Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Not sure if anyone else has thought of this, I'm probably not the first - Anywho, I have this water trough in the backyard that used to be for my malamute. And thought wouldn't it make a great place for my savannah to bask in natural light outside. Of course I'm now in the process of cleaning out the nasties of leaves, left over water ect. but considering my savannah is approximately 2 and a half foot... my water trough is 6ft in diameter and about waist high. I don't see the monitor scaling the walls just yet.
And to add to both the enjoyment of the monitor and myself, I plan to add some logs (lots of bugs included of course) in the middle for climbing, digging and maybe if I angle the tank slightly I may even have a shallow place for water so that the monitor can soak a bit.
Before you think, 'Gee she might be touched in the head', this trough playpen won't be for anything unsupervised.
I suppose curiousity made me post, as I wonder if anyone else has made an outdoor enclosure.
Summer time is here after all.. and in texas I'm looking at 90 plus in the shade that makes for great outdoor time for the monitor.
- S.Peters

Well, the trough has been cleaned though some algea still remains. I placed some logs that have hopefully lots of bugs inside, in the center. Also due to the uneven ground I have a nice slight slant to the trough giving a small soaking area.
First thing my monitor did was tail whip and skulk around his perimeter hissing, then settled for soaking in the shade.

He hasn't shown much intrest in hunting for his own food in logs as of yet. But I can't help but think that this is going to give him more excersize than laying about his inside tank.

No, the bugs in the logs aren't his sole source of feeding, but a nice variety never hurt. I'll probably catch some crickets from the yard in a sec to turn loose in the trough so that saint george can hunt them. (I doubt a thawed mouse ever gave as much excersize LoL)

- S.Peters

Go to the store and buy some crickets donot use bugs that you catch outside. They could infect your sav with parasites, The logs in the enclosure should be cleaned throughly before being used. Your sav being 2 and half feet should be feed mice, chicks, roaches.From a good source no wild stuff.

Has anyone seen a savannah monitor in the wild that was in poor health? Not to get into a debate on food choice, but I did post earlier that bugs were not the sole diet of my monitor.
I also live in a area where the bugs I catch are free from pesticides. My monitor is in excellent health.

But back to my inital query....
Has anyone else built an outdoor enclosure? If so, what kind? I still need to add some dirt to the water trough I'm using (for digging purposes), but I'm also considering with texas summers that it might be feasible to make this playpen concept into a usable pen for during the day.
Even though for the size of the lizard compared to the size of the tank at the moment, I find it nice at the moment to be able to just walk into the enclosure to tend to things.

And I just thought this was going to be a 'whip-it-up' project for the weekend.

- S.Peters

I would rather be safe than sorry I want to know what goes into my monitor but suit yourself Good Luck

I have never been to africa so other then pictures I have not seen wild bosc monitors. So I am of no help with your first question.

I have fed insects from my yard and small lizards. Without a problem just be smart about it and watch where you collect them. If your certain they are pesticide free and your comfortable feeding the insects you catch by all means go right ahead.

I have outside enclosures for my reptiles. If you supply them with what they need then it works out ok. If your new to keeping reptiles indoors then I wouldnt suggest it. It is much harder to do outside then inside. If yours is a temporary setup for basking or occasional exercise then you can adjust as you learn. this will make setting them up outside easier.

As for the type of outside enclosures, I have used wood and wire cages, converted dog kennels, as well as cement block wood and glass sides.

A few things to keep in mind if your monitor gets out outside it is gone. Temps and humidty are controlled by mother nature not by you. So you will need to improvise alot.

Good luck on which ever you decide on

I have had lots of monitors outside for many years. It can be very rewarding or it can be awful.

First, make sure the cage has full sun, if not, its not of much use. Also, when in full sun, you should have at least half the cage covered(shade)

I would also, make a lid for the cage and make sure your monitor does not get out. Then once you have a lid, you can leave your monitor out for longer periods.

The good thing about monitors is, they do not seem to stress out by being moved. That is going from inside to outside. Some lizards totally do not adjust to that very well.

I think you will find that your monitor will not eat the bugs in the log, they are programed to eat only certain insects. Part of that program is instinct and part is learned. I would imagine if your Sav would run across some eggs or snails, you may see some action. Or maybe some giant crickets. Good luck and make sure there is shade and your monitor cannot get out, no matter how impossible you may thing it is. FR

Thankyou JPsShadow & FR for your advise on outside housing, I know I've got quite a bit of work to do on making it an actual enclosure, but found the post insightful. Hopefully when it is finished I'll see about borrowing a digital camera for a picture.

Mostly I thought the decayed logs would give some insentive for a bit of digging, but since that is not the case I'll replace them with the fresh cut ones so that they can be nailed together for a better basking point.

I'm sorry quietstorm if I was abrasive in the question of diet, but do have from a realiable source of a friend who has actually gone to africa and studied savannahs in their natural habitat that they were oppertunist feeders. I'm afriad being abrasive is in my nature, but meant no offence.

This is not my first monitor, it's actually my second. I lost my first due to a nasty divorce and still miss my first monitor greatly. My first monitor I had had for 6 years.

I've been reading the post for sometime lately, and always seem to gain information here and there from this forum since I've not had the chance until lately to have another monitor.

- S.Peters

No problem man. We all do things different. Good Luck with your outdoor enclosure. I think that an outdoor enclosure is a great idea Take Care

Hello your idea should work fine. I am glad you mentioned supervised as without a top you never know it could climb out or something climb in.

In some cases monitors get a little scared when outdoors this is not the case all the time but happens. It is probly less likely to happen inside of the trough as it will feel enclosed.

I wish you luck with it and let us all know how it works out for you.