Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello There, I plan on getting a mangrove, blue tailed, peach throat, or yellow monitor. I have done my research. Please don’t try to talk me out of it as I have made up my mind. I was going over caging necessities, when I had a great idea that might not only save me time and money, but look nicer to. In my basement I have a “back room” In this room I set up shelves (attached to the wall) The shelves are extremely sturdy (made by a friend who is a carpenter and myself) meant to carry a lot of weight. I think there must be 500-700 pounds worth of stuff on them already. They are constructed of 2x4s and ply wood. I am wondering if I could house a monitor on one of the two shelves. The dimensions are as follows.

1. Ten feet wide
2. 4 ½ feet deep
3. 4 feet high

I am wondering if I put plywood walls on the sides, back, and front with a sliding glass door if this would work for one of the monitors I mentioned above.

Cheers,

Itherrien

Wow whats with the "don't talk me out of it" junk?

Seems like you are not ready if you have to keep saying that.

First off, your question is not very realistic. For any species.

If you obtain one of the above species, you really should start with a young one, which means a lot smaller cage.

When you start with a young one, you have time to learn what the real needs are before you go wasting your time and effort on cages that will not work.

And when I say work, I mean function well. You can actually keep varanids in anything and that will work, a trashcan, fish tank, vision cage, etc, but they will not be able to support "work well" They will just work, sorta kinda.

Then the question pops up, work for WHAT? You see, you really need to state what your goals are before anyone can tell you what would be a good cage.

Which is the reason you will get all manner of answers to one question, no one knows what its suppose to work for. I mean, what the heck is this cage suppose to do.

good luck and best wishes,

I would avoid doreanus and indicus, as they are quite shy and you'll seldom see them (that's what I read from people who own them). melinus can be far more easy going, and jobiensis I'm not sure.

In fact, any of these will be like that unless you start with a baby.

The size seems fine for adults.

Other than that, I also think you should start with a smaller cage for the first 6 months or so, but have the big cage ready as soon as you get the babies.

Melinus are very shy as well. I only see mine when I quietly go in the herp room early in the AM, and as soon as he sees me he is gone.

I read reports telling they can be as easy going as prasinus/macraei/reisingeri/boehmei/kordensis if raised from babies.

Did you get yours when it was a baby?

I've had mine from very young, and I can only tell the experiences that I have had with mine.

We have kept dozens of Melinus in the past, all raised from babies, and not one was interested in being seen, much less interacting with human beings. They are also nothing at all like the tree monitors you mentioned. They are basically a big yellow-colored melinus/blue tail.
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles

I thought I read somewhere they sometimes would not be shy. But by no means I can remember where it was.

I read years ago that they made a "perfect pet monitor" "totally tame and tractable". And I thought "what monitor are they possibly talking about?"

Cause it ain't this one : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles

Hi Treeboa,

See we are back to the begining, you say things because you read them, as if it was true.

As I explained way back then, much of what is written is meaningless, like your thoughts about melinus. And some is totally wrong.

I too have kept a number of melinus and they are shy AS IT GETS. Even when raised from neonates.

That said, there are exceptions to every rule, and part of their behavior is to freeze and act calm, when in fact they are not. Good luck and keep a check on that reading of yours.

Again the good thing about forums is, you can talk to someone who actually has the experience your concerned with.

Perhaps the people who had the ones I saw was lucky..

Perhaps

ever the optimist ain't ya there FR? I knew a fellow, once told me that virtually every monitor likes to hide. It's their nature, he said. At the time , I was keeping a pair of rough necks, and what that guy said certainly proved out. Sure they get acclimated to monkeys walking around to some degree, but it seems only a natural behavior to hide when big hairless things keep moving about just outside that weird force field (front glass)......

A couple of thoughts, please bear with me. From your last 2 posts it seems this monitor decision is very important to you which is great, but somehow the idea of placing the living space for your animal in a back room of a basement instead of somewhere in the main living area of your home seems odd. The space may save you time and money (but you also said you have the money to spend on an enclosure so does that matter?), the climate might technically work for the lizard, but it would be sort of out of sight/out of mind. I'd think you would want to incorporate this animal's life into the home you seem to care so much about (visually). I know if I put a lot into any animal...carefully choosing the species, designing what will give it a good quality of life, to observe, interact, and create its habitat and its environment, I'd want to be able to enjoy it more directly. If any habitat I build is best for the animal I don't care what it looks like. I'll bend my lifestyle around what it needs. That's where the enjoyment comes in.