Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read some things on the internet, something called "Little Dragons of Australia". It talked about dry red soils and limestone in the native ranges of varanus acanthurus. It also discussed finding a juvenile in a burrow, which leads me to think that the soil couldn't have been too dry to burrow into. Is sand as inferior a substrate as it seems for it's lack of moisture? I was thinking of throwing some in a mix with chemical-free soil from home depot and some dry coconut fiber. Since the animal is a hatchling, with tendencies to be impacted, I was also going to wait about 6 months to do this. I bought the fiber out of curiosity, and it was a lot more loose than I expected. I dried it out with a hair dryer and it seems like a decent option. Guess I'll let the monitor decide. Also, out of curiosity, how hard is it to introduce juveniles as a social group at different times? I realize it's better to introduce them together, but am having trouble finding more than the one I've already ordered. Is it better togive up or is it worth a try if I can find a couple more in a month or so?
Thanks.

Well, you've gone and hit a roadblock. And like roadblocks on amazing race, you have a choice. Like amazing race, the choice you make does not guarantee an advantage(to work here)

There are times when looking at what they do in nature works, and times it completely doesn't. The problem is, you do not know or understand what those times are and what those things are.

For instance, Ackies occur(live) in many kinds of soil. Granite, limestone, iron rich(red), sand, beaches, salt flats, etc. They also live in rocky hills, sand blows(dunes) and everything between. Its easy to say, they live where they live, because they figured out how to extract what they need to live, in those areas. The problem with that is, do all ackies need the same thing? or do some types, differ from other types.

Localize types of ackies are localized because, they adapt to live in conditions where they occur. Hence red ones, yellow ones, ones with big spines, ones with little spines, one that get large, ones that don't. Or such things as, ones that live in larger concentrations, and ones that live in solitarily. In other words, lots of kinds of ackies designed to do lots of different things.

Lets just say, they live where they live, because of one reason. They figured out how to live there(evolved)

How does that effect you and your captive? Your captive is not in nature. Its also not in(exposed) any of those conditions that occur in nature. Its not exposed to the details that caused each locality type to evolve in the direction that it did to survive there. Dang is this complicated or what?

Nope its simple. Its not A, or B, or C(Charly) Its D. In most cases, when in doubt Charly out. But not this one. Its D, none of the above. Its seems your trying to Charly out on all of your decisions.

Because you do not know or understand your ackies specific requirements, you cannot offer what type of conditions its evolved to. So what do you do? Consider, we are on the other side of the world for what its designed for(in oh so many ways)

This is sooooo easy it makes me cry. It does. Why don't you simply ask the person who produced it, what he/she do to produce it. You see, they are not wild caught. There is a history of success, or you would not be able to buy the one your buying. Its a product of captive breeding(success) which means, somewhere the bare minimum was achieved. Ask the one who did it. How simple is that. In the most basic of terms, this is how you would purchase anything of importance. Get it from someone you trust.

As I have said a million times, coming to a forum and asking questions will get you a million answers, about half will be brillant, only half of those will be out of context, and half of those are only brillant in writing style, and half of those will not be about monitors(doorknobs and push brooms) and about half of those will be second hand, a friend of a friend whos friends friend did this or that. GO TO THE SOURCE of your monitor. How simple is that? You can always improve later, but you will have a verdict(start)

If by chance, your buying it from someone that does not have the ability to show you what worked for them, then don't buy it from them.(eliminate your first bad choice) get them from someone who you "know" can and will help you. This is where Robyn and I go nuts, people somehow, chase non support over support, and for a dollar or convience. Sorry Robyn I used your name because your great at support after purchase. Consider, part of why CB is more expensive is the support it should include.

About introductions later, I think your fooling with me and everyone, as you asking many of the same "key" questions. (Key=not so smart) I only say that because its been asked ten thousand times and I cannot believe after all these years, people still ask questions, without answers.

The only way to know what will happen in the future is to have the future be the past. So until we can do that(happens on TV) no one can say.

But also said a million times, if monitors are raised together, they have a high % of getting along for a greater amount of time. (divorces occur with monitors too.) If you wait until they are grown, then the %'s of trouble increases.

When young, squabbles are kid stuff, easy to understand and rarely fatal. When older, squabbles are NOT kid stuff and hard to understand and sometimes fatal. ITs YOUR choice(another chance to error)

If you raise them from babies (together), then you have time to learn what the squabbles are all about and how to encourage getting along. They(the monitors) also do the same, they learn about eachother. If you wait until later, your jumping into a can of worms you do not understand.

