Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a reptile keeper at Omaha, NE's Henry Doorly Zoo. I have numerous exhibits I maintain, one of which houses two adult Australian Merten's water monitors. Both these lizards are housed in a large vertical tank with a large pool on the bottom. The visitors can look through the front of the exhibit and see underwater or up above, where the lizards usually hang out. There are tons of branches and driftwood pieces that the monitors bask on but the aquatic viewing area is a little sparse. I would love to plant it up but unfortunately the 2-3 feet monitors have trashed every plant I plant. I was thinking of mounting java moss or some type of moss that doesn't have a delicate root system or can really take a thrashing, any suggestions? I would also love to put small fish in the tank, however the lizards will eat any fish that are too large. I have tons of guppies in there now that are too small to be noticed. Are there any species of rainbow fish that are small? The water is drained from the bottom, run through a large Fluval filter and pumped back up so that there is a small constant water fall trickling into the exhibit. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Any suggestions to make this exhibit look better?

Have you tried contacting any of the keepers at the WCS(Bronx Zoo)? They have been keeping and breeding their V. mertensi for years now(most likely where your animals originated from), and seem to have a pretty good setup going for them. Most of the keepers that I've spoken to in the Herpetology dpt. are very helpful and willing to lend a helping hand(There are several Varanophiles over there), especially with another zoological institution.

Good Luck with your enclosure. Take some photos of the current enclosure, and perhaps some of us forum-ites could throw in some advice or comments. Cheers!

*PS: Another person that would more than likely be willing to offer his advice based on his experience with keeping and breeding V. mertensi for over a decade now, would be Bernd Eidenmueller over in Germany. He runs the website monitor-lizards.net, which has his email information listed somewhere within. I have posted a link to his website at the bottom of the page. Repost on this thread if you are unable to located his email address, and I will gladly email it over to you.

Bernd has been one of, if not the most influential person to contribute to the progression of Varanoculture, and has been keeping and breeding monitor lizards for decades now. If there is anyone to talk to on V. mertensi in the captive sector, Bernd is your man.

Good luck in your quest, I hope this helps. Take care, and have a wonderful day!
Monitor Lizards dot Net