what size tank can i keep a savahna monitor

[wolfy-hound]

The OP was given answers already. If he chooses to ignore them and stuff his monitor into a unsuitable fish tank, no one can stop him or forbid it.

[apple2]

Unfortunately not. I hope that he does choose to do some research before getting the monitor, for it will make the experience better for him and his new pet.

[slayer]

If Rhasputin's monitor is happy, then there's nothing to worry about. Not all reptiles are the same. I have a BP that enjoys climbing trees and is rarely in a hide. Does this mean that she is neglected and unhappy? No, it just means that she is a bit different, and should have these needs met. She is happy, almost always eats, and has no problems being handled. I guess she's just an odd BP. Maybe the same is true for Rhasputin's monitor. Personally, I believe that reptiles should have the 'normal' accommodations, no matter how quirky the specific herp is. If they choose to use it, then the option is there. If they don't, no harm done. Not all reptiles are the same, and if Rhasputin's monitor isn't like other Savannas, then so be it. I would recommend giving the monitor the ability to burrow if she so chooses, even if she usually doesn't dig. It may be a bit more work, but it will give the monitor the ability to dig if she wants to. I'd try changing the substrate a few times to see if she chooses to dig in another type. I would also recommend a larger tank, if only to allow for a deeper soil. You can build a new custom enclosure in a few days, and it might make your monitor happier. Seems like it's worth a try!

Also, it seems as if this thread has turned into a big attack thread. People are accusing each others' husbandry right and left, while still not having given an answer to the OP.


-Apple2

............ that would all be fine and good if a: it was for the most part correct and b: if these animals felt things like "happy". In reality it comes down to whether the captives biological and psychological needs are being met or they are not. In this case they are not.
Also the O.P. question was answered on the first page

4x2x2 for a juvie and 8x4x4 for an adult are the commonly accepted minimum enclosure sizes for a Sav.
Like wolfy-hound stated "Savannahs" don't do well in tanks" so custom,waterproofed, wooden enclosures are all id recommend

[MMReptiles]

wow. Your information is so helpful.

I still don't know what the issue it. The ONLY thing that is wrong with my set up is the lid, and it's not like I don't KNOW that the lid needs to be replaced. My solid lid got broken in my move recently and i just haven't replaced it.

Your glass tank is too small, and is wrong.
Your lighting/heat/humidity in the glass tank is wrong, because it is EXTREMELY hard to offer correct temps/humidity gradients in an aquarium.
Your bosc's behavior is wrong.
Your substrate is wrong.
Your attitude toward Varanids is extremely wrong. Many of us have worked long and hard to get monitors to where they are today, and to be kept as they are supposed to. Having some 12 year old know it all go onto a forum "lul my savannah lives in a 120 gallon tank he's so happy" is a slap in the face to everyone who has worked so long for these amazing animals.

If you don't like aquariums, that's your problem, not mine and my savanna's.
If my monitor doesn't want to dig, what am I supposed to do? FORCE her? Grab her by her feet and dig with them?
She simply doesn't dig, and there's no use in putting 2 feet of soil in an enclosure with an animal that doesn't dig. I've tried a hundred times to encourage digging, but she doesn't want to dig. So I make her burrow FOR her.

It's your savannahs problem actually, he's not getting the treatment he deserves, and I'd be willing to guess he wont come close to living the 15-20 years he is supposed to. Anyone else want to bet on an early death from either dehydration or fatty liver? Your bosc doesn't dig simply because YOU have screwed up your monitor. Give any of us experienced keepers (mumps/slayer/skip/myself) your monitor for half a day, and I bet you my house and car she digs a burrow and goes to sleep in it.

And I'm SO SORRY that you don't believe a savanna can break a person's thumb. I've literally seen it. If you haven't, whatever, but it can happen, and has happened.

JLC, there is a HUGE difference between someone being mean and giving good info, and someone being a jerk and giving no useful information what-so-ever.

Your average person will not have his thumb broken by a bosc monitor. I've had many friends bit on the hands/fingers by things a hell of a lot bigger/nastier with sharper teeth than a bosc, and never seen a finger broken.

Your friend who had his finger broken had something else going on, or exaggerated, or was a sissy wimp with a big fish story.

But my monitor is not in an environment comparative to a 'tiny kennel'.
She has plenty of room to roam.
A 'tiny kellen' would be like if I had her in a 30 gallon aquarium. Or a 10. She'll fit in a 10, but it's not enough room for her to be happy.
125 gallons is enough for a monitor of her size, and a few inches of top soil, is enough for a monitor who does not dig.
The rules also state that rudeness is an offense worth reporting.

Yes, it is comparative to a tiny kennel, except its a kennel without a blanket, kept in the cold, and next to a hundred other barking dogs. It's improper and scary for your monitor. As you've said, you don't even have a few inches of topsoil (laughable next to the 2 foot they need), you have aspen bedding- something absolutely GARBAGE for humidity requirements of a bosc.

