VARANIDS) Don't do that, hahhahahahahaha give them a life!

Others species, like Beardeds and Chams, do Sleep in the open, but they have their own methods of preventing that stress. They sleep high out on branches.

The question was, should the crickets be removed or left and allow the monitors to consume them. The answer is either. I guess if folks are not aware of common sense, then I must add, "WITHIN REASON". It is and was common practice to feed daily, then not add more until excess crickets dissappeared.

That you argue this point, brings up APPROACH, and there are many.

I think of husbandry as what supports the captive in as normal a way as possible. Which means, if the captive has the ability to do something, then support that. In this case provide the ackies with thier own natural ability to prevent that stress or harm by supporting them with deep substrate and crevices.

I am not a fan of preventive husbandry. Thats when keepers attempt to REMOVE all possible dangers.

As mentioned already, its not about possible dangers, it IS ABOUT PROBABLE DANGERS. In captivity, the probable cause for failure is 1. ignorance. 2., the captive escaping, door left open. 3. neglect. 4. a common important area of concern is CONTEXT. Much like these threads, keepers do not stay in context to the subject. To the point, varanids have and do resist captive success because they are not Colubrids, or Iguanids, or agamids, they are varanids, which REQUIRE security. Thank you, thank you very much

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