Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My family and I are moving to Canada. We have an agressive large Nile (5' or so), 10-11 years old. Our dilemma is what do do with her.

We love her dearly and would love to take her with us. However so many issues arise. We will be moving at the end of October, thus it will be cold in Canada. We don't have any good ideas on how to keep her warm during the six days we'll be on the road. Border patrol, even with proper documentation, may also pose problems. We will not be able to secure housing for ourselves until after our arrival and we will be renting. Her tank right now is really too small (4 x 4 x 8). Finding a place where we can house her suitably makes finding a place to live that much more difficult and we'll have to keep her warm during the housing search as well.

I want to do the right thing by her and I worry this trip might be too much. I'd love to hear some feedback from other people who love their Monitors.

The range of the Nile in Africa is large. They do have seasonal changes and in some areas, temps drop into the 40s at certain times of the year there. Of course they find burrows which may maintain a stable buffered temp level at night and such.
You may consider building an insulated crate full of dirt and using flex watt and regulate to stabilze the temps, hook it up to your car battery or buy another as a power source. How cold does it get in Oct.? in Canada. I don't know. May not be needed.
They do go thru aestivation in the wild with lack of rainfall periods/shortages of food.
Not sure about Canadian laws regarding herps, you should look into that and get the proper paperwok. Get a note from your Vet, if needed? It's your family "dog" just a different species.
I'm sure some guys from Florida witnessing the feral Niles can comment on cooler weather behavior.
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Thanks! Did not know it got as low as into the 40's in their natural environment. Snow is a definite possibility on this move. I'm pretty sure we can rig up at least some sort of heat source for her and heavily insulate her in a smaller enclosure. I think once we get there we can at the very least get her into a heated environment. She's a pretty hearty girl. I'll be sure to feed her a couple days before the move to ensure she's not trying to digest anything during the move.

Any other ideas or input is greatly appreciated!

Cherie

I need a female for my 5 foot male. Are you sure its female? If so, please reply.