I never bought the nile with the idea of it being small and then it got too big for me type mentality so the size was not an issue.
I was kid who wanted a T-rex for a pet, but they were extinct, so than I wanted a Komodo but you couldn't get them, mind you this was when I was very young. I was always aware that you could get niles for pets and was aware that they got at least 6ft but I had no interest in them as a child because they only got 6ft.. As I got older I realized that a 6ft lizard really is a decent sized lizard. I studied up on them as best I could (with very limited info and that savanah book by Michael Balsai as a guide....not so good but what was available at the time.) and went from there. I had not yet learned about waters that came a bit later. Anyway I got him with the intent of keeping him. At first I kept him in a 29 long that I bought at about the same time as I bought the nile. At this point in time keeping monitors in tanks until they outgrew them was how things were done. Money was no object for me at the time as far as what I could spend on housing but I quickly figured out that he would outgrow any glass tank I could buy. At that point I built his first custom cage (with very few carpentry skills. and no tools) which was 4'x5'x4' high. I cut a hole in the center with a skill saw (not easy but I did it...I hadn't learned about jigsaws yet.) to fit a kiddie pool in the middle of it. Not all that great now but not that bad at the time given my limited knowledge and lack of carpentry skill at the time and still much better than a tank. Ultimately he had an indoor cage that was 12x 6x6 and an outdoor cage that was 10x10x10 (originally an iguana cage.).I am currently working on some outdoor cages bigger than that for some of my waters.

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