Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can a cage be too big for a baby ackie? i have a 5 foot long 1 and a half foot wide and 2 foot tall terrarium that i got for free and i want to get a red ackie monitor. ive been researching them for months but cant find the answer!

I could be wrong but I my opinion that size would be fine for an adult ackie. If you are getting a baby you might want to keep it in a 20 gal long or something for a while until it get's bigger. That's just my two cents on the matter but maybe one of the more experieenced people can give you a better answer.
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4.9.0 norway rats
2.0.0 degus
2.0.0 cats
0.1.0 german shepherd/lab mix
1.0.0 red ackie
0.1.0 leopard gecko
1.0.0 quarter horse

the problem with cage size doesn't actually lie with the monitor, but rather the keeper. a large cage like that only makes your job harder, and it can prevent your success.

with a large cage, and a tiny baby Ackie (or juvie) it is MUCH harder to keep track of daily health, of food consumption, progress, socialization, etc.

larger cages also tend to have larger escape routes. tolerances are often not as tight, and a baby Ackie will squeeze through an unknown gap before you sleep through your second night : )

start with a smaller cage for an acclimation period. a smaller cage allows you to monitor feeding, growth, and overall health. once you are confident of a terrific start, and the animal has put on some size, THEN you can jump into the larger cage, although you may still have the escape issues : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

thanks for the replies. well im gonna get a 20L but im just curious about one thing. Robyn, do you mean in a larger cage the ackie wouldnt be able to catch all the crickets it needs?
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-Marshall
1.1.0 ball pythons

Please consider, ackies, baby ackies, live in nature. No walls what so ever. Which means the same of the cage can be bigger then your house. hahahahahahaha

The point is control and your understanding. It may easier for you to set up a small to medium sized cage, better then a large cage.

If you have experience, then you can raise up ackies in adult cages. Its really all about you. If you set the cage up right, then it doesn't matter how large it is.

Its what your comfortable with. And its what you have.

I would think its not a problem to raise ackies in tanks ranging from a tiny ten gallon to a 55 to 75 gallon. None of those would be too large. Cheers

yeah, but this cage is huge. it's five fet long 2 feet deep and 1.5 feet wide. i was thinking the same as you, but then Robyn brought up some pretty interesting points. lol, this is what happened when i started this thread on a different forum!
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-Marshall
1.1.0 ball pythons
0.1.0 western fence lizard

Its you that has to decide, five foot is not big and 18 inches wide is not big either. I raise ackies in four and six foot troughs all the time. But I know whats needed as far as cage conditions.

For instance, if you do not know, and offer five feet of bone dry cage, then a baby will surely dry out quickly and die. But if you offer what you would offer suitable chocies as you would in a little cage, then it will be fine.

consider, a baby ackie can run five feet in one second or so. It would take a few seconds, 15 or 20 to walk five feet. Its simply not that big.

No matter what size cage you have, you still have to have the right conditions. Cheers

again, not about the monitor really at all. in a large cage, YOU will have a hard time monitoring food intake. you put in 20 crickets, how many were eaten? how many more should i put in?

in a small cage, you can rapidly assess how many are eaten/left, and adjust your portions accordingly. in a huge cage, those 20 can still be in there, just hidden in every nook and cranny, so you have no idea how many the monitor is eating, what a proper portion is (how much the animal will eat in a 15-20 minute "sitting" and the next thing you know, you have 300 crickets in the cage not only breeding, but stressing and eating the monitor itself.

start with the basics, as you learn, expand your focus : )

where was the other monitor forum you were on?
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

it wasnt a monitor forum. it was a place called reptile rooms. i dont go there often but the other forum i go to is a really good one called ball-pythons.net but its more about ball pythons obviously. lol.
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-Marshall
1.1.0 ball pythons
0.1.0 western fence lizard