Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everybody!

Figured I would post a pic of a Nile that I got as a rescue.
A guy impulse purchased him at at a garage sale along with some 1" red eared sliders. The seller told him it stays small, about two feet, and that he could keep it in a 20 gallon tank forever. But when hes wife did some research she made him get rid of it.

This monitor was 15" when I got him 6 weeks ago. I've been feeding it about 20 large roaches (eublaberus prosticus) per day and 3 mice per week. Now he is 2' long. He is still a little deffensive, hisses and whips his tail sometimes but does not bite any more. I don't pick him up because I don't believe in trying to "tame" monitors so I am working around him in his cage. He is slowly getting used me. He is very curious and comes up to my hands to check them out sometimes when I'm cleaning his tank. I tryed Franks hand feeding mice with a welding glove method and he is very responsive to that.

Oki, enough for now.

Thanks for looking // Tom

Thats is a very pretty Nile. Please post more pics if you can.
thanks
Robert Faust

Hi Robert!

I will try to take some more recent pics soon.
As of right now all I have is pictures taken the same day as the previous one and they are quite similar to the one posted.

// Tom

I have cypress mulch but it doesn't look as broken up or as soft as your bedding... is yours mixed with soil? Or is there a good cypress mulch brand you would recommend.

Hi!

Well, I do not use strait cypress mulch for my monitors.
The mixture you see in the picture is a blend of about 65% peat moss, 25 coconut fiber and 10% cypress or so. This mixture holds enough moisture and actually holds a burrow pretty good as long as it doesn't dry out completely. I maintain the humidity levels by daily misting of the tanks.

// Tom

WOW! Really good substrate info guys! I have been using only pine shavings as this will not hurt his digestive system if ingested. I have watched him unsuccessfully try to burrow for days now. I was sad for him digging at the same plastic cage floor day after day. And yes, GREAT photo! Full spectrum lighting? And what do you recommend for ambient temp and humidity?
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