Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't know the true species name, but known as a dumeral. he is very passive. about 18" in body, just got him from the pet store that had him for 10months. I put him in a 6 foot cage, gave him a deep rubbermaid container with about 6 inches of water.My buddie who works at the store says that he would do it, but he sleeps underwater for hours. I think it is the wierdest thing. how can he do this? my sevana doesn't nor my nile. any cool books or links for info on dumerals? his feeding habbits are kinda lousy too.....

check out roughneckmonitors dot com. he breeds them. Varanus dumerilii are semiaquatic, but if he spends a great amount of time in the water tub he may be dehydrated and needs a more humid cage. check your humidity and check with the above named website for better answers than i can give.

Give it deep dirt to burrow in and possibly something to burrow under. It may be stressed and feels safe in the water. They do hang out in the water a lot, even when well acclimated.

What do you mean by his feeding habits are lousy? Dumerils tend to tear apart rodents unless the rodents are small enough to swallow easily. They love crawfish, shrimp, crab, etc.

Check out www.roughneckmonitors.com like jburokas said. Ben has a ton of info on that site.

Congratulations on getting a great type of monitor.

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Ed

he is a cool monitor. he is just passive and getting used to his home I think. my nile does this too. but they don't like to have you watch em eat. my sevana doesn't care. but the dumeral won't eat live. he wouldn't at the store either. I feed him a mouse about once a week. I have to thump it and then give it to him. he gets scared of the rodents. I am going to try crickets and see if that spices him up. He usually is just kinda lethargec overall in the cage. Like he is bored. Maybe more heat... I dunno. but how can he be underwater for hours and not drown?

He probably slowly sticks his nostrils out of the water with out you noticing it during those hours under water. Try feeding some cut up shrimp. They need to eat daily if possible. Keep the temperature at least 80 with a basking spot around 130 with plenty of places to hide. I am sure he will come around.
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Ed

I agree with the shrimp. Try crawfish as well. Mine loves them. They have lots of guts in the head side of their exoskeleton which provide nutrients that headless shrimp cannot. Remember that they are primarily crab-eaters and think seafood and bugs with rodents just occasionally. I learned all of this from the site roughneckmonitors.com, where I also got my monitor.
PS- crawfish are cheap, too.