Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My savannah enclosure now is 8'x8x6. It was for 2, but they don't get along, so only 1 is inhabiting the enclosure now, and she only stays on about 50% of the enclosure (the hotter end). I have the chance to take in a nile monitor, and my plan is to simply split the cage down the middle with a sheet of plywood and have a sav on one side and the nile on the other. I am just wondering if their requirements are too different to have them so close to each other and am wondering if both will get everything they need with this situation here.

Suggestions?

Ideas?

Tell me I'm retarded?

I just read ProExotics section on Nile monitors and think it is executed very well. I'll be ordering the Faust book by next week. Also, everything in that section is the reason I am taking the Lizard, the person did not know what they got themselves into.

What are your plans for their adult size?
A four foot habitat is no good for either one.
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Mike

Well its 8'x4' x6' tall... The sav is full grown and has plenty of room right now.

Maybe you could figure out a way to split the cage half way UP that way you'd have 8'x4'x3' to work with per animal. Create a dam for the nile that allows 1 foot of substrate and 2 feet of overhead space...it would be a good start.

That is a good idea, but I think it would be too small of an area (vertical wise) to move around in for cleaning and other husbandry purposes. The nile is only about a foot long (i am guessing) i don't think it is even a year old yet, so it will have plenty of space (FOR AWHILE) until I figure something else out. Just trying to plan ahead a little bit. It will probably even mean just building on a whole new section for the nile and attaching it to the existing enclosure. I think the sav will be content w her 8x4 space., and the male seems happy in his 4x4 space.

>>"Tell me I'm retarded?"
Ok, your retarded.

Why slight the animal you already have by getting another animal to house in a space that's way too small. A healthy nile will get huge and will be highly active, perhaps much more so than a sav. A nile will need MUCH more than an eight by three or even an eight by four cage to really thrive.

This animal is housed in a 15x13 enclosure with an eight foot ceiling along with another. They use every inch of space. Both are over six feet. The one in the second photo is closer to seven. They use every bit of space, Horizontle as well as verticle. In my opinion, even this is way too small. They have a new cage in the works which is 10x18.

Man, that is a fantastic set up. I love niles.

what a SWEET set up you have provided for your niles. How do you handle the water tub, filling and drain i mean?

GREAT job
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Thanks
Chad Ramsey

I rescued my first nile back in February, he was 18" long.

He is now about 4 feet.

I build him a 11x5 enclosure, which he uses every square inch of may i add. And i have come to realize that this is NOT going to be enough from for him and will probably have to double his square foot to 11x10 in the near future.

Do yourself a favor and build a second enclosure. Save yourself AND your monitors some grief. If you do build a second one they will BOTH be MUCH happier.

this pic was taken about 2 seconds after i put him in for the FIRST time ever.

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Thanks
Chad Ramsey

Very nice enclosure Chad! That nile ain't too shabby either.

I installed drains on the water pans. I simply drain them into buckets and refill with buckets. Still, it's a lot of work draining and refilling forty gallons of water a day.

I use a python, drain and fill kit. It's like a waterbed drain and fill, it hooks up to the closest sink. It saves the wear and tear on my back of toting buckets of water.

Last I checked the opportunity to pick up a Nile was pretty much available to any person with $30 extra bucks. If by "chance" you mean free, you need to think about that. What is free?

Is it saving $20 or $30 here so that you can own a Nile for no up-front cost? Ask Sid how much that just one of those animals cost to feed and house correctly. Over the life of the animal (which depends on how you keep him) the amount you spend on food could likely buy you a Hummer by the time he is 20 years old.

Now that is assuming by “chance” you meant free. If you did not, please consider this. The way things are going, you will have Niles available for you for years to come probably still for 20 or 30 bucks.

A main consideration for you however should be that you have 2 Savs that you have tried housing together and thus far been unsuccessful...now you want to get a lizard that approaches 7 feet? That has failure written all over it.

Allow success with your first endeavor (2 savs), then CONSIDER moving on.

Mike.

At peak growth they ate six or eight large mice or chicks a day EACH. They began eating large mice and chicks at around six months. Find a rodent wholesaler and do the math on that one. Peak growth lasted from then untill about a year and a half. A proper cage of the size needed, the minimum will run you from six hundred to a thousand bucks. All totaled I spent a good thousand a piece raising the both of them. Consider also the fact that I am a contractor and my business absorbed most of the caging costs. Niles ain't cheap even they're free.

Both of those enclosures are awesome, I foresee some expanding in the future for the nile, for sure. I picked him up last night, he is only still not even over 10 inches, and he has a heart made of black and full of sin, everything I expect from a nile.

As far as the Savs being successful, I have found they are successful separated, and thats how they are set up now.

As far as the sav in the 8x8 enclosure, she only uses half the cage, and I think 8x4 is plenty of room for an adult sav. However, I DO NOT think that 8x4 is enough room for an adult nile, so there will definetly be some construction going down here in the next few months. But, like I said he is still a baby, I even have him in just a 4x4 enclosure now because I think he would just get lost in the 8x4 at this point, so I figure I have a year to build onto his side of the cage.

As far as financial endeavors go I work at the local reptile shop so i get feeders for next to nothing, in bulk. It's just the building materials that are the bite to the scrotum ; )

Wish me luck-

These are made of sugar and spice and everything nice.

God those are so awesome sidbarvin. I know Niles have black hearts full of sin just by nature, but yours seem semi calm/trustworthy, considering they are walking around the house like that).

Mine right now, is completely insane, and don't get me wrong, i fully expect and accept that. But I am wondering if there is anything you did or i can do that you have found in your experience (cause it looks like you are doing everything right) that can help me and the monitor to get along somewhat better?

Mine is also about 7 inches long; still a wee lad, and i know it will mellow out (somewhat) as it progresses with age, and adapts to the environment and so on, but any little bit of info or secret can help.

I also got the book by Faust on niles so I am reading up on everything else as well to further prepare myself.

Read the book. It is the best book that I have found for niles. It will definitley be helpful. Niles Rule. I have one that is 6ft and over 40lbs. Good luck. Make every experience with a nile a happy one. Never force anything upon him. Never, Never disturbe him in his hide. Good Luck. A nile is not for everyone. Have fun.