First time owner of Timor monitor

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Originally Posted by Ginger24

How would I go about building one? How did you figure out how to make yours?

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I gave it a lot of thought, got out the old tape measure and sharpie marker, picked up a new blade for my circular saw and went to work cutting lumber.

For an arboreal animal such as yours, I would build the same thing, just vertical rather than horizontal.

How high up is the ceiling in the room you will be putting it in?

The ceiling is close to 10 feet.
How high should it be?

Here is some excellent examples that will work perfectly for a Timor.

This one is set up ideal.

http://www.varanid.us/enclosures/enclosure2.jpg

Notice that ordinary house windows were used, they are already framed so all you have to do is mount and caulk them.

The bottom half is lined with the same plastic sheets used to make shower walls, it's sold at any home building supply store.

http://www.varanid.us/enclosures/bottom.jpg

Notice the use of 2x4 lumber rather than the 4x6 frame I used. This is much lighter and will work just fine at 1/3 the cost.

http://www.varanid.us/enclosures/bottom1.jpg

The only thing I would do differently is I would pack insulation in the empty spots and put outside walls on it. Like this..

http://www.chompersite.com/cage_files/roof.jpg

Now here is another that would work well, it's just a tad more modest..

http://www.varanid.us/enclosures/enclosure1.jpg

I need to point out that you must seal the wood with a good quality acrylic wood sealer, I used Dutch Boy latex floor sealer on mine. If you don't seal the wood, it will rot quickly from the high humidity.

Thank you for showing me those. You've been very helpful.
This is just mind blowing for me. Im actually really upset right now because I feel so lied to. The people I bought this from told me all this stuff and i wasn't prepared at all.
I honestly dont know If i Have the space or resources to build that.
I live in an apartment and I was told this would be great for an apartment.
I dont want to give this animal a Crappy life so now I dont know what to do.
Maybe I should just sell it to someone who can actually care for it.
Im overwhelmed now and stressed.
I really do want the animal to live happily and healthy.
It breaks my heart.

You know what, I'll figure it out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ginger24

Thank you for showing me those. You've been very helpful.
This is just mind blowing for me. Im actually really upset right now because I feel so lied to. The people I bought this from told me all this stuff and i wasn't prepared at all.
I honestly dont know If i Have the space or resources to build that.
I live in an apartment and I was told this would be great for an apartment.
I dont want to give this animal a Crappy life so now I dont know what to do.
Maybe I should just sell it to someone who can actually care for it.
Im overwhelmed now and stressed.
I really do want the animal to live happily and healthy.
It breaks my heart.

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What breaks my heart is that this scenario plays out over and over and over again.

The truth is, if retailers were honest, they would get stuck with a LOT of lizards that they cannot sell.

It's kind of obvious that I'm rather obsessed with the Savannah Monitors, this will make you sick... in the last decade over one million Savannah monitors were exported out of Africa (CITES documented) and sold for as little as $7 each to anyone with the money to spend.

of that one million animals, nearly all of them were dead before they were a year old.

Pet shops will sell them to people with a modest size fish tank and a sack of crickets, then the proud new owner is happy for a few weeks.. Until they find out that this tiny gecko sized lizard is going to become a yard long beast with eagle talons for toenails, an insatiable appetite and caging requirements that very few people can provide.

Timors average around $200 so they usually wind up with better homes, however the poaching in Indonesia and the "captive farms" (really animal laundering of poached specimens) is equally disturbing.

How much room do you have available to use??

I have been reading through this and quite honestly I am going to give my 2 cents on the proper cage size for one or multiple adult timor monitors. I have many timors in my collection at this time. The proper cage size can be debated about until we are blue in the face but I will go with what has reliably worked for me for many years without a single death. For a single adult timor a cage measuring 3 x 4 x 4 feet high will work just fine. Now for an adult pair I increased the height to 6 feet and thats the only dimension I changed. Being that these monitors are super secretive I recommend you heavily plant and do not expect to handle your timors at all. I have one Timor the is very handleable out of all of them and that took years of work. She is my wife's little buddy now and hopefully will keep this tractable attitude after she lays her first clutch this year. If you need any other information please feel free to PM me.
Michael

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Originally Posted by Ga_herps

If you need any other information please feel free to PM me.
Michael

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Wouldn't it be so much nicer to post your additional information out on the forum where others can make use of it??

after reading this, I'm all good with just bps. wow. sorry OP you've had to go through all of this. however, imagine what would of happened if you didn't ask, so kudos for asking, even if it was with harsh results, were indeed needed to be noted. sometimes the truth stings, but we all come out alive from it.

Check out this gem I stumbled across today:

http://bestpetlizard.com/


#1 Leopard Gecko
#2 Ackie Monitor
#3 Bearded Dragon
#4 Crested Gecko
#5 Argentine Black and White Tegu


I LOL'd... and then got pretty sad...

At least they list Savannahs as a bad idea?