Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want a monitor lizard, but i don't really know which one to get. I have kept a king snake, garter snake, blue belly lizards, and also a lepord gecko. I'm interested in a monitor. I'd like to ask your opinions on what is the frendliest species under 5 feet? What size cage would the particular species (in gallons please) need? Does it need it crickets/mice dusted in calcium? Thanks for your imput.

well, monitors sadly in your case arent really suited for life in a "fish" tank. If it must be in a fish tank, i would only really advise an ackie, and it would have to be a pretty big tank for an adult, min 40gal breeder, The only time i use tanks are for quarantine or raising up juvies, other than that i keep all my animals in custom cages or modified troughs. A five foot monitor would never be able to live its life in a tank, that is something depending on the animal would require a 6-8ft long enclosure by 4 ft wide, and various heights depending on the nature of your animal, If you can only keep reptiles in tanks, i dont recommend monitors for you.

Ackie, 75gal, yes.

I had owned several snakes in the past, so when I gave them away I wanted to try a different kind of reptile-I saw a beautiful Savannah Monitor at a friends house who was being severely neglected, so I offered to buy him-Since then, (almost 3 years later) he has been the sweetest, most loving animal Ive ever had-Although I must say very expensive-I feed him 2 mice per week (about $5), and his custom enclosure alone was about $200 (and thats only b/c I had a friend who had already made one)-Not to mention vet bills, which are a lot more expensive than for dogs or cats-If you have the money, space, time, and knowledge of lizards, I would recommend getting a Savannah Monitor-

Lindsay

I think you should look into how much a Savanah monitor eats. I think you are probably starving the creature with just 2 mice a week. And of these two mice are you feeding him both mice at the same time, just one time a week?

I was recently told it is better to grow your monitor slowly. They will live longer then if you grow them fast. Oh and that feeding them 2-3 times a week is great. HAHAHA

I guess I am silly feeding mine so much so often, letting them grow and raising them to 10 plus years. Guess I better keep an eye on mine they might keel over one of these days from over feeding and growing to fast.

But for real why would you only feed them 1-2 mice a week? Would you only feed a leopard gecko or beardie 1-2 crickets a week??

Looks like I can keep all 6 of those salvators I have and maybe even add half a dozen argus & maybe the odd albig or 8!!

and remember to grow them slowly or they will die young. haha
About 12inches or less a year should do it.

Ok I better be done before I start a war on this site too.

tend to be very volitile in my experience. That is the main reason I take extended breaks from these and other forums. I doubt I will ever willingly give up the hobby but I have to step away from all the tail swinging sometimes.

I think I'll go feed my monitors some more now.

I saw one at a pet store several months ago with think dog food canned type and eggs in a bowl. I didnt think they ate that.
I didnt see him eat and it was of those chain type pet stores but found it interesting that savanahs could eat that.
Rita

people are turned off by having to feed rodents and live insects, so that's why chain stores often try to make it seem as though they can live without it. In my opinion, that is a really crappy diet and probably the reason that the inexpensive savs die so often in captivity, because most people that get them don't understand the kind of care they need and end up keeping them in an aquarium on sand or carpet with low temps feeding them crap like that.

Same thing goes for other lizards. I've walked into chain petstores a few times to find bowls full of those nasty looking canned crickets and meal worms in the lizard enclosures, and pelleted diets as well. Pelleted diets made by repcal I don't have a problem with. I have a very picky bearded dragon and even though he will rarely ever touch a good salad, he loves those. But, if I can get him off those and onto a good diet based around 60-80% fresh greens and veggies, and the remaining being insects, I would happily toss the pellets aside. I admit that it is my fault he is like that though because I spoiled him with crickets, and that's the wrong thing to do.

Most people going into petco or petsmart to find a "cool lizard" aren't going to care much for providing for their specialized diets, so they think that buying canned and pelleted foods will help them...what it really does is harm the lizard. This is obviously very generalized, because I'm sure their are lizards out there that can be successfully maintained on just premade foods, but that's really not the way to go. I remember a while back seeing that one company (was it T-rex?) had actually made sausages that you could feed to snakes to replace feeding rodents. That just seems stupid to me.

