what size tank can i keep a savahna monitor

[Rhasputin]

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

I'm thinking your a troll.

I've had her for 5 years, and the estimate before that was 2-3 years in the store,

[MMReptiles]

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.

The entire indicus complex is rather shy and I wouldn't recommend them as captives. 99% of the ones sold are very very shy animals who you will never see. Very fascinating complex if you have the eye for them and don't mind the shyness. I honestly prefer them over the prasinus.

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. :/

Of course, you didn't change the entire enclosure. Did you provide an 8x4x4 enclosure with proper humidity? Nope. I understand she won't dig in your craptastic 120 gallon tank. I wouldn't dig either with a few inches of substrate in a dry enclosure. Put her in an 8x4x4, with 2' of dirt. She WILL dig. However, in your cage, you have so many other flaws (humidity and temps etc) that she won't dig. If all your other conditions where right, she would be a digger. You are too prideful to admit this.

I've had her for 5 years, and the estimate before that was 2-3 years in the store,

Estimates. LOL. No doubt your sav will die young, typical arrogant keepers who are too lazy to provide proper husbandry. Put your pride aside and think of the animal for awhile. You have people who have kept monitors a long time, zoologists, people with lifelong studies of these animals. Surely you aren't claiming to know more about your bosc monitor than people with degrees, papers, and many many many years of experience?

[Rhasputin]

You're not listening.
When she was smaller her enclosure was easily within the range you suggested, with the ammount of dirt suggested, and she never even so much as scratched the dirt.

her cage is always moist, even over the past week with the crappy mesh lid, and she just doesn't do it. I don't know how else to tell you she won't.

[MMReptiles]

You're not listening.
When she was smaller her enclosure was easily within the range you suggested, with the ammount of dirt suggested, and she never even so much as scratched the dirt.

her cage is always moist, even over the past week with the crappy mesh lid, and she just doesn't do it. I don't know how else to tell you she won't.

If the enclosure was ever an aquarium then no, it was not suitable. UNLESS YOU HAD A CUSTOM BUILT AND SEALED WOOD ENCLOSURE, YOU WHERE NOT KEEPING HER PROPERLY. Just because she was small doesn't mean your stupid aquarium was a proper house for her.

Plus, if you got her at 2-3 years old, and she was that much smaller, she has other issues. A healthy bosc will be almost adult size in the very first year.

[Skiploder]

You're not listening.
When she was smaller her enclosure was easily within the range you suggested, with the ammount of dirt suggested, and she never even so much as scratched the dirt.

her cage is always moist, even over the past week with the crappy mesh lid, and she just doesn't do it. I don't know how else to tell you she won't.

You're not listening either.

Your animal is not digging, it's soaking and acting lazy because you are not keeping it properly.

You can't just place her on any type of soil - it needs to be the correct type and consistency.

Healthy monitors dig. Healthy monitors are active. Healthy monitors require an appropriate substrate to thermoregulate and hydrate.

Without that essential requirement, your sav will not dig. You sav will act like a slug. Or as you put it:

She's just a lazy lima bean

If your tank is the standard 125 gallon - it is probably in the neighborhood of 18" deep. A 125 gallon wide is 24" deep. You stated that your exanthematicus is 3' long. Don't you see anything wrong with that?

Your monitor is soaking in it's water bowl because you have not provided a suitable substrate for her to dig into and hydrate.

You are keeping your animal incorrectly and using her attempts to adapt to your bad husbandry as justification for how you keep her. You need to stop being so intent on defending yourself and do right by this animal.

[slayer]

This is like talking to a rock.
Your obviously too dense in the head and too frail in the ego departmen to admit your wrong and to learn a damn thing.
Its your monitor. Kill it how ever you like.

[ed4281]

Rasputin isn't a troll, he has given me great advice in regards to some issues I had with my rat. That being said I do agree with everyone else's opinions, I had one that really didn't dig much, and was puppy dog tame as well. I did though provide her with the appropriate substrate, so if she wanted to dig she could. I also made her underground hides that she just loved, and I built her enclosure my self. It took up about half my bedroom when I lived at home with my patents, they thought I was nuts.

Now just because an animal doesn't want to do a natural behavior, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't be provided with the opportunity to do it. It's our job as owners to provide them with proper husbandry, this is the responsibility we as humans take on when we take an animal out of the wild and choose to make it a pet. To do anything less is inhumane.

[Carlene16]

You're not listening.
When she was smaller her enclosure was easily within the range you suggested, with the ammount of dirt suggested, and she never even so much as scratched the dirt.

her cage is always moist, even over the past week with the crappy mesh lid, and she just doesn't do it. I don't know how else to tell you she won't.

Do you have any pictures of your set up? Of your monitor?

I can't say I know anything about monitors but the threads I've read, it's said time and time again that glass tanks are NOT the best option for a monitor, so why would you still keep yours in one? If there is a BETTER choice, why not take it? Maybe she is "happy" (not quite sure how you would even be able to judge that) but try getting her a better enclosure and maybe she could be even happier. Try listening to the advice of everyone on here, they aren't throwing this information at you so it goes in one ear and out the other. They are trying to give you useful information to better suit your monitor.

[Michelle.C]

The entire indicus complex is rather shy and I wouldn't recommend them as captives. 99% of the ones sold are very very shy animals who you will never see. Very fascinating complex if you have the eye for them and don't mind the shyness. I honestly prefer them over the prasinus.

I'm quite familiar with indicus, as well as other semi arboreal, fragileish Monitors. We have three indicus at the place I volunteer at as well. Two of them are pretty shy, but our CB male is rather social if you given him proper time to come to you instead of yanking him around.

The shyness doesn't bother me at all, I keep Tarantulas and most of them are pet holes.

Monitor keeping is far from new for me though, but thanks for the heads up. It's very nice to see someone else that keeps a species I'm interested in.

I would like to add, unrelated to the above. Rhasputin is not a troll. He does offer quite accurate advice about rodents most of the time. The one problem I have with most of this hobby and it's people is the unwillingness to take advice. Even when you consider yourself an advanced hobbyist, there is always someone who can teach you something. Especially when they are reputable and it's a species they specialize in.

[mumps]

So, this Rhasputin character knows his rats. That's wonderful, and I'm sure rat keepers are glad to have him/her as a resource.

Rhasputin does not, however, know his/her varanids. He/she has one, and it's been telling him/her for five years that things are not right - and nothing is done to make things right. I have only seen references to the terrible setup offered, nothing about temps/diet/humidity.

My guesses are:

1. It's too cold. It doesn't have access to the proper temperatures to make it want to be a sav. So it lays around waiting to warm up properly.

2. It's fed an improper diet. I recall roaches being mentioned, which are great, but nothing else regarding variety/frequency.

3. It's small. This is just reinforcement to my first two guesses.

Rhasputin - Your monitor is not happy. It is dying a slow, agonizing death. It needs heat, proper diet and husbandry. You say there is no way in your current circumstances that you can construct a proper enclosure. You better remedy that pretty darn quick. You say you have a new job. Don't they pay you? I go and buy reptile food the day after payday BEFORE I go grocery shopping for myself.

Chris