Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone. ive had monitors before but never one this size and healthy.
attatched is a pic of my new lizzy. she is about 3 1/2 foot long adult.

she does not bite but a little squirmy.

gotta trim her nails because she cut me up good with them.

any tips on keeping mangrove adults.

i have her in a 4 foot long by 3 feet high/deep/ wooden cage with a big water bowl and a heat lamp on top.

i plan on feeding her much rats and ground turkey, fish and whatever else she will take.

it is captive grown and been raised as a pet for 3 years.
i want to give it a good home and give it what it needs so tips are welcome.

thanks alot

tom

That's a nice mangrove. I would suggest taking out that substrate, and replace it with dirt and or a dirt/leaf litter mix. At least a foot of it. You can get some decent soil/sand/peat mixes at Home Depot. It's fall, so you can go out and get a bunch of fallen oak leaves. Then lay a bunch of bark slats or pieces of plywood around (on top and inside the substrate). This will allow lots of hide spots - mangroves will be hidden most of the time. Allow this. Build up some basking areas under your light, with basking temps up to 150. Cool end of enclosure around 80. Keep humidity up with proper ventilation (small opening about half way up the side. Pour water into substrate periodically to keep humidity up. Keep cage humid, but not wet. Feed whole rodents as your mainstay.
All this while you make another cage, as your cage size is far too small for the animal in question.
Hope this helps. Take care.

thanks for the imput.

yea i was thinking he needed more room.

the cage he is in is 7 foot long 3 foot high, but it is devided in the middle with my green tree python on the other side.

im thinking of takeing out the devider and giving him the whole cage and find a new spot for my GTP.

Nice mangrove. Its always nice to see pics and hear about mangroves on this forum. They are not mentioned here too often.

Do you have any pics of your monitor and its enclosure?

il have more pics tonight you can count on that

Nice looking mangrove. Good luck!