Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A pet store where I buy bulk crickets from just got 3 in. I handled one for a while and other than being a little squirmy, it was pretty well behaved. I've been kinda researching them ever since I saw a picture on this forum of the one tripodding(cool). If you have one or several let me know what you think of them. If you have any husbandry tips I'd like to hear about them.
As all my knowledge of them is literary in nature, would like to hear firsthand experience. Sharp looking monitors in any event.
Thanx for looking, Clint

well i just got one not too long ago, and hes pretty cool. He did nip me the other day, but he is still a little flighty and i had my hands in the cage getting his water dish out and he took a little run at me. Aside from that hes just hissy, but fine once hes out of the cage. Its true what they say about how active they are, so unless you want to listen to him scratch at the side of a tank or cage get him something big to live in.

I think they're great! You can find most of the information your looking for at Like Campbell's site. www.pizards.com This is the best site I've found on argus monitors. Good luck to you.

Thats the picture!!!!! I have been to that site a couple of times, I'm sure I'll go back a few more before I pick him up. I called the guy last nite and told him I wanted him, if he would take my Aus. Water dragon for a 50 dollar credit. He said "deal".
The cage I had the w.d. in will be the argus's cage. It's 40"l, 24"d, 30"h with some minor modifications and its good to go. This guy is about 18" total length. How long do you think this cage will resonably last. Also, do young argus use limbs to climb or am I better off furnishing the cage with stacks. It will have one for sure under the basking site. What about water dishes??, do they soak often enough to warrent giving up the floor space to a large soaking bowl. Is a drinking bowl more suitable.Thats it for now, I'm sure I'll have more in the future.
Thanx for the input I appreciate it, You can put me on the "crazy" list now. Clint

Here's what is working for me, but I am by no means an expert.
Your cage should hold for about 6-8 months (my estimate). I just got mine in December and she was about the 18" when I got her. She's grown about 6" since then. I started her off in a 29 gal. tank whis is 30Lx18"Hx12"W. I found this to be a bad idea. It was too small and she got a very minor case of cage nose. I have since built a juvie cage close to your demensions 48"Lx24"Hx24"W and she loves it. I believe they do like to climb at times, but a deep substate of dirt is more important along with plenty of hide spots. As for water, I offer a dish large enough to allow the monitor to soak. She doesn't soak often, but at times, I do catch her soaking. She usually soaks when she's shedding. I set my upper bask temp at 130 deg F at the surface. Do get some hemostats or something to put a little distance between your hand and food. My monitor is usually mild mannered, but is very aggressive at food time.
Hope that answers a few of your questions and welcome to the "crazy" club

Thanx for the info, anything that steers me in the right direction is less I have to think about concerning the setup, that way I can focus on that which I don't have figured yet. First thats alot of growth for what 2 months. What size prey items are you offering now and when you first aquired yours, how much are you feeding per day. The cage I got for him is melamine so I figured I'd line the bottom and sides with freezer board to try and reduce moisture penitration. How deep should the substrate be for that size of argus. I have it planned for 4" in the front and would slope it up towards the rear, But this could be easily modified if necessary. Lastly what kind of lighting wattage are you working with. I was going to get a 160 watt basking bulb, and either a 100 watt ceramic heat emitter or one of those heat panels. AS my room ambients are around 70 degres day and 60 degres at night. I have to have a non light heat source
at night as the cage is in my bedroom. I appreciate your input thanx, Clint

I feed per day. I may let her go a day off feed on occassion, but she gets just that more aggressive when I do feed her. She started off eating about 7-14 grams(1 to 2 fuzzies), this is about 1/4oz to 1/2oz. I feed till she's not interested anymore. Argus monitors tend to have a pretty rapid metabolism, so it's difficult to overfeed. I've thrown her a hisser and she "played" with it for a few minutes before finally taking the poor thing out. She is now eating between 14 and 21 grams now. I feed both insect and frozen mice. I'm getting ready to order hoppers.
As for substrate, I went 6" to 8" just all around. The monitor will pile it where it wants to anyway.. lol. But, what your going to do sounds fine.
Heating is a little more tricky. Wattage doesn't mean a whole lot when the distance isn't known. In my enclosure, it's about 2' to the bask. I'm using a 100W Halogen. My room temp is about 75 deg F, as I also house a water monitor and a 1.1 pair of butterfly agamas, I get some "parasite" heating from those cages. What I have found to be really useful is a good indoor/outdoor thermometer that can record min/max temps and humidity. I've bought 2 from Walmart, and they cost about 15.00 each. The outdoor probe is nice for measuring bask spot temps at the same time, you can measure the cage's ambient temp. Basically, what I do is trial and error. Setup the cage, use the bulb and heat emmiter you already have, and monitor the temps for a day or to to see if you need to make adjustments. I actually monitored my temps for about a week before I got my monitor,, just to make sure. Since my room nevr drops below 75 deg F, I don't worry about a night time heat source. In your case, you'll want to make sure not let the temps drop below 70.

I got two argus in early 2003, they were only a couple weeks old (10" or so long).

Originally they were in a glass tank 36x16x16, that lasted just about a month before they had to be moved.

The worst thing about argus that I see, is they make it painfully aware how small our boxes are. They just scream for a room sized enclosure or more.

It is very easy to get a male argus 3' in a little over six months. Must be, because I have done it, and I do not feed them everyday or bucket loads of mice either.

