A few weekends ago, we took a trip to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana. They did not have alot of monitor lizards but I found the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) and Red Ridgetailed Monitors (varanus acanthurus acanthurus) exhibits to be interesting.
Komodo Dragon Exhibit
The outdoor exhibit is pretty large. I wish I could have seen where they keep the dragons at during winter. There were several areas where burrows were being dug, but only to a few feet in depth though. The two komodos were housed individually: the large one outdoors, the smaller one indoors. The indoor enclosure had large pebbles as substrate. I wonder why they chose pebbles. I have heard of some keepers using gravel/pebbles in areas of their enclosures to keep a dry surface and water underneath for added humidity, so I wonder if that was the case here. Interesting exhibit though. I wish I could have seen the Komodos move around. They were both motionless the entire time.
Ridgetailed Monitor Exhibit
The ackie exhibit was different. It was part of a large tall enclosure divided into three sections. Frilled lizards, a shingleback skink, and a group of acanthurus were housed individually in each sections. The ackie section was tall with a limited basking area. Ackies love heat, and this enclosure seemed to lack a good heatsource. I wondered if the soil was deep, but I doubt so. The ackies would have had burrows everywhere and most of the group would probably have been in the burrows. I like the rockwork, but I do not like the husbandry of the ackies. I think they used to keep some sort of burrowing desert owl in these enclosure. Great to see odatria on display though.....
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Originally Posted by neilgolli