Report my rudeness all you want, you're clueless and I'd rather trust my monitors care to my mother than you. Oh, and she's terrified of monitors.

Well you weren't being rude, but there were a pair of others, ehem.
I do want to say if you want anyone to respond and take you (aimed at nobody specific) seriously, being rude and calling names and being sarcastic is not going to get the point across in the least.

I'm rude, and I'm not ashamed of it either. Hell if the admins don't like it warn me or ban me for it. I'd rather be banned giving the right information and telling you that you are wrong than for sitting by while you give people/mislead others with false/bad information.

But my savanna's enclosure is not causing her harm, or stress. She is a very lazy thing, like I've said and just doesn't dig. I have more than enough top soil to give her 2 or more feet, and I'd LOVE to see her go at it, but she just doesn't. Trust me when I say I have tried everything to encourage it.

Not causing her harm? Wrong temps/humidity, bad substrate, probably a poor feeding regiment/diet (because you say she is lazy), in a stressful fish tank. Nope, no harm there, not like monitors don't die from the above listed ALL THE TIME. You haven't tried everything to encourage it. Give her an 8x4x4 setup properly, she WILL dig. No, putting 4 inches of dirt in her dry enclosure will not encourage digging, you did get that part right! LOL

I've tried blocking the entrance to her 'pre-fab' burrow with dirt, and she'll just lay on top of it. I've tried giving her a start to a burrow, and she'll just stick her head in it, LOL.
She's just a lazy lima bean, and since she won't dig, I don't see a reason to put a hundred pound of top soil into an already 150+lb enclosure.

She's lazy because of poor husbandry, not because she "doesn't want to dig". I also wish any of my soil weighed only 100 lbs, or my enclosures where 150lbs!

The screen top, is not my ideal top by any means. I -know- it's wrong, and I didn't suggest that someone uses it. Like I said, mine got busted when I moved last week, (SOMEONE just can't load a trailer properly. . . ) and I need to make a new one, but just haven't gotten the chance. I go in their several times a day and mist the whole cage to make sure it stays moist until I can build a new top, which i hope to do as soon as I get settled in here, and settled into my new job. . .

You have several times a day to go mist the cage, however you can't take 10 minutes to go to lowes/home depot and buy a piece of plywood to cover the top? They even cut it in store for you! Just bring home/lay on top! Sounds more like you're amazingly lazy and good at making up excuses for awful husbandry.

Let me just be blunt, there are a very few experienced Monitor keepers on this forum willing to put up with this foolishness. They are literally watching people borderline torture animals they have a passion for, I understand why they come across blunt sometimes.

That being said, I know for a fact that skiploder, mumps and slayer offer top notch Monitor advice. If they happen to say something might be off with the way you are keeping a Monitor, you might want to reflect on your care of the animal. Above everything though, please research their care (extensively) before taking on the very challenging (but rewarding) aspects of keeping Monitors.

Also, for what it's worth (not to beat a dead horse), there is no circumstances in which a Monitor should be kept in any sort of aquarium.

I feel left out, I'm offended! (I hate being new here!)

I don't know how you guys can keep insisting that my monitor is going to dig. She is never going to dig. She has no drive to dig. She is not an 'abused and broken horse', JESUS.


Even when she barely hit a foot long, she would not dig in her enclosure which at the time, and at her size was well within the limits you guys have stated.

My lack of substrate is not wrong. It's useless to put a few feet of dirt in an environment with an animal that isn't going to use it.

I'm sorry my savanna is more tame than yours, but she is not ill or 'sluggish'.
Soaking is a normal behavior. She doesn't do it all day long because she's dehydrated, she just LIKES it once in a while, so I provide her with a dish large enough to lay in. She craps in there because she LIKES to.

She eats from my hand because I have her TRAINED. She comes when she is called, and recognizes several VERY SIMPLE hand commands because I spend LOTS of time caring for her.
But please, keep telling me everything you know about MY monitor, because I'm sure you all know her way better than I do.

Now she's trained to eat from your hand huh? She comes when called? You have all this time but no time to simply provide proper husbandry for it? Sounds like a load of BS to me!
News flash- my monitor is 100% healthy, is handle-able, will eat from my hand (not that I do/recommend this), and is even litter box trained and trained for in/out of enclosure while I do cleanings. All while at the end of the day, he's an active alert monitor who uses all of his caging and dirt substrate. Tell me, how big was your bosc at 1 year old? Mine was just over 3 foot long. Anyone care to wager this is another 1 year old 8 inch monitor that's so healthy?

For those reading this and seeking advice. Do not listen to this persons post if you want an active healthy monitor. Monitors need deep dirt, big custom enclosures, and to be kept PROPERLY. This is the exact reason most monitors never even come close to their 15-20 year life span, because people like this spread nonsense rumors around about monitor care.