But hey, you can always come here and get more confused and be exposed to bad bad people like me. FR

You forgot to address the impaction.
I guess I will.
My lizards have eaten dirt, small rocks, sticks, shells and even the dreaded hair and bones. I have never had an impaction problem.
If you give the lizard what it needs, it will digest and/or pass whatever fits down it's throat.
As far as the substrate question, you have to do what everyone else is doing and find out what works. This might mean changing the substrate over and over until you find the right one.
Like Robyn stated below (can I use the name?)he found a source of granite that worked for him, you might not find the same quality in your area.
I have savs, an albig and an argus, I wish they were all as easy to make happy as the argus, who will dig in anything.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Impaction is caused by poor husbandry of many kinds, cronic dehydration is one of the most common causes. But, that too is caused by poor husbandry, vicious circle.(I can't get behind that)

If you address dehydration, proper substrate, proper hiding areas, proper ventilation, etc, which is what the heck we did/are doing. Not having Holes in retes boards is one of them. Being sly, I do not need to soak ackies once a week like the person with holes does/recomends. (I wonder why? did I address dehydration?) (i can get behind that)

If you follow successful proven husbandry, you do not have to learn about all the problems at once(overwelming) Please understand, you will get to them in due time, just not at once all in a bunch by themselves(together in a group). Problems are much easier to solve one at a time or heck, even a half at at time. Trying to tackle all the problems at once is inSANE. hahehehehehehheha whoops. (I am behind that) Problem solving=identify, simplfy, conquer/overcome. Not multiply and more confusion.

This is entirely the point of a VERDICT, whoops a start, so you can learn a little at a time.

If you follow the most basic of procedures and only do it adquately, you will succeed, after all, its been done time and time again. NOT NEW SIR/s

You can better your understanding with time and experience, which in turn will better your results. And so on and so forth.

What kills the dog beans out of me is, why does everyone have to be "IDEAL", "BEST", "CORRECT", etc. "AT THE START" Those are not results they are settings/forumlas/recipes. Results come as a result of all the husbandry techniques, the combination of all of them. Not because your temps or dirt is right. Holy moly, %*&(*$%^@#$@@^^%@@$^%^##$!#^%^ (take a pill FR, it will be OK) hahahahahahahahaha

Forget impaction, get this person simplified and verdicted(started) learning(getting it suitable) will come with the experience not the start(verdict)(come on FR lay off the verdict thing) OK Getting, perfect, better, ideal, correct, etc, comes with time and experience.

About dirt and holding a burrow, oh how naive that is. About 1000 kinds of dirt holds burrows, mud does(think crawdad burrows) Holding a burrow is only one little requirement, not the whole nine yards(why isn't it ten yards? first down and all) Maybe a very important requirement for desert reptiles(heck any one) is holding 50%=/- humidity and not being wet. Hmmmmmmmmm I think thats kinda important or our desert reptiles would be desert raisens(sultanas in Oz) FR

you guys are a bunch of smart alecks
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I think thats needed to keep monitors. You do need a few quirks(nice for screw loose) to keep monitors for any lenght of time. Its also one of those horse then cart(quirky first) or cart then the horse(monitor induced quirkism) Cool Beans FR

Hey Frank,

Did you know that beaded lizards spend a lot of their time in burrows with HIGH humidity???? BWAA HAAA HAAA!!!! LOL!!!!!!!

Maybe we can be keynote speakers somewhere and address damp dirt and it's role in the life of all things scaled and wonderful!! H

As you told me earlier, I don't know you, so I can't say your "bad ole FR". If I was a herpetocultural rock star like yourself, I might be the same way. Anyway, about the soil (and no, the monitor is't here yet, so I still have time for these adjustments w/o stressing it with constant early switches.). I'm scrapping the store bought soil. I can't see how it would be remotely good. It's way too clumpy. I read on St. Pierre's site that clumpy costs toes and tails in young animals. No thanks. The dude I bought it from said he kept it on playsand (I did ask him that about a week ago, btw, so the thought did cross my mind.). I'm not so keen on the sand, though. I don't envision it holding much moisture. Proexotics' site mentioned cypress mulch, but then switched to decomposed granite, which FR doesn't like. It doesn't matter much anyhow, because the grade they mentioned is nowhere to be found in my area. I'm just going w/ the dried coconut fiber. It's really fine and dries out well when exposed to heat. It also is a good option for moisture retention. I'm also keeping it shallow. I ordered the Australian Goannas book from Robyn in the hopes of getting better descriptions of home range habitats. Thanks a bunch for the input, FR. If I want to get info from you in the future, I'm just going to consciously ask the dumbest freaking question possible (you may think I already have). You are a wealth of info when you're berating people.
Regards,
Matt