Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know most most if not all monitors are diurnal, but would you need to have an area in their enclosure at night time that constantly has high temperatures needing for a basking spot?

Thanks
Keith S

You dont tell your monitor when they can bask, you let them decide when they want to do life events. If offered cool damp places to hide or to secrete themselves away to avoid light and most importantly heat they can sleep anytime they want and feel comfortable to do so. I run the basking lights 24/7/365 on every reptile cage I have. Money saved on timers can be used for more useful purchases like building bigger cages.

Hi Shvar

Now i see you have several monitors (from seeing the amount of different pics. you post) and i couldn't help but wonder, do you breed your own mice or rats to feed them? Seeing as you do have BTs and WTs, thats a lot of monitor and a lot of food. I would guess it would cost an incredable amount if you had to keep ordering frozen mice? Thanks

Keith S

2 Blackthroat/Whitethroat crosses (male and female), a male red ackie, and my fiancees female beardie. I help a friend with his animals, big collection (all kinds of reptiles, birds, etc). I order my rodents from RodentPro because they are big and fresh with a good price, I dont mind spending the money on them. If I had more room Id have a few more monitors yet, as I had to make room awhile back by giving my male Timor to some good friends. My ackie and the beardie eat lobster roaches (cheap nutritious food, I cant feed them off fast enough). My male BT/WT cross eats jumbo mice 2-3 every other or every 3rd day or so. My female BT/WT cross eats leftovers from him, large rats, large chicken peeps, and occaisional hissers, but she only eats once a week now as shes over 6ft and doesnt need to eat near as much as she did before. As I only use Miner-all with the insects I dont mind the expense.

Hi

Where do you get your lobster roaches from? and how much do they usually go for? I've been thinking about starting a superworm colony but from what i've heard it is a pain in the butt

Thanks
keith

No, you would not. I do not provide heat for my monitors at night aside from the room temperature of my house. In my monitor/reptile room that can be as low as 65 degrees at night. There have even been instances of low 60s and even 50s with no apparent ill effects. The balance to those low temperatures is that all my monitors/reptiles have the ability to bask throughout the day. I have done this for many years and have never had a problem.

So no, you do not need to provide heat at night, as long as your monitors can bask during the day.
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