Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The angle of the pic is deceptive from (avoiding the basking light). Shes 30+ inches snout to vent length, with 36+ inches tail.
The dirt is about 6 inches or so under the basking site with a foot high mound shielding heat from the basking area. The dirt on the side under the log is about 6 inches with the dirt being deeper than the log at over a foot next to it. The dirt on the front side is deep at over a foot and a half or more. That thermometer/hygrometer is inside of a hole she dug then backfilled. The other 4 or so holes and digs are scattered and some hidden. This is after adding some water today. The log is over 4 feet long plus I have more of the log sitting on top to allow climbing, when I put it back in.

:

She is beautiful.

First off shvar, i was not trying to offend you below. yeah, i don't own your monitor, i am not there taking care of it, it is yours and she looks great. however, it is often us that make the mistakes. i have made and still continue to make many mistakes. I recently killed a kimberly egg (completely my fault), i have killed a few monitors (mistakes), i have let my room get overheated (should have had a thermo).....etc. i will make more.

i am impressed by your level of love you have for sobek by willing to drop a lot of money on her. it probably often seems as though i am callous toward my monitors, however i too enjoy them and care for them and am saddened deeply when things go wrong. i too go to great pains to make sure they receive top care, which with the amount of monitors i have means spending more time with them then i do most people in my life, but i enjoy that.

cheers and best of luck,

andrew
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Varanus Creations

My friend dropped everything to go with when Sobek went to the vets, he tells his fiancee thats how it is. My fiancee cares for her baby sandfire cross beardie 3 months old 8.5 inches) when I feed the animals at the shop at night after work. I spend every day I can before work walking and interacting with Sobek, then she goes on my days off to the shop, unless Im on the crotch rocket. My friend had many monitors and hundreds of reptiles over 20 years in this hobby, but I introduced him to albigs which he absolutely loves now. One of his little boys (Blaize) is now a year old at 46 inches and 10lbs. We celebrated after he tail-wacked the 52lb pitbull and scared him away. I only get to spend time with my fiancee at the shop on work days for a few hours before bed. The problem is only 24 hours in one day and everybody else seems to sleep alot more than me. Heres the birthday boy.

Whoa! My sav is about a year old at 15 inches! Can you tell me how you got your sav that big in a year? I just started feed my sav thawed mice every other day starting last week. You can email me at Obiwan487@msn.com.

I would be really worried if you had a sav that reached 10 pounds in a year.

Later.

W/e. Thats exactly what my monitor looks like but smaller. Now can someone tell me how to get my monitor to 3 feet in a year?! As I said hes 15 inches now at a year old (shedding now too) and I just started feed rodents every other day.

Its a black throat. You have a sav, they can get big, but generally aren't nearly as big as black throats. If you give your sav choices, and keep it active and running around you can look forward to a happy sav. An obese sav is an unhappy one.

Remember big isn't everything, ackies rule If you want a monitor that big in a year go buy a blackthroat.

Oscar.

But does anyone know if 15 inches in a year is good for my Sav? What can be the expected size of my sav at the end of this year? 30 inches?

I would say it's fine. 15" is close to half the average size of a sav.

Not to sound condesending, please don't take it that way.

What does it matter how big it is? Are you trying to use it to scare people or look "cool"? If that is the case maybe you should look into croc monitors (Salvadori). That seems to be the going choice of discerning newbies these days.

Seriously though, too big to fast is not good. Too small over long periods is not good either. Stick with what works. Do what is right by your animal and you should have a long lived, healthy, very enjoyable animal on your hands.

Best of luck

Gene

Ok, thanks. Mind you that he is 15 inches w/ his tail included. His body is a little over 10 inches. I want him to be bigger so I can let him outside and stuff! I want him to be able to roam around the house like a dog. Right now he is still a bit too small and I dont want him getting lost. I also want to know so I can be prepared to have a custom made tank ready.

I am pretty sure, though I don't keep savs. The average size is in the 3 foot range. Some a little bigger and of course a few smaller. Supervised outings (out of cage) can be great for the animal but not all animals act the same out of cage.

One of my water monitors is very close to if not over 5 feet and while the animal is very tractable or tame as some would say. I can't really let him walk the house. He becomes very flighty out of the cage and unpredictable. It was fun fishing him out from under my daughters bed one day because he got spooked and ran down the hall to hide. You just have to judge the animal on an individual basis. You really can't compare their behavior to a dog at all. They are and will always be wild.

Best of luck.

if you just started feeding him mice that will help him grow. My guy cujo grew 10 inches in 2 months after i switched from crickets to mice and nude mice. Nude mice worked great becuse he could digest them so quickly without furr and [bleep].

if you just started feeding him mice that will help him grow. My guy cujo grew 10 inches in 2 months after i switched from crickets to mice and nude mice. Nude mice worked great becuse he could digest them so quickly without furr and [bleep].

to me but maybe that is just me. My pastel female Sav Peaches isn't even a year old yet and is two feet. My 3mon old (see below pics of Breep) is now 12 or more inches.
What size cage is you monitor in? Gator my 4yr old male is 37".
Tell me more! Get a little Deeper!!!
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Christine :>~

Hes in a 40 gallon breeder. He just started eating rodents every other day. I just included a HUGE water bowl for him. He has 2 lights on a 12 hour timer. Both lights are 75 watts (UVA which I just started using). Basking spot is 132 degrees, ambient is 88 and cool is 75. Substrate is soil too.

Hmmm that all sounds right. Well not all monitors grow at the same speeds. Be happy that your little one is healthy. That's all that matters.
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Christine :>~

cause your head is so big. LOL!!!

Sorry, couldn't resist poking fun for some reason.

Does that really seem small to you? When I did have savs they didn't seem to grow like my other species (the larger ones I mean). They grew at a steady rate but never took off like my waters or blackthroats.

Could have been me though.

Later

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yeah Anubis is already 14 inches and he's around six months

NP

I went downstairs yesterday to see my monitor rubbing his body all over his branches and logs and he was peeling off a lot of shedded skin! This morning he still is peeling it off, there is a lot coming off, his whole body is shedding (usually he sheds one part at a time) and this is the second time he shed this month. The new mice diet is working well. How much do they grow when they shed?

Proper care is what allows proper growth.

And one of my boscs was 39 inches at year old. Boscs are medium to small size monitors, albigs are a large monitor species. Offer them a good diet of whole animal foods and allow them to eat every day with proper basking areas and a proper temp gradient and adequete humidity. Thats normal growth not normal conditions in the wild.

;

Just out of curiosity I was wondering what are the dimensions of the enclosure?
Thanks

4x8x4 temporary, Im tapped for room now.