Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello~ I posted here back in early November when we first got Rico and got some great advice. Rico is doing great~ and growing like a weed! Time to start shopping for (or preparing to build) his permanent home before he finishes growing out of his current home.

So~ I'd kind of like to go with a cage large enough to accomadate him for the rest of his life~ he is only 450 grams right now (maybe 2 foot with the tail? maybe a bit more) but I don't want to have to purchase a new cage every year. So what would your recomendation be for a good size cage for the rest of his life?

On a related note~ Is he a solitary or a social creature? He seems so intelligent I sometimes feel bad that he is all alone~ but he seems to be doing fine all alone. Will he continue to do well all alone as he has for the last 5 months?

Thanks for any help. I really appreciate it!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Id go 6 feet long, 4 feet high, 2 feet deep. It's a good size for a roughneck and it cuts well out of 4x8 plywood. Its a little thin. but you can make up space with the 4ft hight

some wood in it

Thanks!
Is that a window you used for the glass in the front of the cage? What a nice idea!

What about the company issue? Does he need/want company~ or can he be happy living solitary?

Heres a couple pics I took of him last night~ he's not sure he like the harness~ but we sure do~ and it gets him out of his smallish cage for some excersize.


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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

The whole cage is under a $100 with wood and window etc, lights not included. i made that cage in about 4 hours or less. bought eveything at home depot an they cut it around the windows size. I think it that enclosure took 2 4x8's and its only 6 feet long not 8. very little waste wood at that size

All monitor lizards can live alone forever, some dont like others in their enclosures at all, some like company.

black rough neck monitors are aborial(srry if i spelt that wrong) they love high cages

a good size for on is 3' long by 3' wide and 6' high with a lot of branches and stuff for them to climb on

the girl dragoon that is sometimes on has some she is a really big help,

hope it helps for some more info read you email

you shoul only have rough necks in its cage, but never put 2 males togther bc they will fight, i heard that rough necks loving being with like 2-3 others idn i wana get another and see how it is,

srry forgot to put this in the email/post

I built one for my dumies. It has the same window that crocmonitor has in his cage. It's a nice singlepane slider with a latch that is secure, works great and is only about $55. 1"x8"s border each side that make it around 7 1/2 ft long, 28" wide, 4ft high. I already wish it had been larger, more width and hieght than anything. My length I think is good. I do have a pair in that though.
Just some opinions or things to think about. Having two, the cage needs to be bigger. Feeding time is a little more complicated. If they don't get along now you need two cages. Of course there's that whole thing about making babies.
He will continue to grow his whole life so what you may want to be his last cage, may just be his three year cage. I know they're similar in size to dumerils possiblly a bit bigger. My male is WC so I don't know his age but he's almost four feet. The doc doesn't think he's that old though. I just posted all this cause cage decisions are agonizing for me. And I end up thinking about it way to much probably
By the way great looking rough neck. Can't say I blame him on the harness though, the colors are kinda girly haha. goodluck