Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my nile monitor. It is pretty calm I got it when it was only 13 inches and it has grown a lot measured it yesterday at 27.25 inches. It is not aggressive towards me I handle it all the time, it doesn't mind me petting it and it seems to even get excited when I walk in the room probably hoping for food. I have been feeding a varied diet of crickets, roaches,ground turkey, chicken, and the occasional rodent. I was curious to see if anyone on here could determine the sex from looking at the picture I posted of it, it would be very much appreciated.

Hi, no idea what the sex is from the pic, you should be able to see the hemipenal bulges (or lack of) yourself. Hold the monitor slightly into shade, they should be more obvious (if viewing from underneath)...
Cut out the turkey mix, start offering more vertebrates; rodents, fish, other sea foods...

Thanks for the advice man I will do I love my Nile and want to raise it healthy. I have researched them but it seems like a lot of stuff you find by Googling seems to be contradictory. Once I saw this forum and looked over the posts I knew I could get answers and advice from people with a lot of experience. If there is anything else that also may be useful knowledge on them please let me know and thanks for taking the time to reply much appreciated.

Hi again, just keep asking questions, ans ALWAYS question the answers, that way you`ll understand why it was given... the only dumb question one is the one you didn`t ask!!
The internet`s full of misinformation, difficult/impossible to know which is reliable most oof the time.
Can you give details of enclosure type/size, conditions inside, etc? Thanks!

Thanks for all the help again I am pretty sure it is a female not seeing any bulges. Right now I have her in a enclosure my friend built for his iguana he used to have just eyeballing it. I would say it is about 5-5.5 feet long about 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. It's not the prettiest looking enclosure but it is secure. I am using Zoo med Repti bark as substrate I am saying about 3-5 inches. On the hot end I have a 100w Zoo Med Powersun UV bulb and a heat pad under the enclosure with a pile of river rocks I collected and cleaned.On the cool end I have a small storage container with water in it for her to soak in. I put hide spots on the cool end and hot end and in the middle I have a hollowed out log I got at pet-smart. I have thermometers on both ends the hot end is like mid to high 90s and the low end is around 78-82. I used my laser heat thermometer on the rocks on the hot end and they get about 116 degrees. Humidity usually varies from 40%-60% I do spray the enclosure every couple of days. The water I give her comes from the tap water but I use that repti safe water conditioner in it I don't know if that stuff is legitimate or not. Also I have been supplementing her food with flukers calcium I was told to feed her everyday until she gets larger I do not know if that is correct I did read that monitors have extremely high metabolisms compared to other reptiles. I have been giving calcium every third day as to I am not sure if I am not giving enough but also am afraid of giving it too much. I am actually in the process of buying an even larger enclosure from one of my friends but do know eventually she is gonna grow out of that too. I have a run down guest house in my back yard that I plan on doing a lot of work on and turning it into an enclosure for her when she grows huge.

Hi again, it`s hard to remember everything you mentiond, so I`m sorry if I miss something!
The basking (surface) temps should be between approx 50 to 60c (120 to 140f), even those few degrees higher can make a significant difference to the monitor`s ability to function efficiently.
The Powersun MVB needs to be a MINIMUM distance of 30cm (12inches), from the surface of the bulb (glass) to the surface of the animal when it`s basking, NOT the distance to the object basked on. Instead of that bulb, I recommend using two halogen 45 to 50w or so (flood) bulbs (placed close together, that means the whole body is heated), raise/lower until you get the desired surface temps.
If this is a female, you need to provide a deep substrate for egg deposition, I supect this monitor will be large enough to produce eggs in a very few months. You cannot fit that ammount of soil/sand mix in an enclosure only 2 feet tall...
You MUST offer vertebrate prey also, no extra supplementation`s necessary with those items. Inverts should be dusted at every feeding...
Sexual maturity is more to do with snout/vent length than age in Varanids, so under optimum conditions in captivity, that can happen quite soon.
If I`ve missed anything, let me know, and don`t stop asking questions, and ALWAYS question the answers so you understand why it`s said to be so!