Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just acquired a 90 gallon stock tank/koi pond. It is rougly 3ft X 3ft X by 2ft. I have kept lots of snakes over the years and have decided to delve into keeping lizards. Unfortunately, there are no pet stores around here, so feeding crickets may be a problem. Are there any communal (I would like a 1.1), terrestrial monitor that would be fine on a canned diet? I had blue tongue skinks once that never really needed any crickets, can any monitors be kept the same?
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1.0 snow corn snake '02
0.1 butter corn snake '02
0.1 hi-red corn snake '02
0.1 CB KY locality corn snake '02
1.1 Texas Baird's rat snake '00
0.1 black rat snake '03
1.1 Het for albino and albino radiated rat snake '02&'03
1.1 tri-color hognose snake '03
1.1 albino striped Cal king snake '01
1.1 black king snake '01
1.1 black milk snake '01&'02
1.1 pueblan milk snake '03
1.1 African house snake '03

I do not have a lot of experience, but the 3x3x2 is not big as monitors go. For the size, an ackie or storrs are the only ones I can think of, but these species are mainly insect eaters with some rodents. Since you say you can't get crickets, I don't think there are any monitors for that size stock tank. As far as canned diets, these are not the best choice. Monitors do best with insects, rodents, chicks, quail, etc., depending on their size and dietary requirements. Perhaps someone else has a suggestion for you. Good luck.

Pam

with that size cage you would definately have to choose a small species of monitor... and I would only put one ina cage that small. cage size in general is (2x the lenght of the animal) by (the length of the animal) so for a 2' adult monitor I would go with 4' x 2' minimum... and that isn't very big....
many species of monitors grow between 4'-8' and need an enormous cage.

as far as food goes... monitors need varied diets... but mainly rodents and insects... both can be ordered over the internet if there are no stores near you but that can mean ordering in larger quantity. I only feed my black throat canned food once every 3-6 months... he eats chicken, fish, turkey, eggs, occasionally a bite of steak... but again mainly whole foods are recommended. About 2/3 of his meals are insect and rodent (whole foods) and the rest is an assortment of various other meats.

Monitors are much more to deal with than a snake, so make sure you want the extra responcibility before you take it on... my friends still think I'm crazy for wanting a Lizzard that will be 5'-7' long knowing that it might have the personality of godzilla... but I just reply that I took on that responcibility knowing full well what could happen. You have to be prepared to take care of an unhandleable animal... Luckily My monster likes me (unless I try to force him to hold still) he is 8 1/2 months old and 3' and growing.

3x3 should be fine for some species, storrs, caudos, gilleni and on the larger side ackies (some of those species are rather rare, and not easy to come by). It is also big enough to keep more than one, at least at times. With more than one, you should always have the option of separating them if need be, no matter what size the cage is. So if you can't set up another cage that will be left empty most of the time, it's probably best to only get one.

You can have crickets shipped, get 500 or 1,000 a pop, and set up a cricket bin. Even if you had a pet store that sold crickets, it is very expensive to buy them that way. My ackies are fed both crickets and mice.

Good Luck,

--Robert

you can but you shouldnt for the simple fact that most monitors in my experience need a variety of foods to be as healthy as they can, for example, my blackthroat eats canned diet, crickets, goldfish, ground turkey, mice, and superworms, i have also started giving him some scrambled eggs from time to time. Variety is the spice of life for these lizards. One option to this is getting a cricket contract, or buy bulk, they last a while and are easy to care for.

From looking at your vast collection of snakes I am going to safely assume that youre not feeding them a canned diet? Get a monitor that eats rodents if you dont want to deal with crickets. Unfortunately for you none of the non-cricket eating monitors can live in a 3x2x2 box. But mide sized cb monitors would be the best bet for you since you are a newbie to varanids. Email Frank Retes and ask him about his flavi/argus crosses. Good mid sized monitors that you dont need to feed cricks to.

am

I have always really liked monitors and over the years have had a few in my collection, sometimes very briefly. I recall having some blue tongued skinks that would mostly eat boiled chicken, veggies and other prepared diets. I thought maybe some species of small monitors would eat the same, with out the veggies. I think I'll stick with a lower maintenance animal for right now, while I'm still in college. As soon as I have more room though I will deffianetly be acquiring a pair of Kimberly rocks and maybe some Gilas. Thanks for all your help.
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1.0 snow corn snake '02
0.1 butter corn snake '02
0.1 hi-red corn snake '02
0.1 CB KY locality corn snake '02
1.1 Texas Baird's rat snake '00
0.1 black rat snake '03
1.1 Het for albino and albino radiated rat snake '02&'03
1.1 tri-color hognose snake '03
1.1 albino striped Cal king snake '01
1.1 black king snake '01
1.1 black milk snake '01&'02
1.1 pueblan milk snake '03
1.1 African house snake '03