Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a well established boa breeder that has had great luck, but fall short on the end of monitors. Yet they have always intrigued me. About two years ago I tried (with some of your help) to breed a pair of adult timor monitors and have been successful but I have always been partial to Argus's so this year I decided to try them. I picked up two cbb babies. Don't even know if i will have a pair yet but hope for the best. I'm constructing a 12x10x6 outdoor enclosure for them.With two stocked ponds and a sunk tub, all with under ground piping and drainage plus filtration systems for the ponds.I'm stuck though due to that I live in central Florida ,will they be okay outdoors all year and if not what size min. would i have to have for an indoor enclosure. Would it be better to separate them inside for the winter. Please don't think with me asking minimums that I will go with that I just need a starting point. I have read a lot of your threads and bigger seems to be better but feeding is difficult right now. They are in two 4x4x3 cages yet they are only about 16" and 24" long. Any advice would be appreciated.

HI,
considering I keep Argus in a similar way to your description, I'm guessing my experiences may be helpful.

I keep my Argus in outdoor Aviaries during the summer, but even though I live in San Diego where the winters are mild, it's still much too cold for monitors. In fact, I lost a monitor a few years ago trying to keep them outdoors year round regardless of the heated hides. Your idea about the large pools sounds nice, and I did that as well, but I find it to be an unnecessary pain in the ars with this species. Sure they'll get in there and soak, but I think they'll benefit more from all the solid ground you can offer. Plus, you'd be amazed at how much dirt they can accumulate in the water.

During the winters, I keep them in large cages in my garage. The male and female will usually make it through the winter without being separated, but that wasn't true this year. After laying eggs a month ago, the female showed more aggression with her nest guarding and ripped into the males foot. They had to be separated for a couple weeks until those aggressive hormones are flushed out. Point is, always be prepared to separate the monitors if need be.

Thanks for the info. Do you have your adults in seperate setups till breeding or does it matter.also if I have two females do trios work for arguses.can you give me the dimensions of your enclosures especially the indoor one.

If any one has pics of argus enclosures please post.I'm not really needing layout but exterior wall and roof material idea plus hide boxes and heat sources for large out door enclosure.

Although my indoor cage has been successful in leading to many eggs and babies, I'll be the first to admit that it's way too small for this species at 8x4x7 (lwh). I feel a bit guilty keeping them in there throughout the cold months. I wish I built it larger.

Keeping the eggs safe, and the female safe during feeding time from the male required me to build a large nesting box that has a hole just small enough that the larger male can't squeeze through. Her food is offered to her inside this box where she can eat in peace. In addition, she lays her eggs within this box as well.

By any chance did u get my message

tring to upload pics of the babies but can't figure out how.

upload images to photobucket then put direct link in between

here's my female Argus and a juv poss. male

your going to have a lot of excitement with them

Bryan

oops it didnt show
just go to tools and toys at the bottom right when posting then look for the img photo
hope that helps

Thanks ill try that tonight. What makes him a possible male.

Its basically just a guess based on its body frame, the breeder i got him from is not 100% but he said most likely it is a male. I'm hoping it is a he but it doesn't matter really as i can get a pure male argus anytime. The female i got from him in sept. was a little bit bigger and he said it was for sure a female and i trust his judgment. She already laid eggs but i lost the clutch which sucked.

That sucks. What size is your enclosures do u have them together or do u have them seperated till breeding.

I have my female argus paired up with an argus/flavi cross until the other pure argus is old enough. There in a 8x4x4 with 1 to 2ft of dirt with a lot of hides, i just redid the whole thing today. My female has been really aggressive towards the crosses lately so i moved the male crosses out for a while and since i added more dirt and more hides there hasn't been any problems so far. Im making bigger cages in the summer time for them, im planing on 1 or 2 12ft cages

Did you mean 12x12x12 or what because I think I'm going to end up with a 14x28x8 for my pair outside.

Your lucking you live where you can house them outside about half the year.
The cages i plan on having are 12x 4or6 x 6 (LWH) , im tight on space inside so im having a shed built that will be holding my bigger cages.

Bryan

Actually I am planning on keeping them outside all year round sort of. Inside their big cage is going a large shed which will be a/ced and turned into their indoor enclosure yet outside. It will take alittle more money and work yet they will be self contained the shed also along with the entire enclosure will have removable partitions incase any problems would arise giving each argus a 14x14x8 cage for them selves. There is a lot more detail to it but it gives u an idea for using outdoor space.

Congratulations on being able to have cages that size. This should be the goal of everyone who has the space to build large cages. hopefully one day we will have a world without any monitors in glass aquariums. The point of the hobby shouls be to have a few animals in amazing exhibits not see how many you can cram into a rack on newspaper.
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"Create then surpass your expectations"

Thanks that is something I believe always go big but not to take you down a notch I also started small ten years ago I don't blame any one for having monitors in aquariums or boas in rack systems as long as they are always building more and bigger setups for them and not leaving them there for life. The only reason I bring this up is because I was once told that a small bird aviary with 20 birds is no better than a large one. With 2 birds when u look at the size they have in nature.always think big.

I also started small with my first garter snake over twenty years ago and went through a faze of rubbermaids stacked on top of each other I peaked at over 80 animals in a one bedroom apartment 20 of which were pythons over 15 foot long. so although I realize i sometimes come off as a little preachy I realize that everyone goes through stages in this hobby at different rates I just want to help others from making the same mistakes I made and helping the animals in their care have the best possible care they can.
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"Create then surpass your expectations"

No actually please preach on because I wouldn't be here if I knew every thing about monitors.

Hope I did not offend you guys/girls its just a topic that drives me nuts because its not right that some of us have bigger setups than I have seen in zoos so its not the money its the education. And sadly there will always be idiots putting a burm in a 4x2x2 cage and hoping it will only grow to its enviroment.

p ok styil cant get pic to show up

load your images on photobucket, or some photo hosting site. Then just copy the image link and paste it here.
It will look something like this:
[img}http://blablabla.jpg[/img]

thanks ashy first two are of the baby and last is of the juvie. will post more in thier cage as soon as i can was just showing pattern to some one else.

one more time or i quit
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You gotta preview your posts if you are putting pics up.