New pick-up

[mumps]

12 X 6 X 10 is a pretty good size for him.

He does seem quite small for his age. I have a V. ornatus and he'll be 3 years old in August. He is currently just shy of 7 feet.

Chris

[jbean7916]

Do you think he should be closer to 6ft by now? What would cause him to be smaller than normal?

He ate 2 small rats last night and some ground turkey today. Im still trying to figure out portion sizes and frequency for him I don't want him to get overweight but I'm not sure what constitutes over feeding for him.

He really seems to enjoy his evening showers and we've found it's an easy place to have him hang out while we change water and clean his cage.

Also, how often do they poo? He has made a couple messes in the shower and they were light tan and kind of runny, I haven't seen a solid poo in his cage yet. Maybe that will change when we switch to whole foods? I'll upload some more pictures tomorrow (sure wish we could still upload from tapatalk *coughs*)

sent from my EVO

[SwampDonkey]

Do you think he should be closer to 6ft by now? What would cause him to be smaller than normal?

He ate 2 small rats last night and some ground turkey today. Im still trying to figure out portion sizes and frequency for him I don't want him to get overweight but I'm not sure what constitutes over feeding for him.

He really seems to enjoy his evening showers and we've found it's an easy place to have him hang out while we change water and clean his cage.

Also, how often do they poo? He has made a couple messes in the shower and they were light tan and kind of runny, I haven't seen a solid poo in his cage yet. Maybe that will change when we switch to whole foods? I'll upload some more pictures tomorrow (sure wish we could still upload from tapatalk *coughs*)

sent from my EVO

Yes he should be much larger, 5ft plus at the very least. My Black throat is 1 yr old and 6ft long / 30lbs. I see hes in an aquarium with no soil. You know thats what killed the black throat right? I honestly cant believe nobody told you that. The black throat could have totally been saved. But please get this one into a suitable enclusure before the problems start popping up. They die pretty quick as you have seen.

[jbean7916]

If you read the previous post, that was just his temp enclosure until we got his larger enclosure over to the house. Hes not in an aquarium anymore and was only in one for 2 nights. Hes now in an animal plastics 6ft enclosure.

As far as my black throat was concerned, she was also on a substrate until her prolapse, then I switched her to paper towels until it retracted. If you think the instructions my vet gave me were incorrect, what would you have suggested to save a young, malnourished monitor?

sent from my EVO

[Jaxx]

Very nice. Good luck with your new Nile.

[mumps]

There is currently NO COMMERCIAL ENCLOSURE SUITABLE FOR ANY MONITOR LIZARD. Sorry about the caps but I cannot stress it enough. They don't allow for proper basking temps (135-150F), enough substrate (1 foot at least), or enough room. Get that 12x6x10 made as soon as possible.

For the first 2 years of life, my Ornate ate daily. He is now eating every other day; 1 medium rat and 2 mediums on his weekend feeding. Besides this he gets treats of lean ground turkey (supplemented), the occasional hard boiled egg, snails and whatever rats the bp's don't eat. That's on top of his regular meals.

The reason yours is so small is diet related. Not enough whole food animals and not enough food period. Varanids (as well as ALL animals) grow very quickly in the first couple years of life - it's how they grow out of the "prey" size into the "predator" size.

Learn about these animals. They are not snakes, or puppies or fish. They are their own family and unique in many ways. And a hell of a lot smarter than most people think.

Chris

[Melody]

Congrats on your beautiful bre awsome boy!
However, by counting his torso bands he looks like he could be an Ornate monitor rather than a nile. The best way to tell is his tongue color. Niles have blackish purple tongues and ornates have pink.
Its okay though, ornates awsome too! i actually just bought my ornate on friday and was told it was a nile as well. best of luck with him!!

[jbean7916]

Thanks everyone. I know that the enclosure we got from his previous owner isn't going to last long at all, but its what we have until we can get one built. Can anyone recommend a place to see plans for other custom enclosure that are suitable? I've been racking my brain trying to figure out all the logistics of something that will be what he deserves, trying to include things like a nice way to drain his pool, a way to get in and out to clean, a nice way to set up an area so he can been viewed but also so he can hide if he's not in the mood.

So rats every other day and supplement with other suitable foods. I can def do that, he seems to enjoy the f/t rats we've been giving him the past couple feedings. We tried some beef liver last night, I don't think he was a fan. He's getting to the point where he will walk right out of his enclosure and into the bathroom if the shower is on. He's a very smart creature that is for sure.

I'm trying to learn all that I can and as quickly as possible about them, the problem I am running into is that most experienced monitor owners are very rude. As if they believe they are the only ones capable of caring for a monitor appropriately. If they would be more helpful, and share their knowledge before telling someone that they are stupid for every buying a monitor, I think that the animals would benefit. If someone has successfully raised a healthy monitor, why are they so reluctant to be helpful in a positive way? They complain that no one takes care of them correctly but finding a caresheet with correct information is all but impossible.


Oh and Melody, his tongue is most surely very purple black. My boyfriend got a great shot of his tongue flickering yesterday, I'll see if I can get it posted soon.

[Melody]

Oh my bad i guess i counted wrong lol

[SwampDonkey]

If you read the previous post, that was just his temp enclosure until we got his larger enclosure over to the house. Hes not in an aquarium anymore and was only in one for 2 nights. Hes now in an animal plastics 6ft enclosure.

As far as my black throat was concerned, she was also on a substrate until her prolapse, then I switched her to paper towels until it retracted. If you think the instructions my vet gave me were incorrect, what would you have suggested to save a young, malnourished monitor?

sent from my EVO

Most vets dont deal with reptiles very often and give out bad advice, though there are some good ones that deal with monitors all the time and can save your animal. I took my monitor to the vet to get a broken arm set and he nearly killed my animal. I then hit the forums and low and behold two of the keepers i'd been speaking with were reptile vets. I can direct you to a great one if you need it. The prolapse was most likely caused by...you guessed it, dehydration. Compaction probably came before the prolapse though. He blew a gasket trying to poop. There is NO WAY to make a screen top enclosure work for a baby monitor. Foil and cling-wrap are useless and we see them dying constantly because people dont listen and think they found a "method" for making it work. This probably kills more baby monitors than anything else. I know because thats what killed my water monitor a few years ago. Im not trying to be mean, I just dont want to see another lizard die this way. Happens all the time.