Hi! I've been in and out of the reptile keeping for 14 years now. I pretty much sold everything about 5 years ago and just kept tarantulas and a blue tongue skink. I worked at a pet store with a dedicated reptile room about 8 years ago. Talk about a dream. We sold everything under the sun from poison dart frogs to monitors and tegus.

So with that lead in...

I picked up a water monitor at the Daytona show this past weekend and am pretty thrilled about it. I just want to make sure I have everything correct for this little guy. I have him in a 40 breeder tank with a plexiglass lid to cover the screen. He is kept on top soil mixed with sand and is 4 inches on the low side to 10 inches on the high side. I have a rete stack without the holes cut through them stacked all the way up, so the basking spot is at 175 F. The sand comes up around the rete stacks. He has a water bowl on the cool side and a piece of cork bark laying on the ground in the middle of the cage. He is eating crickets everyday and has taken his first dead hopper today. I haven't handled him since I got him home. I wanted him to settle in first and eat before that, but I have noticed that he is already starting to stay out a little longer if he is basking and I enter the room. But not too long...LoL! Is there anything else I need to do or check on, besides working on building him that giant cage in the garage which I will start on in December?

Thanks in advance for any advice :J

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