Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, average temp 80 to 85, basking area of up to 130, space to move, large water dish (bigger the better), varied diet and reasonably high humidity.

They get to 6 feet, semi-aborial (sp) and what else?

ok, so why would you house it in that crappy octagon tank if you are asking these questions, or telling i should say. ps, please have this stuff figured out before you buy one next time. of course that wouldn't have been as fun, huh?
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Varanus Creations

Instead of being a smart-ass and assuming that was his perminent home you should've asked. Suppose I didn't know any better; do you think I'd be listening to advise given in such a fashion?

He's in a 60 gallon terrarium for the next year or so. That hex tank was only temporary. I was going to rearrange my animal room the following day. He spent a night in the hex tank before he went into his more perminent home.

Anyhow, how about some information. There really isn't much around on the internet, compared to a lot of other lizards that is.

Sorry, but it does.
When someone says, Hey, I bought the lizard, now tell me all about it....

No one is going to try and anticipate what you may need to know, and spend hours typing what is already written and available on the net. Its out there, go find it. Try reading about where rudis are from. Do you know what a mangrove forest, primary forest looks like? There are other varanids in Indo too. Read about those. Read about all varanids. Just because it doesn't say rudicollis in the title, doesn't mean you should skip it.

Finally, after you read all that stuff, and checked out the rudi sites, you will probably see your rudi do NOTHING that is posted about them. Mine don't. That's Ok, its nice to hear what others are doing. Each home is different, as is each animal.

When you post some specific questions, that show you are actually interested, people will be nicer.
Good luck.
D.

Here's a pic.

Well, I get the impression my post was misleading. It's not that I know nothing about them, I've read quite a bit, just never had one. I've wanted one for a long time, but never found any locally. I was at my favorite store (about 1 1/2 hours from my home) and they had one. I've wanted one and was interested in them, so I picked it up.

I've done several searches and haven't come up with much good. I've done searches on this site and one of the things I found consistently was COMPLAINTS because of lack of information about this monitor.

So, any serious pitfalls to avoid? That's what I guess I'm asking about in particular. Sorry for being vague and misleading.

is the 'arboreal' thinking.

A brightly lit cage, with a few branches in it, is not arboreal.

Concentrate on giving them dark places to hide. I covered my basking spot on three sides, so they would use it. If the male still wouldn't have used it, I was gonna staple fake vines to cover the remaining side, but he accepted it like it is. They need to hide.

They really like leaves. The damper and more rotted, the better.
They really like tight spots. Don't make the hides too big.

That's the other big pitfall, going by what someone else says. Only use it as a starting point. Try some stuff, and see what yours uses.
Good luck. D.

Here's what I have set up right now:

So are you saying that they need more climbing spots? I've got lots of hides set up right now, even one in the water bowl. It's a convew lava rock set up against the wall of the bowl, he can hide underneath it while still have lots of room to have his head out. He actually is in there quite a bit.

So, more aborial (sp) than a few sticks huh?

What would you recommend feeding a young BRN? Right now he's eating pinkies, crickets and young roaches.