Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How important is substrate for Monitors? Will the presence or abscence or type of substrate affect breeding?

Most importantly is fluid retention. Monitors, even if they are semi aquatic or arboreal live in burrows or under rockpiles etc. They do that because dirt holds moisture, holds consistant temps, and holds a burrow to accomplish these things plus safety from predators, stress,etc etc. Substrate or lack there of can lead to your monitor wanting to soak in a water dish alot, which shows you that its too dry and the animal wants to retain moisture. The long term effects of dehydration can show up especially if medical treatment is needed by dehydration liver and kidneys as well causing failure of those organs, many meds can add to dehydration of organs.

What type of substrate is best then? And how deep should I make it?

This is not potting soil, nor is it sand, or organic (man made dirt), nor is it cocopeat. I got the majority of my dirt from a creek or river bank then strained it (alot of work), I also added field dirt from the nearby woods and 60 lbs of sand to the hundreds of lbs of dirt. In Sobeks cage its 1.5 ft deep, Shadows is shallow (another one that needs a different cage), and my ackie has6 or so inches. I recently added some cocopeat to the dirt mixtures and soften it to help hold more moisture and not destroy my ackies claws so much, he wheres them completely down or rips them out alot in the harder dirt..