Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey heard you guys know a lot about monitor lizards, just came here to ask for advice and help. To skip everything and into the question go straight to the third paragraph and start there.

Okay my question is, I recently got a monitor lizard for my son, I did my research. The monitor lizard is an Asian water monitor. Well of course whats better than research? Talking to some people with experience. I already got the lizard and my thought was to just start his permanent cage since it is cheaper and easier to just start with something big then keep buying larger cages as he grows.

Well I already planned to use a room in the house, but some problems crossed past my mind as I was about to build it. This is where I need help.

Please give notice that I am a single father with a medium wage job and paying bills and rent and so on. The lizard was for his birthday.

Question:
1)I'm planning to set up the heater at one corner of the room. The lizard is 15inches long. I have a Cobra UTH and a ZM 250watt ceramic bulb, also have a 100watt ceramic heater to spare but last resort and a UV flour. bulb to use every day time. The room is big and can be 65F at night. The heated spot range is 75F-110F. My question is, will the monitor seek warmth if it gets too cold if it wonders to the other part of the room? I've set it up a bit today and he keeps wondering away from the heat and into the cold crevices around the other side of the room and napping there. I keep having to carry him back to the warm spot. Is it like a first few days kind of thing? Should I just let him find the warmth for himself? How harmful can the cold be to him?

John--- thanks by the way.

you may want to do this:

post another that says For Bloodbat

he keeps waters in room sized cages.

i don't know about space heaters though man, i think my electricity jumped up 60 a year when i had one in my garage. (720 more a year, ouch!)

andrew

Hi John. First thing first - let us know how big your monitor is. I am going to assume that it is a juvenile and is under 20" since that is the most common size available. The following answers will be based on that assumption.

Get the little guy into something where you can control the temps accurately or you will have a stressed out sickly animal very quickly. Even something cheap like a 20 gal. long aquarium will be ok for a month or two while the lizard adjusts. Perhaps the most important thing in raising these guys (or any monitor for that matter) is offering the proper temp gradient and in a room-sized enclosure, with the methods you are describing, there is no way to do it. For a little juvie that you just acquired, your ambients shoulld be around 85-90 daytime and around 77 MINIMUM nightime. Daytime basking should be between 115-130. I think a good idea for now since you do not want to go through alot of different size cages would be to wall off a section of the room maybe 4 feet by 2 feet in such a way that later on when you have a 3-5 foot animal, this section can serve as a cave or burrow. Forward thinking is key with these guys. I have found that in a big area they will not always seek the warmest spot, but will rather seek the most confining, stress-free area to the exclusion of heat. Again, I would suggest walling off a corner of the room and setting up your heating elements there so you can monitor and adjust temps more easily. Also be sure to provide a diggable substrate like cypress mulch or plain old dirt (my recommendation!) as well as lots of other hiding areas in various temp zones. Check out PE's care sheet and article as I (and others) believe their information on Waters is definitley the best starting point for raising one of these awesome animals. Good luck! Billy

>>Hey heard you guys know a lot about monitor lizards, just came here to ask for advice and help. To skip everything and into the question go straight to the third paragraph and start there.
>>
>>Okay my question is, I recently got a monitor lizard for my son, I did my research. The monitor lizard is an Asian water monitor. Well of course whats better than research? Talking to some people with experience. I already got the lizard and my thought was to just start his permanent cage since it is cheaper and easier to just start with something big then keep buying larger cages as he grows.
>>
>>Well I already planned to use a room in the house, but some problems crossed past my mind as I was about to build it. This is where I need help.
>>
>>Please give notice that I am a single father with a medium wage job and paying bills and rent and so on. The lizard was for his birthday.
>>
>>Question:
>>1)I'm planning to set up the heater at one corner of the room. The lizard is 15inches long. I have a Cobra UTH and a ZM 250watt ceramic bulb, also have a 100watt ceramic heater to spare but last resort and a UV flour. bulb to use every day time. The room is big and can be 65F at night. The heated spot range is 75F-110F. My question is, will the monitor seek warmth if it gets too cold if it wonders to the other part of the room? I've set it up a bit today and he keeps wondering away from the heat and into the cold crevices around the other side of the room and napping there. I keep having to carry him back to the warm spot. Is it like a first few days kind of thing? Should I just let him find the warmth for himself? How harmful can the cold be to him?
>>
>>John--- thanks by the way.

>>Hi John. First thing first - let us know how big your monitor is. I am going to assume that it is a juvenile and is under 20" since that is the most common size available. The following answers will be based on that assumption.
>>
>>Get the little guy into something where you can control the temps accurately or you will have a stressed out sickly animal very quickly. Even something cheap like a 20 gal. long aquarium will be ok for a month or two while the lizard adjusts. Perhaps the most important thing in raising these guys (or any monitor for that matter) is offering the proper temp gradient and in a room-sized enclosure, with the methods you are describing, there is no way to do it. For a little juvie that you just acquired, your ambients shoulld be around 85-90 daytime and around 77 MINIMUM nightime. Daytime basking should be between 115-130. I think a good idea for now since you do not want to go through alot of different size cages would be to wall off a section of the room maybe 4 feet by 2 feet in such a way that later on when you have a 3-5 foot animal, this section can serve as a cave or burrow. Forward thinking is key with these guys. I have found that in a big area they will not always seek the warmest spot, but will rather seek the most confining, stress-free area to the exclusion of heat. Again, I would suggest walling off a corner of the room and setting up your heating elements there so you can monitor and adjust temps more easily. Also be sure to provide a diggable substrate like cypress mulch or plain old dirt (my recommendation!) as well as lots of other hiding areas in various temp zones. Check out PE's care sheet and article as I (and others) believe their information on Waters is definitley the best starting point for raising one of these awesome animals. Good luck! Billy
>>
>>>>Hey heard you guys know a lot about monitor lizards, just came here to ask for advice and help. To skip everything and into the question go straight to the third paragraph and start there.
>>>>
>>>>Okay my question is, I recently got a monitor lizard for my son, I did my research. The monitor lizard is an Asian water monitor. Well of course whats better than research? Talking to some people with experience. I already got the lizard and my thought was to just start his permanent cage since it is cheaper and easier to just start with something big then keep buying larger cages as he grows.
>>>>
>>>>Well I already planned to use a room in the house, but some problems crossed past my mind as I was about to build it. This is where I need help.
>>>>
>>>>Please give notice that I am a single father with a medium wage job and paying bills and rent and so on. The lizard was for his birthday.
>>>>
>>>>Question:
>>>>1)I'm planning to set up the heater at one corner of the room. The lizard is 15inches long. I have a Cobra UTH and a ZM 250watt ceramic bulb, also have a 100watt ceramic heater to spare but last resort and a UV flour. bulb to use every day time. The room is big and can be 65F at night. The heated spot range is 75F-110F. My question is, will the monitor seek warmth if it gets too cold if it wonders to the other part of the room? I've set it up a bit today and he keeps wondering away from the heat and into the cold crevices around the other side of the room and napping there. I keep having to carry him back to the warm spot. Is it like a first few days kind of thing? Should I just let him find the warmth for himself? How harmful can the cold be to him?
>>>>
>>>>John--- thanks by the way.
>>