So its been a month (update)

Well its been a month since i got my first (and quickyl second) monitor and I just thought id update everyone and let yall know its going.

Monet: My water monitor, is doing spectacular. After the first week i had his setup nailed down perfectly, the right amount of substrate in finally lol. His hides are all in order and i even found my own cheap version of a hide. I am in a 3 bedroom townhouse, with one as a main bedroom, one a reptile room and the third is 200% empty (plan for a babies room) well i let all my reptiles run/slither freely in the empty room because the only thing that was in there was a few random supplies. Well one day i was messin around with my fiance and we couldnt find money... well after frantically searching every corner of the room and closet we find him curled up in a paper towel roll... so i grabbed about 4 of them and threw them randomly into his cage. figure 4 extra tight dark hides is somethign he will appreciate while he is this small. He gurged a few times and we chalked it up to a ltitle bit too big of a fuzzy/the dog barking throughout the day. The dogs crate is now farther away (completely opposite ends of the house) and i am feeding him two small pinkies instead of one larger one a day. I have a problem with him not eating bugs... He was eating bugs at LLL when i bought him (like i saw him power down a few supers while i was there) but he has not touched one since the day i brought him home. He thankfully, took to pinkies instantly. He also gets some of the trukey bone meal mush crap, but i got the recipe off of savannahmonitor.org with some recomendations from senior members so i am confident in it. I only give him that when i know i wont be able to get mine for a few days, wether it be work/school/supply, i want him eating every day. He is behaved amazingly. He still will latch on to a finger if you try and pick him up, but he is taking his mice off of tongs 80% of the time, and will crawl into my hand 60% of the time and then does not mine being taken out if he comes into my hand. Thats when he gets to run around the extra room lol.

I cant wait till he starts growing :D


El Greco: My savannah monitor, is taking off extremely well. Some of you may remember that i totally impulse bought him. He was severly dehydrated, malnourished, and not doing well at all. Well since then he has completely filled out, and might even be a bit fat :D He has never given me problems and is definitely my favorite reptile i have. He eats a bit of turkey/bonemeal mush every other day and gets 10-15 medium crickets thrown in his tank everyday. They are dusted with d3. As i can tell he eats all of them, maybe leaves 2 or 3 at most, but they are all gone the next day. He gets toilet paper rills as extra hides and has some drift wood/retes hides that he stays in pretty much alot of the time unless he hears the lid open, which is when he comes to investigate. He doesnt mind being handled at all, and sits in my hand and acts completely like a bearded dragon, its pretty funny lol.


They both get soaked on a weekly basis. Monet even gets to swim in my bath tub every 10 days or so lol. We leave a towel in one end in the water that he swims to and hangs out on, then dives right back into the water and swims around and has some fun. Ive grabbed some fish once (3 or 4 goldfish) and put them in the water too and he chased one or two of them down which was really fun to watch.



anyways i love my monitors, they are dong really well and seem to be super healthy. I think i may have to get rid of a few snakes and get one more of them. Maybe an ackie or a tegu :)

Glad to hear of the progress and your happiness with the varanids! :gj:

Seems like things are off to a great start, congratulations.

They are a favorite part of my collection, I just don't have the space to keep as many as I'd like, and I won't sell any of my current collection to get more.

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_0130.jpg[/IMG]

This is my Ornate.

Chris

Nice to hear they are doing so well. You should definitely take some video of Monet swimming around! And more pics! I would love to get a monitor some day but I don't have the room right now. So I have to live through you guys lol.

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Originally Posted by mumps

Glad to hear of the progress and your happiness with the varanids! :gj:

Seems like things are off to a great start, congratulations.

They are a favorite part of my collection, I just don't have the space to keep as many as I'd like, and I won't sell any of my current collection to get more.

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_0130.jpg[/IMG]

This is my Ornate.

Chris

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wow your ornate is beautiful!!! Id love to see/hear about your whole collection.

I have a few BPs, a normal retic and a few IJs that i got in a bulk jag/jagsib purchase that are taking up a whole wall that would be perfect size for a tegu or maybe an ackie or one of the smaller guys. I would hate to get rid of some of them, but they are basically just taking up space and when i got done selling them i could have enough $$ and space for a nice little guy.

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Originally Posted by NYDragon

Nice to hear they are doing so well. You should definitely take some video of Monet swimming around! And more pics! I would love to get a monitor some day but I don't have the room right now. So I have to live through you guys lol.

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whatever you do, do not rush into a monitor. I have had tons of large snakes/iguanas and still was no where near prepared for my baby water when i got him. I did my research but when i thought i was 120% ready i was really only about 90% lol

Glad to hear all is doing well. Hope you are enjoying them, I'll post some pictures of my guys in a bit.

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Originally Posted by JLuck13

whatever you do, do not rush into a monitor. I have had tons of large snakes/iguanas and still was no where near prepared for my baby water when i got him. I did my research but when i thought i was 120% ready i was really only about 90% lol

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Oh, definitely. I just think they are awesome animals. I know I would not be able to care for one at this time or anytime in the future. And I can't see myself ever getting a water monitor, they get way too big for me. Especially since I have little dogs :) But I do love hearing about the ones other people care for and learning about them. The amount of care and effort you guys put into your animals is wonderful!

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Originally Posted by JLuck13

wow your ornate is beautiful!!! Id love to see/hear about your whole collection.

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Thanks.

Currently, I have:

1.0 Ornate monitor
1.2 Spiny tailed monitors
1.1 Redfoot tortoises
0.0.2 Burmese mountain tortoises
5.8 Ball pythons
0.1 California kingsnake
1.0 Burmese python
0.1 Yellow anaconda

The Ornate is my favorite (if such a thing is possible). He's captive bred here in Canada, will be 2 years old on August 3, and is now just over 5 feet long. He's totally trusting of me in his enclosure, but freaks out when he's out of it.

Chris