Jan 2003

Jul 2003

Nov 2003

Work on building something larger now, Good Luck!

--Robert

Nice pics, the one I'm getting is about 16", are your guys still fiesty, do you work with them, not that it much matters I'm prepared for the worst, but I'm sure we'll get along fine. I've got different cage configurations going through my head now. I live in wis. and I'm a mason which translates to no work for about a month, maybe month and a half, due to the weather. I'll get him in a permanent cage in early spring. If you got pics of your cages I would like to see some. I'm thinking stock tank base with plywood carcass. If you have any other advice I'm willing to listen. Thanx, Clint.

They are fiesty, but only in an argus, all talk no action way. I can touch them and they don't mind much, but they typically do not appreciate being picked up.

I do not understand people's fuss over argus, yes they are bold, they can tail slap real well, and they have a strong feeding response. But I have found mine to be much less prone to bite than say ackies, which will bite the second they get p/o'd (and for being small ackies have one heck of a good bite). That being said, use tongs for feeding, I doubt gloves would offer much protection once they get big. And food is the best way to get bit, across all the monitors I keep.

My argus are currently in a stock tank, with a 2' tall top, but that will change soon, I've got a 4x10x5 that I plan to put them in.

It's an old pic, but it's the only decent one I have right now.

What the enclosure is, doesn't seem to matter near as much as what is in the enclosure.

One other thing, sliding doors (you can use windows). Swing open doors do not mix well with agressive feeders.

--Robert

Great, the temp cage has swing out doors. At least I'll be prepared. I'm really looking forward to getting him. I'll be picking him up in a week and a half and getting the cage dialed in. I'm tring to decide on a supplemental heat source, I'm using a ceramic heat emitter w/ my ackies 60 watt for a 20 gal. Do you have any experience w/ radient heat panels, I'm considering getting one but have no experience w/ them. The argus cage is considerably larger than a 20 gal. I'm assuming I would need 100-150 watt heat emitter to heat it at night. I would kinda like to limit the amount of fixtures on the top of the cage. I'll already have two going for the basking spot, I figure anyways as I won't know till I have it set up and shoot with the temp gun. It'll be a few days. Thanx for the advice, Clint

Radiant heat panels are only good for controlling ambients. The largest problem I've had with controlling ambients inside the enclosure, is it the substrate tends to still remain cold. In the end I think it is much safer and easier to control the ambients in the room the enclosure is in, to some base level say about 70F and work the enclosure from there. The room/garage my larger enclosures are in, generally stays between 65F and 75F, and seldom deviates much from that.

Inside this temp range, the stock tanks can still have a good gradient with just 2- 50w floodlamps set up for hot spots. Larger cages require slightly higher wattages in winter (which requires the bulbs to be raised off the hot spot a couple of inches). Likewise ventilation needs change from winter to summer, in summer the cages are vented more, winter less. This is all very dependent upon conditions where you live. I live in Southern California, so humidity loss is almost always a concern.

Good Luck,

--Robert

These cages are in my bedroom now, daytime ambients range 70-75. My problem lies with the nighttime ambients of low 60's, I live in wis. that says it all. With the argus and the ackies stock tank I plan to minimize the ventilation, maybe even hang the lights on the inside to take as much advantage of the bulbs heat as possible. I'm mostly concerned with the nighttime ambients I cant decide on ceramic heat emitters or the radient heat panels. Is a under tank heater an option, I've read varieing opinions on that issue. Decisions, decisions I've got about a week to decide,
I just don't want to purchase an ambient heat source and end up Having it not work as I wanted it to. Thanx for the help. Clint

Mind you, I do live in SoCal and it tends to be fairly dry where I live. But my ventilation ducts even on a 4x6x5 is much smaller than the dome on a heat lamp. The beauty of floodlamps is they don't get too hot, they will not contact burn your monitor (they can burn in other ways though), Both the argus and goulds I have unscrew the light bulbs so I know they are touching them. I can unscrew them when they are on, try that with a ceramic (no don't, it will burn immediately).

Undertank would only really work if there wasn't alot of dirt in there, and that is one of the reasons to use a stock tank.

What I do in stock tanks, run 24/7 lights inside, and even 60F will probably not be much of a problem. Set it up now, and test it in the early morning (when it is coldest), see if you really need supplemental heat. In a stock tank, I would just use a higher wattage bulb (perhaps put it on a dimmer) if you are only off a little. Ceramics scare me, it is real easy to burn a lizard, or burn your house down, I'm not sure the heat panels are much safer on the burning the house down part.

--Robert

I dont know wuts more of a maniac a nile or a argus...LOL have fun w that 20 pound terror

Mines no terror. Feeds very aggressively, but she's actually has better temperment than my salvator. I've only been smacked one time and I instigated it. She had her tail cocked back and I moved my hand in range just to see if she would and got my answer. The smack wasn't that hard, it was more of a go away your bugging me type hit. Normally she's perfectly fine to be picked up for short periods of time and has NEVER tried to bite. So, comparing an argus to a typical nile....I don't see it.

Actually most are very high strung, That is what makes the crosses so desirable, you get the antics, better color and pattern but normally not near the beast.I would not put them on an even keel with Niles, but pretty close.
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Bawaa Herps
www.BawaaHerps.com
sales@bawaaherps.com
"Conservation through Captive Propagation"

I'm too poor to own one, they eat people out of house and home, you know. They are cool, but good luck keeping them fed if you have a pair.
Justin J