Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been interested in monitors for years but have never kept any yet since I've been in college. I am now looking at possibly getting a pair in maybe a year. I have always liked the arboreal species much more than the burrowing type, and I may be moving around for the next five years or so (so don't want to move hundreds of pounds of dirt several times). So, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a beginner monitor lizard that is also arboreal (doesn't require a foot of dirt)? I don't mind moving or building a six foot cage, but the thought of shoveling a cage full of dirt a few times sounds miserable. Any advice is appreciated.

Try using a mass of leaves, but still providing a tubs or boxes of dirt. IF you do choose an arboreal species, it'll still need elevated burrows and hollows. They love that stuff!

Keep in mind, with breeding, sometimes you will have to seperate animals due to stress issues.

I would say to look into timors. Timors stay pretty small are arent to hard to care for. Some of the arboreal species of monitors, like green trees, are a little harder to care for and shouldnt be kept as a first monitor (not to mention they are really expensive).

How heavy would a 4' by 2' metal trough be that has about a foot of dirt in it? Could two guys carry the thing? Green tree monitors are a species I really would one day like to keep, but probably not as a first monitor species. I have experience with other reptiles (lizards, geckos, tortoise, and colubrids). Are there species of tree monitors I could keep? I have over a year to plan, find a vet, etc. Let me know what you think.

Would be 'do able'. I recommend you put the trough on some dollies to save you from much work.

That's a good focus, just do your research. There are a few active forums with plenty of folks to help on tree monitor questions you may have. If you're interested in breaking yourself into the monitor world, try getting some of the cbb dwarf species available, like ackies and if you're stuck on the need to deal with an arboreal type, get tristis(another cbb aussie dwarf).

It depends on the type of dirt. My 4x2 trough with about a foot of dirt weighs over 600 lbs with just dirt that not counting what the cage itself weighs. Pack a lunch.

Anthony
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If you plan for 1 year, plant rice.
If you plan for 10 years, plant trees.
If you plan for 100 years, educate mankind.

After much reading, it seems like ackies are the ideal species for me because of their small size, relative ease of care, and personality. The one thing I can't get past is that I may have to move ~600 lbs of dirt once a year. Considering I would likely be living in an apartment, I wouldn't really have a place to just dump the dirt either. I like the tristis (especially the orientalis), but it seems like they're more shy. And since one of my main draws to monitors is to watch their behavior, this may be less than ideal. So my thinking right now is that I need to find a way to somewhat-easily move ackie's dirt or maybe I'm hearing wrong things about tristis?