Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I’m wanting to get a monitor or two…but I thought I’d “shop around” first to see what breed it best for me.

Hello, I'm new here...

I have owned & lost two savannahs. I got them as CB babies & they were eating like pigs, thriving and doing well. They were also relatively nice to handle. However, one weekend, we left and came back with no power in our house. It was below zero outside and inside, our house had dropped to 36 degrees. Both perished, along with all of my aquarium fish, but my beardies survived. That was almost five years ago and now I’m down to just one beardie, a red foot and I miss the monitors. Oh and we have a new house with new insulation, new windows and a woodstove.

So I’m looking for something that won’t get too huge and can possibly be handled without killing me, would be nice. Also, something that can be housed outside during the warmer months and won’t be hurt by our super- low humidity.

Ideas?

Oh and I also had Tegus (a trio) but I found them to be very aggressive most of the time, extremely shy the rest of the time and wonderful escape artists (you should have seen my mom when she came downstairs and they weren't in their cage!) Needless to say, I traded those off for some uros...so I don't want those again...but I did see some "Ackies." Are those nicer?

I own a 3 foot savannah monitor. YOu have had them so you know how they are. They are a nice sized monitor many other smaller monitors are expensive but If I were you I would probably go with either another savannah or I have heard from talking to people that ackies are a good choice.
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Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 California King Snake
0.1.0 Sulcata Tortoise
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
0.0.3 Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure
0.1.0 Australian Shepheard
2.1.0 Crazy Cats
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit
0.1.0 Ferret
0.2.0 Guinea Pigs
0.0.1 White Tree Frog
0.0.2 Fire Belly Newts
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad
0.0.1 Red Spotted Newt
0.0.2 Bull Frogs
Lots Of Fish

Yeah, I just keep hearing how the Savs are underpriced "throw aways" and such. I'm wondering if that is because they are mostly WC, or what? I don't want anything that will get TOO huge but at the same time I need something that does not require a ton of humidity because I'd like to house mine outdoors in the summers and we live in the freakin' desert.

Thanks for your help!

Hi, there are many types that could fit what your looking for. But, all species can have good and not so good individuals. And much of that depends on the skill of the keeper(you). So there is no such thing.

Another way to approach this is, by size. Monitors are hot blooded active lizards. With that in mind, Can you house even a medium sized monitor(Savs) in a decently sized cage??? Lets take ackies, normally a two foot long lizard, you could easily house them in an 8 foot cage. That is, a cage four times their lenght. Compare that to housing a medium sized monitor like Savs. Four times their normal lenght, Is 12 to 15 feet. Then consider, those sized cages are still torturiously small. Considering, both species can leave their burrow and walk a 100 ft in a very short time.

In this case, it may be far more important to think about what your doing for the animal, then what its doing for you.

Yes, its important to think about what the animal does for you. But out of respect for the animal, you should consider what you are going to do for it. Cheers

Well, I'm not a complete novice with herps in general, I used to breed Beardies and leos before those markets fell on their heads and then I bred Chameleons and uros, tried frilled, but had to give those up. I've only had savs & tegus as far as montior-sique things go. Now, I just keep a tortoise and a handful of beardies.

As far as the housing goes, I have a reptile room (a spare bedroom) right now, but nothing built that will house an adult monitor. (I just have a shelf/rack system in there now). And since I don't know of any monitors that brumate, I will need a large, indoor enclosure for them for the winter months.

For the last two summers, I have sucessfully housed my beardies outdoors and they did wonderfully. We have 10 acres with a lease on another 120 acres. So an outdoor enclosure would be possible during the warmer months but the winter, they would have to be housed indoors (we have below zero temps & 5 feet of snow at our elevation).

Sooo.....the other issue I would run into would be to monitor-proof the enclosures. Right now, my beardie enclosure is about 20 x 20 feet and we used fine mesh for the sides, which we buried down about a foot and flared under itself to help prevent digging. The mesh is small enough so that most insects and no birds can get in. The mesh is also small enough so the lizards cannot get their nails in to climb the sides. We built it up so it's about 6 feet tall and fully enclosed the top (think chicken coop) to keep cats/larger birds out.

However, I understand that monitors are larger, better diggers and much more powerful than my beardies...this is why I'm asking and trying to figure out which species may work best for me and that won't require super-high humidity, which is very hard to get in our environment. Plus, I'm an animal lover so I want to educate myself to give my potential monitors the best life I can.

Thanks!

~Heather