Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, i put in the shelf and put the hotspot up there. The hotspot is 120ish. The temps in the rest of the enclosure range between 75-90 (obviously depending on how far he is from the hotspot) so that seems fine - but then again, ill be the first to admit i dont have a clue what im doing. *shrugs*

I wanted to go to park today but the whether simply wouldnt permit it so im really hoping i can get it done tomorow.
Also the dirt has compressed now, so ill be adding another 25 gallons of dirt tomorow just to top it off. Hopefully i can finish it up for him tomorow so he can get some peace.

My main concernt, though, with this modification is that the monitor doesnt seem all that happy to climb. I have yet to see him bask on the shelf once. I put him up there once and he stayed there for 15-20 min and relaxed before wondering off again. So will he use the basking spot at all? This is a blackthroat after all, not exactly a nimble Prasinus.

A picture of him on the shelf after i put him there. He did relax and just lay lazily there after i went and watched him from afar. Also dont mind the plastic temp measurer, i dont use that. I use a digial thermometer to measure air temps and a temp gun to measure surface temps.

I was thinking about putting in a big log in the barren area and then not putting in as many big branches as i was planing on because he doesnt seem that fond of climbing. Any thoughts? Thanks.

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"From my rotting body flowers shall grow, and i them - and that is eternity."

Cage looks good to me. I had a blackthroat once and he did climb to the basking spot when he wanted to. I imagine yours will. He will spend more time on the ground than elevated.

This is an old picture of mine basking pretty soon after I had gotten him.
Link

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Ed

There are chameleons, pythons, and monitors in my jungle room.

In fact they are the biggest predator of nesting birds, and song birds in Africa, this was pointed out to researchers that thought they ate almost all insects, by of all people bird watchers, they new for many years that the "rock leguaan" rock monitor, tree leguaan, whitethroat or called by them also savannah monitor ate more nesting birds than supposedly any other predator. As hatchlings they spend the majority of their life up a tree, as they get larger and less predators seek them they spend more time on the ground. They are known to sit in ambush in front of a birds nest on a tree branch with eggs or hatchlings in the nest awaiting the return of the parents where they sometimes tail whip them and eat them after which they eat the eggs and/or hatchlings. They are very good climbers actually, helps prevent being stepped on by elephants, and water buffalo also. My banded WT used to be in a cage with alot of vertical space as well climbing branches, his tail is very strong and he frequently used it as if it was prehensile. When outdoors Sobek has always liked climbing up trees (although I only let her go as high as I could get her down). A good friends WT makes a beeline straight for a tree in his yard and up it faster than you could ever believe.
He will find and use the shelf, when hes ready.

np
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"From my rotting body flowers shall grow, and i them - and that is eternity."