Rhas, I don't care if you report me 100x over, if you cry yourself to sleep at night, if you end up giving up and getting out of reptiles all together. Your husbandry is garbage and you should not be giving advice on monitors. People like you are why monitors should be harder to get. People like you are why 99% of monitors die before hitting 2 years old. People like you are why experienced zoologists, varanid keepers, and TRUE reptile hobbyists have to work so damn hard at putting good information out there. People like you need to have your animals stripped away. You want an animal you can keep in a screen topped tank, go get a damn gerbil, leave the monitors alone.

[apple2]

I do agree that the monitor needs a larger tank, and it doesn't take to long to make one, so there is really no excuse for not having one. You really have to ask yourself these two questions:

Could it help the monitor?

Could it hurt the monitor?

First answer: Yes
Second: NO

So why not give it a shot? Your monitor might be happier, and at worst nothing bad will happen.

[Rhasputin]

I love how well you guys read between the lines and get only the info you want from my posts. You should be politicians.

MMReptiles, thanks for the suggestion about the plywood. I don't know why I didn't think to do something so simple. I guess I was just fixated on making a nice new top like my old one, and didn't think that one through properly.


I didn't mean that the soil only weighed 100lbs either, was just saying why add the weight.
I don't know how many times I have to say she won't dig before you'll believe me, but lets put that subject to bed, because you're never going to agree with me.

Apple2, I've tried a few different soil mixtures, mulch, coconut fibers, everything you can imagine mixed in, and she just doesn't want to dig in it at all. She loves her pre-fab hide, and goes in it often, but if i block off the entrance, she just doesn't dig into it. :/
I thought that might encourage her, but she just doesn't want to. To everyone who says she should no matter what, I know it's natural behavior, but she doesn't do it. It's not un-common like Apple2 said for them to do things in captivity that are un-natural, such as, in my case, eating out of my hand, and responding to commands.

EDIT: Apple2, I couldn't possibly get, fit, or afford to build her a larger tank at this time. Sure it couldn't hurt at all, and may even help. But under my current circumstances there's just no way. :/

[Rhasputin]

People like you are why 99% of monitors die before hitting 2 years old.

Must have missed the part about her being 8.

[Skiploder]

If Rhasputin's monitor is happy, then there's nothing to worry about. Not all reptiles are the same. I have a BP that enjoys climbing trees and is rarely in a hide. Does this mean that she is neglected and unhappy? No, it just means that she is a bit different, and should have these needs met. She is happy, almost always eats, and has no problems being handled. I guess she's just an odd BP. Maybe the same is true for Rhasputin's monitor. Personally, I believe that reptiles should have the 'normal' accommodations, no matter how quirky the specific herp is. If they choose to use it, then the option is there. If they don't, no harm done. Not all reptiles are the same, and if Rhasputin's monitor isn't like other Savannas, then so be it. I would recommend giving the monitor the ability to burrow if she so chooses, even if she usually doesn't dig. It may be a bit more work, but it will give the monitor the ability to dig if she wants to. I'd try changing the substrate a few times to see if she chooses to dig in another type. I would also recommend a larger tank, if only to allow for a deeper soil. You can build a new custom enclosure in a few days, and it might make your monitor happier. Seems like it's worth a try!

Also, it seems as if this thread has turned into a big attack thread. People are accusing each others' husbandry right and left, while still not having given an answer to the OP.


-Apple2

Apples to oranges Mr. Apple.

Ball pythons have been observed taking to the trees in the wild to hunt. Your ball climbing and using branches is not abnormal behavior, it's hard wired into his pea sized brain.

Likewise many balls do not use a hide.

But for a varanid, digging into soil is much more than a security issue. It serves a number of biological functions - most important of these are thermoregulation and hydration.

Without a deep and appropriately comprised substrate, a monitor will suffer in the long run. Acting lazy and not digging are indications that something is wrong with the animal. Lazy is not normal for a monitor and not digging indicates that the material type and depth is unsuitable.

Let me state for the record, that it is impossible to properly care for a exanthematicus without an appropriate enclosure and deep substrate. A glass aquarium, with or without a screen top, is universally considered one of the worst choices for housing a varanid in. Can the animal live? You bet. But I can also stuff a person in a dark closet and have it live. It's the quality of life and overall health of the animal that should be considered, not the wounded pride of the owner.


For better or worse, this thread may be referenced by someone who is planning on getting a sav someday. While I certainly hope Mr. Rhasputin's monitor the best, I am more concerned with that next person who may read this and how they will parse this information.

[slayer]

8 year old female huh?? I call b.s.

I'm thinking your a troll.

[Michelle.C]

I feel left out, I'm offended! (I hate being new here!)

I apologize. Don't think I haven't noticed your advice to be helpful and accurate though. It's just that you are new and I don't lurk here enough. -lol-

It seems every Monitor thread goes the same way though. People aren't caring for them properly, advice is given (rather bluntly) and said individual gets offended.

Fyi, your thread on Mangroves inspired me to move forward into adding a new Monitor to my collection.