Best way to tell my girlfriend she is NOT ready for a monitor...

Tell her irresponsibility is actively unattractive.

Tell her that monitors will give her Herpatitis M.

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Originally Posted by infernalis

Not trying to be an insult here, but that is one aweful post... where did this information come from? a petco care sheet??? everything about it is RUBBISH.

I will only break down the first few, the rest are just as worthless.......

Costs First Year: Caging -first year- 30-40gallon tank with a wooden top $20-40 - That first year in the fish tank will have already comprimised the animal's health. they need a PROPER cage from DAY ONE.

Substrate - first year - organic dirt/natural sand mixture 75/25 mix - $30 - good info, except, since you need to START with the proper enclosure, there will be a TON of dirt required, not just a 5 gallon pail.

Feeding - first year - dubia roach colony of appropriate size - $200-500 - wow, wanna buy some roaches?? give me $500 and I will ship you a whole colony already to go, food & enclosure included...

Lighting - first year - 2-3 (+2 backup) 50WT Flood Light Bulbs + heat lamps to put them in - $60-100 - another WOW - can I be your electrician??

I simply MUST address the bathtub comment too - DON'T!! it's stressful and very unnecessary.

Anyway.. show her this, tell her that when it's all built, she can get started...(8 feet wide, 4 feet deep, 4 feet tall, sealed and full of dirt)

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Petco would have told her that a 3 year old sav could fit in a 10gallon because they scale to the size of the enclosure......

Why exactly is a 30-40gallon with a wooden top so bad for a savannah monitor? I know they are not ideal but I was giving her the cheapest option. I maintained a basking rock where he had full body access of 125F, high side of 90F and low side of 85F consistently the entire year using a probe and the PE-1 Temp Gun. I might have been wrong about the first entire years growth as I can not remember my growth rates off hand because I'm at work, she may have to upgrade to that 4' 4' 3' sooner then a year.

The roaches may have been cheaper, I don't just own my savannah so its hard to gauge how much money he eats alone, which is why I said $200-500.

Also, saying "WOW" is not an argument, so I don't even understand your electrician comment, I'm guessing you think I overpaid for the bulbs?

The bathtub never stressed out my monitor at all, so long as the water is up to the shoulders and not above them they are just fine and actually seem to enjoy it quite a bit. My sav dives under the water to soak his entire body and also goes over to the running faucet to get a nice massage. He really enjoys the shower head being on the most though. Even with proper humidity, giving them soaks really helps them shed so long as you don't over-do the baths. I agree though that the bath can be stressfull if you do it improperly, too cold, too hot, too deep etc can stress them out quite a bit. You should also stay in there with them and watch them the entire time for safety reasons and so you know when they want to get out.

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Originally Posted by TJ_Burton

Tell her that monitors will give her Herpatitis M.

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I'm having a flare up right now...man, it's itchy:O.

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

Petco would have told her that a 3 year old sav could fit in a 10gallon because they scale to the size of the enclosure......

Why exactly is a 30-40gallon with a wooden top so bad for a savannah monitor? I know they are not ideal but I was giving her the cheapest option. I maintained a basking rock where he had full body access of 125F, high side of 90F and low side of 85F consistently the entire year using a probe and the PE-1 Temp Gun. I might have been wrong about the first entire years growth as I can not remember my growth rates off hand because I'm at work, she may have to upgrade to that 4' 4' 3' sooner then a year.

The roaches may have been cheaper, I don't just own my savannah so its hard to gauge how much money he eats alone, which is why I said $200-500.

Also, saying "WOW" is not an argument, so I don't even understand your electrician comment, I'm guessing you think I overpaid for the bulbs?

The bathtub never stressed out my monitor at all, so long as the water is up to the shoulders and not above them they are just fine and actually seem to enjoy it quite a bit. My sav dives under the water to soak his entire body and also goes over to the running faucet to get a nice massage. He really enjoys the shower head being on the most though. Even with proper humidity, giving them soaks really helps them shed so long as you don't over-do the baths. I agree though that the bath can be stressfull if you do it improperly, too cold, too hot, too deep etc can stress them out quite a bit. You should also stay in there with them and watch them the entire time for safety reasons and so you know when they want to get out.

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Sorry for my burst of sarcasm.

From my own experience, I released baby Savs the size of geckos into the 8x4x4 the day they came... Running around and making good use of every inch of it.

It's far easier to maintain a proper environment in the adult cage, the mass of the soil help stabilize temps and humidity, and stimulates actual "animal behaviour". Varanid lizards are extremely intelligent reptiles, and with a big hot cage, extremely active too.

Furthermore, procrastination is a human trait that almost everyone posses, so the "temp" tanks sometimes go on for a whole lot longer than necessary.

The whole "grow up cage" thing arose to keep it easy on the KEEPER, after all, it's harder to catch and maul the wild animal if the cage is bigger...

Taking them out of the cage is just something I don't belive in. Mine exit on their own, and re-enter on their own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4IVzYdKoUw