On a side note, my mom was in a local petshop a week or two ago, and she always finds it so terrifying to see parents there buying reptiles for their young children (I find it terrifying too, since none of the parents know what they're doing). Anyways, she was at the petshop, and this mother was getting two young leopard geckos for her young children, and the children had already taken the supplies up to the front when the petstore employees finally hinted that leos need to eat crickets and mealworms. I don't think she liked that very much.

A long rant, but I just think it's stupid to get a pet and then not give it the best food you can, especially when the pet is not domesticated, because their natural instincts will tell them that what they're eating isn't what they should be eating.

This particular pet store is a Petland its in the same mall as my gym so stopped in to buy some dry goods but as far as animals go. I could tell you some stories you wouldnt believe.
Rita

i collect and breed monitors my first monitor was a croc. monitor but i would not recomend that kind of monitor for a beginer the only reson i got them was because i had a free room for them to live in. right now there 9' and 11' . i would recommend a ackie or a timor monitor or if u have room get a water monitor.they are all beginer monitors.
u can keep a timor or ackie in a 40gal breeder or u can always build a custom enclosure out of melamine wood . you can make it 4'x2'x2' for an ackie or a timor and something alot bigger for a water monitor.
if i was u i would get an ackie or a timor monitor and a 40gal breeder. it would probably come out to $200 for ackie or $150 for a timor and about $75 for a 40gal. breeder.

Water monitors = beginner monitors? since when??????

Melamine enclosures = good for water monitor? since when?????

How long do you expect a melamine cage to last with the humidity levels water monitors need / deserve?

Seriously, if those are real measurements, you have two of THE biggest crocs out there. Would love to see pics. Now on to your other two comments. First, I think most will agree that melamine is not a very good material for building a monitor enclosure that will hold lots of dirt and humidity for the long-term. Second, in no way are water monitors even remotely good for a beginner monitor keeper. Just their size potential alone is a limiting factor. Not to mention that there are just as many flighty and/or downright aggressive ones out there as there are tractable ones. Throw in the amount of food they put down, and what you have is a very large, potentially dangerous and expensive-to-feed "pet". I am also as to what species you are breeding? Would love to see copulation, nesting and/or pipping pics too!!

Billy

>>i collect and breed monitors my first monitor was a croc. monitor but i would not recomend that kind of monitor for a beginer the only reson i got them was because i had a free room for them to live in. right now there 9' and 11' . i would recommend a ackie or a timor monitor or if u have room get a water monitor.they are all beginer monitors.
>>u can keep a timor or ackie in a 40gal breeder or u can always build a custom enclosure out of melamine wood . you can make it 4'x2'x2' for an ackie or a timor and something alot bigger for a water monitor.
>>if i was u i would get an ackie or a timor monitor and a 40gal breeder. it would probably come out to $200 for ackie or $150 for a timor and about $75 for a 40gal. breeder.

n/p
treemonitors.com

Record seem small, after all No one has ever proved one longer than 8ft 4 inches, ask Mark Bayless on that one, all of the longer bigger claims were people that never existed, the animal got away before pictures could be taken, the guy who measured them was found to never exist, no pics were ever taken of them, they broke out of the trap, etc etc.
I could have posted a pic or 2 of melamine that was used for the floor of Sobeks old cage, it looked like a rock surface from dirt, claw, and water damage. The stuff got wet and turned soft then started falling apart, it even cracked in multiple places. Melamine is not a wood it is saw dust glued together and coated in porous plastic, of coarse if youve used it for any legth of time in a cage for monitors you would know it doesnt last very long unless coated and sealed with FRP, vinyl, and silicone. But why do that when its so heavy, plywood is lighter, just as strong, and is easier to work with, as well less expensive.
Got pics of eggs, eggs hatching, babies, parents etc? Id love to see 9-11 foot croc monitors.

There are 2 monitors I know of that would be good for you. A Ridge Tail Monitor or a Savannah Monitor. They are both under 5 feet and can become quite docile. A Ridge Tail Monitor can be housed in a 50 gallon terrarium and they will eat crickets, mealworms, wax worms, and silk worms. Savannah Monitors are a fair it larger than Ridge Tails so they would need at least an enclosure 2 meters X 1 meter X 1 meter. I'm not too sure on what all they can eat, but I know they eat crickets and mice.