Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What would be an adequate cage size for a adult yellow monitor? Would a 4w x 2d x 6h work? Thanks!

No.

For adults 8x4x8
A heigth of 8 is much more practical then 6

If you plan to have a pair, I have to agree with Ludo.

I have 3 prasinus in a 5w X 2d X 6h. It works for them but melinus are much bigger.

The use all the space you can offer, if the cage is well set up.

A big male.
Not mine, photos from "La Ferme Tropicale" in Paris, Karim (the boss) and a french actress.

Think this guy is about 4 to 5 feet and more than 2kg.

I don't normally like monitors, but yours is very good looking.

Hi, just wanted to say, that`s a beautiful specimen (the monitor)!

That`s a beautiful specimen, too! (The actress, not the monitor)....

Ingrid Chauvin. Not the monitor, the actress.
Google is your best friend.

I think I`d prefer Ingrid Chauvin as a best friend, rather than Google..... (But that`s just me), whatever turns you on, as they say)!
Seriously, a really great looking monitor, in very nice condition, too, CLEARLY well looked after!

This is mine.
Two years old male.
Approx 4 feet and half, 1.5kg.

Not so friendly !

He loves mice, eats 5 to 10 a week.

He just try to broke my lense!

Teaste my whip?

Very nice, both the actress and the melinus.

I remember when Rare Earth attempted to breed them, when they first came in the states.

I visited his place and he had several large males near or greater then 5feet.

At the time I was surprised at how large they were.

At that time I have a female that laid eggs, to bad I was not so experienced at nesting then, and she was barely three feet(one meter)

What`s the opening, is it a separate part of the enclosure, and do you have any more pics showing the whole set-up? (Sorry if you`ve shown them before and I`ve missed them).

Another beautiful V. melinus, great condition too, well done!

It's a temporal setup of 2 box coupled and a "hall" betwen .
One box is 6x3x2 and the second is 4x2x2.

It's tooo small but just for a time, my "reptile room" is on work
and I look about a 10x8x7 for him and a girl.

In these small space I try to assure the essential, like hot spot, good gradient, leafs litter. For now all is ok. I've got him as a baby 2 years ago (one foot long).

the right part 4x2x2

Thanks for the photo, you did an excellent job! I see you use the high wattage lamp/s for heat, is that a Powersun/Megaray?

Thank's.

In the past (cage photo) I used Solar Glo (Exoterra) 125w. The same lampe than PowerSun. Now I only use PAR38 60w or ordinary spot.

I actualy use 100w Megaray for acanthurus and Bright Sun 70w 'desert' for another acanthurus trio. They love the Bright sun with his very bright light and his hot spot in the 65 to 70°c.

Thanks for the lighting details, I too use the high UVB emmiting lamps (Megaray), but now I`m convinced that given optimum conditions, varanids in captivity don`t require UVB to remain in good health and productive for many years.
I was MOST impressed with Frank Rete`s results (no arguing with those)!!
I use them just now only because I have already bought them, and they are good for keeping the ambient temps up.
As you know, it can get VERY cold here in Europe at certan times, so it works for me, and it has to be said; there`s no evidence that UVB lamps, used as directed, are harmful.....

I was very impressed with Frank results to. The best approach I've seen for years. I look for all FR's posts here and on V.net and try to export this approach on french forums.
I use uvB for some of my monitor, and not for others. Like you I've already bought these lamps and for the same technical reasons ; they are good for the job in some of my cages. Yes, we are not in Australia or Arizona!
The Bright Sun are small Metal Halide lamps and light is so beautiful! The avantage here is small size, so you can have a MH lamp in a small cage.

London zoo here in England use metal halides, excellent quality of illumination, expensive to buy, but very economical to run.
I think I`ll give them a try later, I know they need an external ballast.
I think even a 70watt would sufficiently light a (relatively) large enclosure.

Your just using a good looking girl to get more views!! lol

monitor looks nice as well!!